DUSHANBE, February 19, 2016, Asia-Plus – An entity calling itself the
Organization of Eurasian Cyber-Security
(OECS) has called on leaders of the CIS nations to shore up their cyber-borders.
An appeal that was posted on the OECS’s website on February 8 is addressed to leaders of eight Eurasian states: President V. Putin of Russia; President N. Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan; President I. Aliyev of Azerbaijan; President A. Lukashenko of Belarus; President S. Sargsyan of Armenia; President I. Karimov of Uzbekistan; President A. Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan; and President E. Rahmon of Tajikistan.
The organization calls on them to shore up their “cyber-borders” in the face of threats from potential color revolutions, and consider blocking websites such as
Google
,
Facebook
and
YouTube
.
The group warns citizens in the region, including business leaders and high-ranking officials, that their data is not secure because the Internet and other means of communication can be “under the control of companies and services representing another state.”
In particular, the message points a finger at Swedish telecommunications firm Teliasonera, active in a number of CIS member nations and part-owned by the Swedish government.
“For example, the telecommunications company Teliasonera, in which the Swedish Government has a large share, controls telecommunications companies in Moldova, Georgia, Central Asia, Azerbaijan through its participation in these companies as a principal shareholder. Despite the fact that Sweden is not a NATO member, the country is actively cooperating with the bloc and participates in its information and cyber-projects such as the NATO Cyber Center, which was created to confront Russia. Teliasonera has technical ability to access not only phone conversations of its subscribers but also the mobile traffic,” the statement cautioned.
Meanwhile,
EurasaiNet.org
reports that experience shows that the cyber-security group is pushing at an open door. Governments across the region are already taking action to control the flow of information.
Tajikistan routinely blocks access to social media websites and even, on occasion, e-mail services like Gmail. Such unwritten bans typically follow the publication and circulations of materials deemed potentially incendiary by the government, according to
EurasaiNet.org
.
In Kazakhstan, authorities reportedly cite the fight against extremism as a motivation for blocking large numbers of websites, but the broad approach frequently hits targets that seem notable for being a platform for the exchange of views and information.
Uzbekistan and especially Turkmenistan are both Internet black holes, where many topics are off-limits for public discussion.
Freedom House’s 2015 Freedom on the Net report illustrates neatly the topic areas deemed off-limits for Uzbekistan: criticism of authorities, corruption, political opposition and social commentary. Accordingly, websites of international news outlets like
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
and the
BBC
have been blocked for more than a decade,
EurasiaNet.org said
.
Kyrgyzstan reportedly represents a relative bright spot in regard to online censorships, albeit with some exceptions. And yet it is there that the hazy strategy of joining hands across the region to forge a collective, ostensibly anti-Western, mass communications strategy has proven most promising.
