A new report has revealed how governments around the world are continuing to clamp down on bloggers. Bloggers risk facing jail by governments which feel threatened by the growing influence of bloggers according to the World Information Access (WIA) report by the University of Washington.

It highlighted how citizens blogging on a variety of topics faced jail. Of those arrested, many blogged about corruption in government, abuse of human rights and the suppression of protests. Some also faced arrest for refusing to reveal information to governments and "violating rules unrelated to state security". Only bloggers who were arrested for using electronic media such as blogs, videos and text messages to discuss or record political issues were noted by the WIA.

Number of arrests on the rise

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on their blogs. The number of arrests been made per year is also on the increase. In 2007, 36 bloggers were arrested, three times more than in 2006.

One arrest cited by the report was that of Fouad al-Farhan, considered to be Saudi Arabia's most popular blogger. Farhan was arrested in December 2007 for criticising political corruption in Saudi Arabia and calling for a reform.

The rise in the number of arrests is proof of the growing influence and importance of blogging, especially in the political sector. The report said that arrests usually increased when countries faced times of "political uncertainty". For example, in Egypt, of the 14 total blogger arrests made since 2003, nine took place in 2007, coinciding with the country's general elections. The majority of these nine arrests occurred during the six months leading to the June elections.

The rising number of Internet users and the mass adoption of blogs coupled with the upcoming elections in China and Pakistan has lead the WIA to predict that the number of blogger arrests will only increase.

Estimates conservative

The WIA also warned that their estimates were extremely conservative. The figures are based on searches for discussion on blogger arrests via Google and other search engines. The WIA admitted that many incidents go unreported, while some countries denied access to certain Web sites. According to OpenNet initiative, an organisation which investigates Internet surveillance practices, there are around 30 countries whose governments filter Web sites.

One example the report noted was allegations of the arrest of 344 people in Burma, many of whom were apparently bloggers, but the report was unable to verify that fact.

Usual suspects

The report also revealed that half of all blogger arrests have been made in China, Egypt and Iran with 14, 12 and eight incidents respectively. A further 18 countries highlighted by the report saw three of less arrests each.

It is not just governments in Asia and the Middle East who have cracked down on bloggers. In the last four years, British, French, Canadian and American bloggers have all been arrested after they published their views online.

The time spent actually in jail varied from blogger to blogger. The average jail sentence was around 15 months and the longest sentence found by the WIA was eight years. In total, bloggers had spent 940 months in jail.

The report did not include all reported incidents. Arrests of social networking site members who criticised their country's government and of one blogger who confessed to committing murder on his Website were omitted.