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Internet repression is eroding freedom of expression online as more governments block sites and arrest bloggers, a human rights group warned today.

Amnesty International said the internet could change beyond all recognition unless action is taken and it called on governments and companies to respect people's right to freedom of expression online.

"The virus of internet repression is spreading. The 'Chinese model' - of an internet that allows economic growth but not free speech or privacy - is growing in popularity, from a handful of countries five years ago to dozens of governments today who block sites and arrest bloggers," said Tim Hancock, UK campaigns director of Amnesty International.

State-sponsored censorship of the internet has increased significantly in recent years, according to a recent study of 41 countries conducted during 2006 and 2007 by the OpenNet Initiative, a consortium of researchers from four major universities, including Harvard and Oxford.

In a report last month, ONI said at least 25 of the 41 countries it tested were engaged in some form of filtering, where governments block access to specific sites or sites featuring particular words or themes.

In its survey of thousands of web sites across 120 internet service providers, ONI found that countries including Burma, China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia engaged in filtering.

"At the moment we turn on our computer and assume we can see all that there is online," Mr Hancock said. "The fear is that we will only be able to access what someone wants us to see."

In addition to filtering, politically motivated closure of websites and internet cafes, as well as threats or imprisonment, are reported far more widely, Amnesty said.

In February, Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for "contempt of religion" and defaming the Egyptian president. Amnesty said his imprisonment sent a clear message to Egypt's burgeoning blogging community.

Amnesty has criticised companies such as Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! for being "complicit" in suppressing freedom of speech in China.

In January 2006, Google agreed to offer a censored version of its own search engine to gain state approval and access to China's fast-growing market, although Google also maintained a non-filtered Chinese search engine hosted on US soil.

Yahoo! was pilloried for releasing data to the Chinese authorities that led to the imprisonment of dissident Li Zhi for eight years in 2003, and reporter Shi Tao for 10 years in 2005.

In August 2006, a UK parliamentary foreign affairs committee issued a report saying "collaboration of western internet companies in the censorship and policing of the internet for political purposes is morally unacceptable."

Amnesty's warning comes as it relaunches the irrepressible.info website, featuring a news aggregator that will turn the site into an information hub for anyone interested in the future of internet freedom.

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