Nov 28, 2013
AMMAN -- Jordan ranked 62nd globally and sixth among Arab states on the Web Index, which assesses the Internet's contribution to development and human rights around the world.
Jordan was preceded by Tunisia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Morocco on the index, published by the World Wide Web Foundation on its website last week.
The Kingdom ranked 73rd out of the 81 countries covered by the report in the "freedom and openness" indicator, which assesses the extent to which citizens enjoy rights to information, opinion, expression, safety and privacy online.
In terms of the "universal access" indicator that measures whether countries have invested in affordable access to high quality Internet infrastructure and in the education and skills citizens need to use the web well, Jordan ranked 41st, according to the index.
The Kingdom ranked 54th globally in the relevant content indicator, which maps both web use by citizens and the content available in each country, with an emphasis on the extent to which different stakeholders can access information that is relevant to them, in the language that they are most comfortable using and via platforms and channels that are widely available.
Regarding the "empowerment indicator", which aims to assess the difference that the web is making to people, and the extent to which use of the web by stakeholders is fostering positive change in society, the economy, politics and environment, Jordan ranked 63rd globally.
Commenting on the report, Jawad Abbassi, chairman of the ICT Association of Jordan (int@j), said the recent amendments to the Press and Publications Law, which made it obligatory for news websites to register, get a licence and have a chief editor who is a member of the Jordan Press Association, impacted Internet freedoms.
"The ranking of Jordan was negatively affected because of this law, which we see as a vague piece of legislation that imposes limits on Internet freedom," he said.
"Even content development companies can be covered by the law based on its loose wording," he added.
The index, which is published annually, incorporated indicators that assess the areas of universal access; freedom and openness; relevant content; and empowerment.
Sweden topped the index for the second year running, with Norway coming second. The UK and the US came third and fourth respectively, while New Zealand rounded up the top five. Yemen came in last place.
"Targeted censorship of web content by governments is widespread across the globe," the World Wide Web Foundation said on its website.
"Moderate to extensive blocking or filtering of politically sensitive content was reported in over 30 per cent of Web Index countries during the past year," it said.
"The web and social media are leading to real-world change. In 80 per cent of the countries studied, the web and social media had played a role in public mobilisation in the past year, and in half of these cases, had been a major catalyst," the foundation added.
Jordan Times 2013
