Did you hear about this new term called Internet enemy? Internet enemies are countries that try to censor the Internet by blocking content they deem inappropriate, offensive or not in the national interest. The worst offenders that are listed as enemies include China, Burma, North Korea and Iran.

By selecting what content is accessible to their citizens, other countries risk being blacklisted as enemies of the Internet by the Internet watchdog Reporters Without Borders. The watchdog says Web filters installed by governments may hurt civil liberties such as freedom of speech and expression. Australia is one of the countries currently on the watchlist for its plan to block some offensive content. Plus, we all heard about Google’s plans to leave China due to censorship concerns. Google.cn will most likely cease to exist very soon.

The 12 countries that are ‘blacklisted’ by the watchdog are Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Iran, Vietnam, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Syria.

Russia, Turkey, South Korea and Australia have been added to the ‘watchlist’over similar censorship plans.

For more information, please visit Reporters Without Borders at http://www.rsf.org/ennemis.html.