UK marked down for poor privacy rights in latest Web Index Report

Seventy-six of the 81 countries examined did not meet best practice standards for checks and balances on government interception of electronic communications

The second report on the state of the internet has shown that the UK is behind Sweden and Norway when it comes to web freedom, and the US has fallen from second place to fourth.

The Web Index Report said that the UK had poor privacy rights but had high scores for availability of content and the internet's political impact.

Each year the report compares 81 countries, by looking at how they allow access to the internet, censorship and empowerment.

The report will be introduced by the father of the World-Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, at a gathering in London this morning. It is seen as a litmus test for internet freedom.

This year Sir Tim warned of a growing tide of surveillance and censorship and called on US and UK governments to do more to stop spying.

He said it was encouraging to see how the web and social media were spurring people to organise, take action and try to expose wrongdoing in every region of the world.

Sir Tim said that the recent allegations of government spying by the UK and US showed that many countries were starting to be threatened by this and there was a growing tide of surveillance and censorship that now threatens the future of democracy.

Seventy-six of the 81 countries examined did not meet "best practice" standards for checks and balances on government interception of electronic communications and more than one-third of the countries surveyed block politically sensitive content.

The US was the best performer this year on use of the web for social, political, environmental and economic empowerment. However, it lost points on the breadth of internet access, communications infrastructure, and for its lack of adequate safeguards to protect users' privacy from extensive electronic surveillance.

Russia, meanwhile, ranked 41st, behind countries including the tiny island of Mauritius, for failing to have relevant content or offer empowerment to citizens.