"Consequently, ISPs have ultimately complete control over the content of the internet and are essential to any governmental intent in this field", underline the researchers Manuela Ţimbolschi-Preoteasa and Andrei Schwartz in a new study which has been recently published. Subject of the analysis are Internet Service Providers, amongst others in Central, South East and Eastern Europe.

The experts are part of the research project "Who are the gate keepers of the internet?" which maps major owners of digital infrastructure in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus (Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Croatia, Moldova, Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine). Initiators of the project are journalists and researchers of the Organized Crime and Corruption Report Project (OCCRP), RISE Project and EurActiv Romania. Their goal is to provide knowledge about the ownership, transparency and political connections in the internet sector.

ISP owners, according to the authors, are often hidden behind offshore firms and proxies, or are even affiliated with criminal cases like corruption, tax evasion or fraud. The information on these owners is needed, in order to keep the public informed, highlight potential risks, maintain transparency of the industry and establish safeguards against potential infringements of fundamental rights. Ţimbolschi-Preoteasa and Schwartz note some issues concerning ISPs and their opaqueness – ISPs could block or restrict the traffic of the internet and freedom of expression which is usually protected from government intervention.

Looking at the South East European cases, the researchers found out that in Bulgaria most of ISP owners are transparent (84 percent). Only a small percentage is affiliated with politicians (6 percent) and court cases (6 percent). However, the authors identified influence from Russia on some ISPs.

For Croatia the study shows a high percentage of hidden ownership (41 percent). According to Ţimbolschi-Preoteasa and Schwartz, many ISP owners are affiliated with politicians (27 percent) and court cases (38 percent). In addition, three quarters of the market are controlled by Croatian Telecom (Hrvatski Telekom-HT).

In Moldova the authors found out that the state owns a large part of the market, since the state company Moldtelecom is controlling 60 to 65 percent of the market. Nevertheless, most owners are transparent, only ten percent are hidden. Other ten percent of the investigated ISP owners are connected to politics.

In Romania a high number of ISPs are involved in criminal trials and connected to politics. According to the project, a lot of ISPs in Romania hide the owners behind complex networks of offshore companies and intermediates.

In Serbia, the study shows that an utterly high number of ISP owners is hidden (59 percent). However, not so many are connected to politics (9 percent) and none is involved with a court case.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung has not been involved in the realisation of the study. However, media ownership is one of the core topics of debates organised by the KAS Media Program. For instance, the legal challenges of the internet were subject of a workshop with the "Article 10 EHCR" Task Force of Prof. Dr. Johannes Weberling (Viadrina European University Frankfurt/Oder) in 2014. The working group, consisting of experts from Germany and South East Europe, analysed the legislation for online media and self-regulation issues. They discussed the trade-off between freedom and security online, and formulated recommendations.

More information on the research project of OCCRP, RISE and EurActiv Romania is available here