-RSF issues predators’ list on World Day Against Cyber-Censorship
From Christina Palmer
New Delhi: India has figured alongside Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) list of press freedom’s worst digital predators in 2020. The list by the global media watchdog includes countries where companies and government agencies use digital technology to spy on and harass journalists.
The list of digital predators, which has been released to mark World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, represent a “clear danger for freedom of opinion and expression, which is guaranteed by article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.
The 2020 list of 20 leading digital predators has been divided into four categories based on the nature of their activities: harassment, state censorship, disinformation or spying and surveillance.
The Paris-based watchdog also noted that private-sector companies or informal entities reflected the power wielded by such hidden actors through which investigative reporters and journalists were targetted. While some digital predators operated in predominantly despotic countries, others worked as private-sector companies in Western that specialised in targeted cyber-espionage. Such agencies intimidated, harassed and attempted to censor journalists in different ways in addition to destabilising democratic countries by deliberately disseminating false information.
“The authoritarian strongmen behind predatory activity against press freedom are extending their tentacles into the digital world with the help of armies of accomplices, subordinates and henchmen who are organized and determined digital predators,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said and noted that at times, accomplices acted from or within democratic countries. “Opposition to despotic regimes also means ensuring that the weapons for suppressing journalism are not delivered to them from abroad.”
