In the ‘global struggle for Internet freedom,’ the Internet is losing, report finds

The year 2014 marks the moment that the world turned its attention to writing laws to govern what happens on the Internet. And that has not been a great thing, according to an annual report from the US-based think tank Freedom House.

In response to circumnavigation tactics by online activists, repressive regimes have begun opting for a "technically uncensored Internet," Freedom House finds, but one that is increasingly controlled by national laws about what can and can't be done online. In 36 of the 65 countries surveyed around the world the state of Internet freedom declined in 2014. According to Freedom House, "Some states are using the revelations of widespread surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) as an excuse to augment their own monitoring capabilities, frequently with little or no oversight, and often aimed at the political opposition and human rights activists."