For several years Syria has been an enemy of the internet. The security services keep opposition figures and even ordinary bloggers under surveillance. The main internet service-provider bans 100-plus websites. Most sites carping at President Bashar Assad’s government are silenced, as are many Kurdish and Islamist sites. A yellow screen flashes up with the words “Access Denied”. Even Facebook and YouTube were banned last year without explanation. They may be available at some of Syria’s many internet cafés, but the secret services are scrutinising them ever more closely. Surfing aficionados still manage to get access to the sites by using proxy addresses, but this can be tediously slow.
The latest casualties include the Arabic version of the reference site Wikipedia and Israel’s most liberal newspaper, Haaretz. “There’s not much logic about it,” said a Western telecoms engineer working in Syria, who had tried to reach the Logitech computer-hardware site without success. Hotmail has at times also been banned, though Yahoo! Mail has been untouched. The worldwide bookseller Amazon.com is blocked, yet – bizarrely - the company’s British website is open. Meanwhile, Syria’s government has signed a contract with a Chinese company to provide another 33,000 sought-after broadband lines. Amid the confusion of what is banned or what is not, the cyber-sands often shift. A magazine in Damascus recently withdrew a story about the opposition and reprinted an altered issue after officials objected. “We thought it was quite favourable to the government as it was saying how fragmented the opposition is,” says the editor. “It just shows how the red lines move.”
But in some areas there are signs of a tentative relaxation. The government has licensed several private radio stations, such as Mix FM, with its “Proud 2B Syrian” slogan. Amid an eclectic mix of Western rock, hip-hop and dance music, young, English-speaking presenters host live phone-ins of mostly idle chit-chat. Other talk shows have begun to tackle more delicate topics, such as the unpopular relocation of Damascus’s main bus station. That, so far, is about as daring as you can get.
Dit opiniestuk verscheen ook in The Economist.
Meer over het Syrische internetbeleid op www.the-inquirer.net/syria.
3 Reacties:
- At 05:21 Anoniem said...
-
Vincent, this is just too bad, I used that the censorship and persecution of bloggers and media personalities in my country (Pakistan) couldn't be rivaled in its badness. But you guys seem to have a tougher ground to operate. Allow me to put forward this advice, try to work through the system and not against it. It takes time and concerted effort to make the change you'd like to see happening. Sometimes it is just too risky to struggle without cover…
I have more to say but since I am not sure how endangered is your own position, I am going to stop here and now... Be safe!
Best regards,
STUD - At 05:26 Anoniem said...
-
Vincent, I wrote a piece myself on the issue of internet censorship in Syria: "The internet in the Arab World, a new space of repression?"
http://www.hrinfo.net/en/reports/net2004/syria.shtml - At 16:37 Anoniem said...
-
Not only in Syria here the Netherlands
http://www.nujij.nl/klagers-eisen-alsnog-vervolging-wilders.3137989.lynkx?pageStart=1
The guy's items
http://www.nujij.nl/schurk.1583854.lynkx?tab=News