Internet is a threat to Asian governments

The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said that Asian governments trying to control free flow of information will find it more difficult to do so with the rising internet penetration rates in Asia. From Yahoo News:

PERC cited a report by industry watchdog Freedom House which named China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam as countries where the press is "not free".

Of the four, the most vulnerable to the political impact of the Internet are China, Vietnam and Malaysia where the governments have taken a stronger stance to censor the Web, it said.

"Precisely because they are so vulnerable, the governments in China and Vietnam will go to the greatest lengths to control the information flows over the Internet and cell phone systems in their countries," PERC said.

PERC also said that it will be interesting to see how the Singapore government reacts to the potential use of the internet by opposition parties and critics during the next elections.

Tags: china, singapore, asia, internet