{"id":300,"date":"2018-12-28T13:55:32","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T12:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.torbox.ch\/?p=300"},"modified":"2019-09-24T22:28:20","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T21:28:20","slug":"the-state-of-internet-censorship-in-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.torbox.ch\/?p=300","title":{"rendered":"The State of Internet Censorship in Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post has been published<\/a> by OONI<\/a>, a censorship measurement project under the Tor Project<\/a>, IPYS Venezuela<\/a>, and Venezuela Inteligente<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Background<\/h3>\n

Political environment<\/strong>
\nDemocratic freedoms have deteriorated<\/a> in Venezuela. The government has been characterized as an authoritarian regime, closing spaces for public discussions and free expression, while systematic violations of human rights have intensified. According to IPYS Venezuela, the elections held in Venezuela in recent years<\/a> have suffered from a lack of fair conditions. The institutionality and the State of Rights have been broken, given the lack of autonomy and independence of the public powers, all dominated by the strength of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela<\/a>, which has accompanied Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> and currently maintains Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Venezuela is experiencing a complex humanitarian emergency, intensified by hyperinflation<\/a>, the absence of transparency in public management, and the weakness of democratic institutions. These conditions have negatively impacted the quality of life of citizens, as well as the conditions for the protection of human rights. Within this context, Venezuelans have been deprived of the right to decent housing and have very limited access to public services.<\/p>\n

Between January to July 2018, reporting on the transportation crisis<\/a>, power outages<\/a>, water<\/a> and gas shortages<\/a> has increased. According to data provided by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict<\/a> (OVCS) and the Venezuelan Program of Education-Action in Human Rights<\/a> (Provea), these issues affect the quality of life of Venezuelans and their ability to exercise their basic rights.<\/p>\n

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A manager weighs banknotes on a scale at a bakery in Venezuela.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Internet blackouts in Venezuela have been documented by IPYS Venezuela, which have left citizens in rural, suburban and urban areas of the country without internet connectivity. According to IPYS Venezuela, these internet blackouts have harmed citizens\u2019 rights to access information and freedom of expression. Freedom House<\/a> scores Venezuela 20\u204425 in obstacles to access the internet (where a larger ranking is worse).<\/p>\n

Research conducted by Mariengracia Chirinos<\/a> in terms of public policies on internet access reveals that, between 2007 to 2017, a vision of political and social control prevailed in Venezuela, in favor of the defense of national sovereignty and the \u201cdefense of the country\u201d. This however, she notes, contradicts the principles of inclusion, diversity, openness, competitiveness and freedom that should guide the process of formulating internet access policies.<\/p>\n

Public policies around internet access have been limited by regulatory processes (which follow the model of a closed society), affecting market competitiveness and incentives for investment. This has had a negative impact on technological advancements in the telecommunications sector, which are far from the standards of ECLAC (2016)<\/a> and the OECD (2016)<\/a>. Between 2017 to 2018, this contributed towards connectivity issues across Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IPYS Venezuela reports that digital rights were at risk throughout 2017 in light of several restrictive regulations. Police persecution manifested through arbitrary arrests of citizens based on their opinions expressed online through social networks, various portals of digital media and civil society organizations were attacked, and web portals were selectively blocked. Threats have been made against journalists, while official structures<\/a> for online surveillance and police monitoring have been proposed.<\/p>\n

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Legal environment<\/strong>
\nA restrictive framework for expression on the internet was consolidated in 2017 and internet censorship was legalized. Following a wave of street protests, Maduro signed a decree to extend the State of Emergency Exception and Economic Emergency<\/a>, which further expands internet censorship powers to avoid “destabilization campaigns”.<\/p>\n

The turning point came with the approval of the Anti-Hate law<\/a>. Last November, the National Constituent Assembly<\/a> (ANC) – a body created outside of the national constitution and which functions as a “superpower” with all of the ruling parliamentarians – approved the “Law against Hatred, for Peaceful Co-existence and Tolerance”. This regulation empowers authorities to block websites<\/a> that are deemed to spread hate or incite violence. If messages that are considered to “incite hatred” are not removed by website owners within 6 hours, they may be subjected to a fine. The law also includes prison sentences, ranging from 10 to 20 years, for those who do not comply with censorship requests by authorities. Similarly, Article 27 of the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio, Television and Electronic Media<\/a> sets conditions for the prohibition of content that does not acknowledge the legitimacy of authorities or which fosters citizen anxiety.<\/p>\n

Reported cases of internet censorship<\/strong>
\nPervasive levels of internet censorship have been carried out in Venezuela since 2014, largely monitored and documented by local civil society groups IPYS Venezuela and Venezuela Inteligente. Their study<\/a> (between 2015 and 2016) showed that 43 websites were systematically blocked by one or more Venezuelan ISPs. The types of websites that appeared to be blocked the most include: sites related to the parallel market of the dollar (44%), media (19%), blogs criticizing Chavez (12%), games of chance and online bets (9%), collaboration tools or shorteners (5%), personal communication tools (5%), gore (2%), anonymization and circumvention sites (2%), and hosting services (2%). Movistar<\/a> was found to block sites the most, with 41 blocked domains, corresponding to 35 different websites. The types of sites blocked by Movistar – but which weren\u2019t blocked by CANTV<\/a> – include: parallel dollar market, chavismo criticism blogs, hosting services, collaboration tools or shorteners, and digital media.<\/p>\n

Data presented in August 2017 by Venezuela Inteligente<\/a>, as follow-up to their previous study with IPYS Venezuela, shows<\/a> that of the blocked sites, 36% of them were related to currency exchange rates, 32% were media, 16% games of chance and online bets, 12% social networking or communications tools, and 4% of them were blogs critical of the government. 24% of all blocked sites were international with international audiences, while 76% of them had (mostly) local audiences.<\/p>\n

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El 76% de los sitios bloqueados en #internetVE<\/a> son de origen local, 24% internacional – @vesinfiltro<\/a> @VeInteligente<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/eEiPkD7lPQ<\/a><\/p>\n

— Andres Azpurua (@andresAzp) 15. August 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n