Syria’s restoration of access to Wikipedia Arabic, Morocco’s lifting of a ban on a few
pro-Western-Sahara-independence Web sites, and Libya’s allowing access to some previously banned political Web sites. Sudan’s filtering of gay and lesbian, dating, provocative attire, and health-related Web sites was also more limited compared to previous
test results.
Another regional trend toward second-generation controls is that more Arab countries are introducing regulations to make Web publishing subject to press and publication laws, and are requiring local Web sites to register with the authorities before they
can go live. In Jordan in September 2007, for example, the country’s Legislation Bureau
in the Prime Minister’s Office issued a decision that Web sites and electronic press must
comply with the provisions of the publications and publishing law and fall under the
oversight of the Publications and Publishing Department, which announced that it
would exercise immediate supervision and censorship.
Another example is Saudi Arabia, which announced in May 2009 plans to enact legislation for newspapers and Web sites that will require Saudi-based Web sites to get official licenses from a special agency under the purview of the Ministry of Information.
Bahrain already has a similar system that requires local Web sites to register with the
Ministry of Information.
Among the new trends in controlling access through second-generation methods is
the increase in incidents of hacking of opposition and dissident Web sites and blogs.
Such incidents have been reported in Tunisia and Yemen. On the other hand, sectarian
cyber attacks among different religious groups in the region, namely Shiite and Sunni
groups, have occurred in the past few years. The cyber attacks managed to deface the
Web sites of significant Shiite and Sunni organizations and individuals, and in some
cases the attackers managed to remove content from some of these Web sites. Additionally, Israeli, Palestinian, and Lebanese Web sites run by Hezbollah have been targets of attacks, especially during conflicts.
Conclusion
Governments in the Middle East and North Africa continue to invest in media and IT
projects, and at the same time are continuing to invest in censorship technologies to
prevent their citizens from accessing a wide range of objectionable content. Also, while
Western companies build ICT infrastructure necessary for development in the region,
other Western companies provide the censors with technologies and data used to filter
the Internet.
First- and second-generation access controls are evident throughout the Middle
East and North Africa. Censors in the region attempt to control political content using
technical filtering, laws and regulations, surveillance and monitoring, physical restrictions, and extralegal harassment and arrests. Filtering of content deemed offensive
MENA Overview
531
pro-Western-Sahara-independence Web sites, and Libya’s allowing access to some previously banned political Web sites. Sudan’s filtering of gay and lesbian, dating, provocative attire, and health-related Web sites was also more limited compared to previous
test results.
Another regional trend toward second-generation controls is that more Arab countries are introducing regulations to make Web publishing subject to press and publication laws, and are requiring local Web sites to register with the authorities before they
can go live. In Jordan in September 2007, for example, the country’s Legislation Bureau
in the Prime Minister’s Office issued a decision that Web sites and electronic press must
comply with the provisions of the publications and publishing law and fall under the
oversight of the Publications and Publishing Department, which announced that it
would exercise immediate supervision and censorship.
Another example is Saudi Arabia, which announced in May 2009 plans to enact legislation for newspapers and Web sites that will require Saudi-based Web sites to get official licenses from a special agency under the purview of the Ministry of Information.
Bahrain already has a similar system that requires local Web sites to register with the
Ministry of Information.
Among the new trends in controlling access through second-generation methods is
the increase in incidents of hacking of opposition and dissident Web sites and blogs.
Such incidents have been reported in Tunisia and Yemen. On the other hand, sectarian
cyber attacks among different religious groups in the region, namely Shiite and Sunni
groups, have occurred in the past few years. The cyber attacks managed to deface the
Web sites of significant Shiite and Sunni organizations and individuals, and in some
cases the attackers managed to remove content from some of these Web sites. Additionally, Israeli, Palestinian, and Lebanese Web sites run by Hezbollah have been targets of attacks, especially during conflicts.
Conclusion
Governments in the Middle East and North Africa continue to invest in media and IT
projects, and at the same time are continuing to invest in censorship technologies to
prevent their citizens from accessing a wide range of objectionable content. Also, while
Western companies build ICT infrastructure necessary for development in the region,
other Western companies provide the censors with technologies and data used to filter
the Internet.
First- and second-generation access controls are evident throughout the Middle
East and North Africa. Censors in the region attempt to control political content using
technical filtering, laws and regulations, surveillance and monitoring, physical restrictions, and extralegal harassment and arrests. Filtering of content deemed offensive
MENA Overview
531