Internet freedom: Phl ranks 6th

MANILA, Philippines - Internet use in the Philippines is among the freest in the world, according to a report of independent rights watchdog Freedom House.

An article posted on Yahoo! News yesterday said that in Freedom House’s report titled “Freedom on the Net 2012,” the Philippines was rated free, scoring 23 points.

A score of zero in the report means “most free” and 100 “least free.”

The Philippines and Italy placed sixth out of the 47 countries in the list, Yahoo! News said.

Leading the pack of the freest countries were Estonia, with a score of 10 points; US, 12 points; Germany, 15 points; Australia, 18 points; and Hungary, 19 points.

Yahoo! News said the Freedom House report also indicated that in Asia, the Philippines is the only country deemed “free.”

Considered “partly free” were South Korea and India, with 34 points and 39 points, respectively; along with Indonesia, 42 points; and Malaysia, 43 points.

The Yahoo! News article further said that according to Freedom House, the Philippine government, to date, has steered clear of blocking access to any type of online content.

But Freedom House noted that during the survey period from January 2011 to May 2012, there were eight proposed measures on the “regulation of online content,” raising concerns that the government is seeking to institute a “filtering structure which could be potentially used for political and social censorship.”