points to limited filtering of religious content in
Tunisia.
Other blocked sites included several gay
and lesbian information or dating pages, sites
containing provocative attire, hacking Web sites,
and several online translation services.
Conclusion
Tunisia’s government continues to suppress critical speech and oppositional activity, both in real
space and in cyberspace. Unlike other states that
employ filtering software, Tunisia endeavors to
conceal instances of filtering by supplying a fake
error page when a blocked site is requested. This
makes filtering more opaque and clouds users’
understanding of the boundaries of permissible
content. Tunisia maintains a focused, effective
system of Internet control that blends content filtering with harsh laws to censor objectionable
and politically threatening information.
NOTES
1. Tunisia has regularly been labeled an “enemy of the
Internet”; see Reporters Without Borders, “List of the
13 enemies of the Internet in 2006 published,”
November 7, 2006, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?
id_article=19603.
2. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Human rights abuses in the run up to the WSIS,” http://web.amnesty.
org/library/index/engmde300192005.
3. Ibid.
4. Human Rights Watch, “Tunisia: Police use force to
block rights meeting,” http://hrw.org/english/docs/
2004/12/14/tunisi9841.htm.
5. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Fear for safety/
Intimidation,” http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/
ENGMDE300222005?open&of=ENG-TUN.
6. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Human rights abuses
in the run up to the WSIS,” http://web.amnesty.org/
library/index/engmde300192005.
7. Amnesty International, Tunisia – Report: 2006,
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/tun-summaryeng#1.
8. afrol News, “Tunisia still holds some 200 political
prisoners,” March 1, 2006, http://www.afrol.com/
articles/18285.
9. Tunisia Online, “Internet in Tunisia: History,” June 25,
2002, http://www.tunisiaonline.com/internet/
history.html.
10. Network Startup Resource Center, Tunisia and the
state of the Internet (e-mail from Lamia Chaffai of ATI
to Dolores Lizarzaburu of NSRC), November 14,
2002, http://www.nsrc.org/db/lookup/report.php?
id=1037285984211:488846420&fromISO=TN.
11. Tunisian Internet Agency,
http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm.
12. See, for example, Hexabyte’s Free Internet FAQ,
http://www.zerodinar.com/faq.php (French
language only).
13. See, for example, Topnet, http://www.topnet.tn/
(French language only).
14. Tunet.tn, “L’accés Internet haut dèbit par satellite
(TUNET VSAT),” http://www.tunet.tn/?item=solutions
&sp=Satellite (French language only).
15. Tunisian Internet Agency,
http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm.
16. Reporters Without Borders, “Tunisia,”
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7271.
17. Internet World Stats, “Tunisia: Internet usage and
population growth,” http://www.internetworldstats.
com/af/tn.htm, citing data from the International
Telecommunication Union.
18. Internet World Stats cites ITU data, which place the
number of Internet users in Tunisia at 953,000
(http://www.internetworldstats.com/af/tn.htm). The
Tunisian government’s estimate of 1.14 million is
slightly higher (http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm).
19. International Freedom of Expression eXchange
(IFEX), The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group: Media
Censorship, http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/
censorship.html.
20. Ibid.
21. Tunisia Online, Government, http://www.tunisiaonline.
com/government/index.html.
22. Human Rights Watch, False Freedom: Online
Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa:
Tunisia, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/mena1105/7.htm,
citing Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits
de l’Homme, Report on the Freedom of Information
in Tunisia, http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/
hr-wsis/ltdh03-press-en.pdf.
23. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 8, translated by Harvard Law
School Langdell Library.
24. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 9, and Code de la Presse,
Article 49, translated by Harvard Law School
Langdell Library.
25. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 9, translated by Harvard Law
School Langdell Library.
398
Country Summaries
Tunisia.
Other blocked sites included several gay
and lesbian information or dating pages, sites
containing provocative attire, hacking Web sites,
and several online translation services.
Conclusion
Tunisia’s government continues to suppress critical speech and oppositional activity, both in real
space and in cyberspace. Unlike other states that
employ filtering software, Tunisia endeavors to
conceal instances of filtering by supplying a fake
error page when a blocked site is requested. This
makes filtering more opaque and clouds users’
understanding of the boundaries of permissible
content. Tunisia maintains a focused, effective
system of Internet control that blends content filtering with harsh laws to censor objectionable
and politically threatening information.
NOTES
1. Tunisia has regularly been labeled an “enemy of the
Internet”; see Reporters Without Borders, “List of the
13 enemies of the Internet in 2006 published,”
November 7, 2006, http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?
id_article=19603.
2. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Human rights abuses in the run up to the WSIS,” http://web.amnesty.
org/library/index/engmde300192005.
3. Ibid.
4. Human Rights Watch, “Tunisia: Police use force to
block rights meeting,” http://hrw.org/english/docs/
2004/12/14/tunisi9841.htm.
5. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Fear for safety/
Intimidation,” http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/
ENGMDE300222005?open&of=ENG-TUN.
6. Amnesty International, “Tunisia: Human rights abuses
in the run up to the WSIS,” http://web.amnesty.org/
library/index/engmde300192005.
7. Amnesty International, Tunisia – Report: 2006,
http://web.amnesty.org/report2006/tun-summaryeng#1.
8. afrol News, “Tunisia still holds some 200 political
prisoners,” March 1, 2006, http://www.afrol.com/
articles/18285.
9. Tunisia Online, “Internet in Tunisia: History,” June 25,
2002, http://www.tunisiaonline.com/internet/
history.html.
10. Network Startup Resource Center, Tunisia and the
state of the Internet (e-mail from Lamia Chaffai of ATI
to Dolores Lizarzaburu of NSRC), November 14,
2002, http://www.nsrc.org/db/lookup/report.php?
id=1037285984211:488846420&fromISO=TN.
11. Tunisian Internet Agency,
http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm.
12. See, for example, Hexabyte’s Free Internet FAQ,
http://www.zerodinar.com/faq.php (French
language only).
13. See, for example, Topnet, http://www.topnet.tn/
(French language only).
14. Tunet.tn, “L’accés Internet haut dèbit par satellite
(TUNET VSAT),” http://www.tunet.tn/?item=solutions
&sp=Satellite (French language only).
15. Tunisian Internet Agency,
http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm.
16. Reporters Without Borders, “Tunisia,”
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7271.
17. Internet World Stats, “Tunisia: Internet usage and
population growth,” http://www.internetworldstats.
com/af/tn.htm, citing data from the International
Telecommunication Union.
18. Internet World Stats cites ITU data, which place the
number of Internet users in Tunisia at 953,000
(http://www.internetworldstats.com/af/tn.htm). The
Tunisian government’s estimate of 1.14 million is
slightly higher (http://www.ati.tn/Defaulten.htm).
19. International Freedom of Expression eXchange
(IFEX), The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group: Media
Censorship, http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/
censorship.html.
20. Ibid.
21. Tunisia Online, Government, http://www.tunisiaonline.
com/government/index.html.
22. Human Rights Watch, False Freedom: Online
Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa:
Tunisia, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/mena1105/7.htm,
citing Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits
de l’Homme, Report on the Freedom of Information
in Tunisia, http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/smsi/
hr-wsis/ltdh03-press-en.pdf.
23. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 8, translated by Harvard Law
School Langdell Library.
24. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 9, and Code de la Presse,
Article 49, translated by Harvard Law School
Langdell Library.
25. Decree of the Ministry of Telecommunications of
March 22, 1997, Article 9, translated by Harvard Law
School Langdell Library.
398
Country Summaries