Armenia is ranked only 111th out of 165 nations in a global index that measures the commitment of nations across the world to cyber-security.
Tag: Internet
Sixty-nine percent of Armenian households have a computer, and the same proportion have an internet connection, according to the new survey published by the National Statistics service.
In Armenia, 33% of adults in 2011 reported having home internet access, according to Gallup surveys conducted in 148 countries. This is by 1 percentage point more than the global average, which stands at 32% according to the same source.
40.18843244.512361
I’ve been complaining quite a lot recently – going through automated instructions, patiently waiting for the operator, complaining, complaining on to the next official on the line and then on to the next one. And none of my frustrations seems to find a solution.
40.18843244.512361
Internet speed in Armenia continues to grow at a mind-blowing pace. A direct indicator of this comes from the statistics provided by YouTube, according to which average download speed of videos from Armenia has reached about 3.2 mbps in March 2012.
40.13972244.527778
Armenian authorities have unveiled details of the National Concept on Information Security, which would, in theory, enable the National Security Service read all private mail sent and received in Armenia.
I’ve higlighted the paragraph, which caused special concern.
Mediamax — Yerevan, 30 April: The Armenian government approved today a number of legislative amendments, proceeding from the Concept on Information Security that was approved on 26 April.
The head of the Armenian National Security Service (NSS), Gorik Hakobyan, said at today’s session of the government that the NSS would set up a special centre of international computer network, which will ensure the security of accessible information in electronic documents of Armenia’s state agencies.
The head of the NSS said that appropriate equipment for the special centre would be installed in technological areas of internet providers.
Hakobyan said that the special centre would allow to filtrate possible external viruses and prevent attacks on the servers of state agencies
Source: Ahousekeeper, via Internet_am.
According to the latest data on the Armenian Statistical Service website, the population of Armenia is estimated at 3,230,300 people, although the CIA World Factbook states 2,968,586 (July 2008 est.), and the dramatic difference of 261,714 people is huge for a small country like Armenia. At any rate, considering the Armenian Statistical Service to be more up to date, I just came accross this interesting table about internet penitration in Armenia.
| YEAR |
Users |
Population |
% Pen. |
GDP p.c.* |
Usage Source |
| 2000 |
30,000 |
3,002,594 |
0.1 % |
US$ 410 |
|
| 2001 |
40,000 |
3,000,164 |
0.5 % |
US$ 500 |
|
| 2006 |
161,000 |
2,950,060 |
5.5 % |
US$ 1,060 |
|
| 2007 |
172,800 |
2,950,060 |
5.9 % |
US$ 1,060 |
Naturally, if the population of Armenia is 3,230,300, and not 2,950,060, the percentage of internet penitration would make 5.3 % (not 5.9%). This is a rather sad statistics for a country, which declares IT sector as a priority. For comparison, internet penetration in Azerbaijan is 12.3%, in Georgia – 7.1%, Turkey – 22.5%, Iran – 27.5%. The proud “Silicon Valley” of USSR, that Armenia once boasted to be, is seriously lagging behind, even in the larger world scale, as can be seen from the data by Internet World Stats :World total population = 6,676,12,288, Internet total population = 1,407,724,920. Conclusion – 21.1% of global population is ONLINE!
A1plus have started posting comprehensive video news digests from the developments in the regions of Armenia on their YouTube Channel. Below is the 9 minute piece for last week. Very interesting news, and certainly a welcome initiative.
In the course of the briefing that took place today, the RA President’s Press Secretary Victor Soghomonyan has stated, that the restrictions imposed on the Armenian mass media introduced by Presidential decree as part of the limitations under a declared state of emergency, are temporary in nature, and in a couple of days such restrictions will be lifted.
President’s press secretary also spoke of the modification of media restrictions by Presidential decree on March 13th, after which a number of independent and pro-opposition newspapers attempted to publish, but were again faced with illegal preemptive censorship by state security officers, and in sign of protest refused to publish their issues prepared for March 14th. Victor Soghomonyan attempted to justify the anti-consitutional steps of the authorities, noting, that on the issues prepared for publication on March 13th, “Zhamanak-Yerevan” carried an article, claiming, that the authorities are concealing dozens of death casualties of March 1 events and that the authorities had planted provocateurs among the protesters; “Haik” newspaper had alleged, that the detainees are being beaten by police, and that there are political prisoners in the country. “Isn’t this provocation?” Presidential press secretary has asked. Moreover, according to Mr. Soghomonyan, the fact that the “Haykakan Zhamanak” had prepared for publication an interview with its editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinyan, who is officially wanted by the authorities, “is simply not-acceptable”.
After all the brilliant blunter stated above, Victor Soghomonyan has gone even further and remarked that “it is technically impossible” to block websites on the web, referring to “rumors among the public”, according to which after the introduction of the state of emergency certain Internet-publications have been blocked by the authorities.