Internet in Slovenia

The use of the Internet in Slovenia is widespread. According to official polls in the first quarter of 2008, 58% of citizens between the ages 10 and 74 were internet users,[1] which is above Europe's average.[2] In the same period, 59% of households (85% of which were through broadband)[1] and 97% of companies with 10 or more employed (84% of those through broadband) had internet access.[3] In 2011, 73% of households had internet access, and 67% of households had broadband. As of 2011, 29% of Slovenians had never used the internet.[4]

The use of the internet for specific purposes (online banking, e-Government services, electronic commerce, reading online newspapers, etc.) is near the average for EU27.[5]

The country's top-level domain is .si. It is administered by ARNES, the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia. The organization also provides access to educational and research institutions. Other major providers are Telekom Slovenije (under the trademark SiOL), Telemach, AMIS and T-2. Slovenian ISPs provide ADSL, ADSL2+, VDSL, SHDSL, VDSL2 and FTTH.

Slovenia is noted as one of the leading European countries by the percentage of users who browse the web using Mozilla Firefox. In 2007, 47.9% of page requests were made with Firefox, more than in any other European country.[6]

History
Allocation of IPv4 Address Space in Slovenia

The first IP connection in the country was established between Jožef Stefan Institute and the Dutch NIKHEF institute in October 1991. The laboratory for open systems and networks at the Jožef Stefan Institute housed the primary domain server for the .yu domain at the time. The .si top-level domain was registered in 1992 after Slovenia gained independence, but the use of .yu TLD continued for several years and only in the second half of the 1990s was the registry transferred to University of Belgrade. Similarly, the use of X.400 and X.25 protocols by ARNES continued for several years due to established European research institutes' preference for ISO/OSI standards.[7]

In a telephone poll of households in 1996, 6.5% of the population declared themselves as internet users, although the number was probably overestimated due to methodological problems.[8]

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or chat rooms without appropriate legal authority. The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. However, the law prohibits hate speech, including incitement to intolerance as well as violence. The law provides criminal penalties for defamation that harms a person’s honor or name. The constitution and laws prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. Individuals and groups freely engage in the expression of views via the internet.[9]

The independent organization Helpline Spletno Oko (Web Eye) monitors the presence of hate speech and child pornography on the internet and received on average 62 reports and tips per month in 2012.[9]

On 28 January 2010, the Slovenian National Assembly adopted changes to the law governing gambling. Under the law, internet service providers are responsible for blocking access to gambling web sites that are not licensed by the Slovenian government.[10]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of State.

  1. (2008-10-01) Internet usage in households and by individuals, Slovenia, 1st quarter 2008. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Accessed 2009-03-22.
  2. "Internet Usage in Europe". Internet World Stats. Accessed 2009-04-30.
  3. (2008-10-01) Internet usage in enterprises with 10 or more persons employed, Slovenia, 1st quarter 2008. Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia. Accessed 2009-03-22.
  4. "Internet access and use in 2011: Almost a quarter of persons aged 16-74 in the EU27 have never used the internet". Eurostat Press Office. 14 December 2011.
  5. (2008-12-02). Internet access and use in the EU27 in 2008 Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. Eurostat news release. Accessed 2009-03-22.
  6. (2007-07-18) Firefox narrowly misses 28% use in Europe Internet Explorer under 70%. AT Internet Institute. Accessed 2009-03-22.
  7. Jerman-Blažič B. Kako je internet prišel v Slovenijo Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine (How the Internet came to Slovenia). (in Slovene)
  8. Raba interneta v Sloveniji (Internet use in Slovenia). Centre for Methodology and Informatics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana. Accessed 2009-03-22. (in Slovene)
  9. "Slovenia", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 26 March 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  10. "Nesmiselna blokada spletnih stavnic" (Unreasonable seizure of betting), Blaz Petkovic and Katja Svenšek, Dnevnik.si, 1 March 2011 (English translation)
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