PARIS, Sept 6: According to a report released here on Friday, security ‘abuses’ by the world governments as a result of Sept 11 attacks have resulted in a “definitive cutback in basic Internet freedoms.”

Particularly targeted are the world’s most industrialized nations, among them the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark.

As a result of decisions taken by governments around the world to put the worldwide web under the control of national security services, writes Robert Menard, secretary-general of Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), “the Internet is definitely on probation.”

Many governments, he said, have also used the pretext of the anti-terrorism drive to curb basic freedoms or crackdown on the use of Internet by their political opponents.

The report titled ‘The Internet on Probation’, the RSF notes that the situation has been “especially disturbing” because Western democracies “are now posing a new threat to citizens’ freedoms with an arsenal of new security measures.”

The report cites the major steps taken in the drive against Internet freedoms over the past one year. These include UN Security Council Resolution 1373 on fighting terrorism and the USA Patriot Act passed by the US Congress.