Report: More Countries Moved To Restrict Net in '09

While technology has helped people all over the world gain greater access to more information, many governments last year devoted increased attention and resources to curtailing access to those technologies and information, the State Department said Thursday in its annual Human Rights report.

"It was a year in which governments spent more time, money, and attention finding regulatory and technical means to curtail freedom of expression on the Internet and the flow of critical information and to infringe on the personal privacy rights of those who used these rapidly evolving technologies," the report noted.