Free online?

The Internet is becoming a secret communication network, distinct and largely an alternative to the one controlled by the government. On the Internet and government-citizen relations in the Middle East

Tal Pebble Galileo

In the late seventies of the last century, at the end of Shah Pahlavi's days in Iran, Khomeini's sermons were smuggled from his exile in Paris to Iran on audio tapes, the latest in technology in those days. This fact reveals a touch on the attitude of countries and regimes in our region to advanced technologies as a source of receiving knowledge and transferring it.

Technology in general and information technology in particular are weighty issues and a challenge in centralized countries that lack individual freedom and expression, as in many of the Middle Eastern countries. The great availability of information, the ability to transmit it and even produce it, challenge the existing social and political order and reshape the government-citizen relationship in the Middle East.

The penetration of the Internet into the Middle East

The Internet has been present in the Middle East since the early nineties of the last century, when the last to receive it were Syria and Saudi Arabia; These did so only after guaranteeing their technical ability to prevent their citizens' free access to the Internet and to monitor this online activity.

Over the years, the Internet has spread in many of the countries of the region, some of which have become real powerhouses in all that has been said in the use of the Internet. The data indicate not only a population hungry for information and communication from home and abroad, but also that in these countries there is still no saturation in the penetration rate.

On the other hand, there are countries that have not yet exhausted the potential of Internet penetration in their domain, probably due to relatively low human capital; Despite Syria being a more dictatorial country than Egypt, the penetration rate is half a percent higher and the growth rate is almost four times higher.

The Internet as a tool for creating information

The uniqueness of the Internet compared to means of communication such as radio, television and the press is that it is a two-way funnel of information, i.e. a channel where the consumer can receive information and share it. In the "old" means of communication, the consumer received information processed through official channels, which in many cases was filtered and processed by intermediaries.

On the other hand, on the Internet the consumer is finite. He chooses the information he wants to receive from any media source and corner around the world. Through it, the user receives the raw information directly from the source (media, blog, forum, image website, etc.), without any involvement of an intervening party or processor.

However, the power of the Internet is greater than that. The essential difference between it and the "old" means of communication is precisely due to the opposite direction of the information funnel; For the first time, the Internet gives the end user the ability to create information from anywhere and by almost any means and transfer it immediately to the ends of the earth. This fact poses a real challenge to governments in general and especially to those who do not excel in freedom of expression and individual freedom.

An example of how to deal with the challenge posed by the Internet in our region is the Internet Police in Egypt. In September 2002, the Egyptian government established the "Unit for Combating Computer and Internet Crimes" whose purpose is to investigate Internet crimes and to monitor Internet activity in real time. Its main interest is those users who visit pornographic sites. This unit is able to locate users easily, due to the fact that all internet providers in the country receive their services through the government communications company. The unit's first public announcement occurred on March 5, 2004 in Al-Ahram newspaper where it was written about a man arrested by the unit after he attacked a government official and his family on a website he had set up.

The Internet and fringe factors in the Middle East

Many groups in the countries of the region use the Internet to make their voices heard and thus undermine the existing social, cultural, religious and political order, where these voices are silenced as a matter of routine. For example, the Internet allows women in the countries of the region to describe their lives, which are sometimes conducted behind veils, to cry out about their deprivation in society and to work for more equality. This extensive activity finds expression in a variety of initiatives, among them dozens of organizations active in the Middle East to promote women's status and have a presence on the Internet. Various statements by women on a variety of issues related to their situation in Arab society, including the sick of society. Dedicated websites such as the one dealing with the issue of divorce in Saudi Arabia, a radio station in Egypt that was founded by women and has an online presence, and more.

The Internet is also used by reformist and secular elements that go against the existing government, and in contrast to them by extreme religious elements, which sometimes lack another legal expression and are treated more tolerantly in the online arena.

Human rights organizations document and report through the Internet in a faster, wider and more free way about incidents of human rights violations in the Middle East and conduct online campaigns for the release of detainees. Bloggers and regime opponents not only use the Internet to write against the government and its injustices, but also report their movements as a kind of widely distributed insurance certificate in case the authorities arrest them or their traces disappear.

On April 11, 2009, the Egyptian human rights activist and blogger Wael Abbas (Abbas) was arrested by the police. Upon his arrest, Abbas immediately reported the sequence of events from the police station using his cell phone to 2,500 Twitter users, who followed his posts until his release the next day. Similar to him, the American student James Buck (Buck) from Berkeley, California, who recorded a demonstration in Egypt on April 10, 2008, when he was arrested, managed to send the word "I was arrested" through his cell phone to the world through his Twitter account. Word of his arrest spread quickly and even reached the university where he studied. The next day the young man was released.

The Internet enables dialogue between religious currents and between religions, but also struggle; As part of the struggle between Shiites and Sunnis, websites of both streams were hacked and vandalized, and Christian websites calling for Muslims to convert (mainly in Saudi Arabia) were also blocked. On the other hand, religious minorities such as the Copts in Egypt are active on the Internet in order to protect their faith and religious freedom in the face of religious intolerance in various countries in the region.

Another clear example of activity is that of the gay-lesbian community, which is active on the Internet in general and social networks in particular. Documenting the harassment of community members and their arrests in the various countries, publication of instructions for online and physical caution, online travel and above all - a meeting place and raising awareness of their case in our region - all of these exist among users from the community.

In this context, we note that the "Internet Police" in Egypt directed its resources to this community as well. The police conducted several raids in which alleged meetings were scheduled with community members, and when they arrived at the designated meeting points, the police arrested them.

Social networks as a tool for change in the Middle East

Social networks have undoubtedly brought about a profound change in the Middle East; Videos documenting demonstrations and testimonies of human rights violations are uploaded to YouTube. Social and political pressure groups are established on Facebook, some of whose activities even reach the streets. Twitter serves as a tool for the rapid worldwide distribution of reports from the streets about events as they occur.

Social networks are an ultimate communication tool for civil protest both in its infancy, due to the ability to spread the message quickly and gather thousands, and as reports on the demonstrations, coordination, sending messages between activists and more. In this way, the Internet becomes a secret communication network, sometimes segregated, distinct and to a large extent an alternative to the one controlled by the government in terms of technology and content.

These networks are changing the face of the Middle East and the power relations between the citizens and the government in a variety of fields and ways. For the first time, users can create interpersonal relationships that are not necessarily possible in the conservative and traditional Muslim society. Single men and women can search for partners, and users report on their daily lives. Young people are exposed to content that is still considered forbidden; Starting with music videos, go to websites calling for religious conversion and ending with pornography.

In Syria, which in 2007 was defined as "the largest prison in the Middle East", social networks serve as a platform for voices that are not possible through other means of communication in the country. Various Syrian groups on Facebook sometimes manage to bring about change in the country; Thanks to an online campaign by thousands, the rape of a girl has brought public debate about child sexual exploitation. Another example was a call by local bloggers to boycott the country's cell phone providers due to the high costs and quality of service. In addition to these, there are Syrian groups operating as part of the website for the release of detained local bloggers while expressing a protest by the members of the groups about these measures of the authorities. Videos documenting the oppression of the Kurdish minority were also uploaded to YouTube.

The blogging scene in the Middle East is very active and estimated at about 600 blogs in the Arabic language. About a quarter of them are active and about a third originate from Egypt, which is the powerhouse of social networks. This arena is mainly used as a platform to create and receive information, mostly on local issues (the only regional issue that unites all Arabs is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). These blogs are used as personal diaries with social aspects in which, for example, women from Kuwait and Western Saudi Arabia describe their lives in the conservative and traditional Arab society. Egypt has the highest rate of blogging in the Middle East. However, the blogs serve as a central tool of expression also in aspects of culture, religion and politics. Along with blogs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are gaining enormous popularity in the Middle East.

The most important social realization of Facebook in the Middle East was in the "Facebook Riots" that took place in April 2008 in Egypt. Several young people announced on the website their support for the workers' strike planned for April 6 and formed groups on the website that called for a general strike in the country. Tens of thousands of young people signed up for these groups. In light of the success of these groups, large sections of the Egyptian opposition expressed support for the strike and word of the strike is widespread throughout the country. On the other hand, groups that were established to support the government failed miserably and very few joined them.

This online activity was translated into the language of action in demonstrations and confrontations with the security forces that received extensive reports on the many social and media networks. These reports once again proved the power of the Internet not only as a tool for recruiting and creating change, but as an important and sometimes exclusive source for reporting on events as they occur. On top of that, this was one of the first events in which a direct connection was made between online and physical events and that an online protest against the government was translated into actual demonstrations on the streets of Egyptian cities.

Iran is another instructive example of the power of the Internet in creating events and reporting on them. During the presidential election campaign of June 2009, all four contestants and their supporters used the Internet and especially a variety of social networks, no doubt due to their familiarity not only with the importance of social networks, but also with the high rate of Internet penetration in the country. The contestants had Facebook pages, YouTube channels with videos from various events, photos from supporters' rallies that were uploaded to Flickr, and more.

However, the power of the Internet in Iran became apparent to all precisely when the results of the elections were announced, and it is not for nothing that social networks became the heroes of this struggle: Mousavi's supporters who took to the streets to demonstrate and protest, called on many others to join them via the Internet and documented the clashes in the streets with the security forces. From there they reported directly using the cell phones in their possession to their Twitter accounts, and all over the world. Above all, remember the video documenting the dying moments of the girl Nada Seltan, who was hit by the fire of the security forces. An event that made her, reluctantly, the heroine of the struggle even outside the borders of Israel and provided the demonstrators and their supporters with a symbol. If this video had not been uploaded to YouTube, her death would not have been so publicized and heroic.

In addition, there are sites such as Picasa and Flickr, where users upload photos they have taken, including everything from daily life in the Middle East to documenting demonstrations, human rights violations, arrests, and more.

Counter activity of the governments

The widespread use of social networks as an alternative and sometimes exclusive means of communication and the challenge they pose to fundamental values ​​in Middle Eastern countries undermine the governments' hold on the reins of information. The Internet requires the governments to act through various technological means and establish additional regulations to prohibit, enforce and monitor online activity and even that carried out from mobile phones.

Regimes in the Middle East are among the most repressive in the world towards internet freedom, and act very rigidly against internet users, bloggers and writers while using arrests, harassment, blocking websites and closing blogs. Indeed, the organization "Reporters Without Borders" defined 17 countries as "enemies of the Internet" or "under surveillance", seven of which are countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Five of the ten countries defined as "dangerous for bloggers" are located in the region and precisely the most dangerous: Egypt, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Dozens, if not hundreds, of bloggers were arrested in these countries.

YouTube is considered one of the most blocked sites in the Middle East and this is due to the multitude of videos that users post freely and on a wide variety of topics. These include content which in many cases goes against the values ​​of society, culture and religion in many countries in the region and also undermines the legitimate basis of the existing government. The site was blocked without explanation in Morocco and Sudan, in Syria the authorities blocked it due to a video in which the president's wife's dress flutters in the wind at an official event, in Tunisia due to videos showing evidence of human rights violations in the country. However, above all of them stands Turkey, which has blocked the site more times than any other country in the region, due to videos of Greek nationalists insulting the image of the "Father of the Turkish Nation", Atatürk. In addition to these, countries in the region occasionally contact the management of the YouTube website with a request to remove certain videos.

The Facebook website was blocked in Syria on the grounds that it allows too free communication between Syrians and Israelis. In practice, the site has been blocked in the country for about three years. In the United Arab Emirates, an application allowing acquaintance between spouses was blocked on the website. Some of the governments have gone one step further, such as some in North Africa who infiltrated opposition websites and disabled them.

On the other hand, due to the recognition of the power of social networks and to combat the voices of protest in them, accounts were opened on various social networks for government officials and senior figures throughout the Middle East in addition to having personal websites for them. Moreover, officials on behalf of the authorities are opening accounts, pages and groups on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter aimed at expressing support for the existing government, such as the thousands of blogs opened by the Iranian government for the Basij militia units.

However, since participation in these networks is free and depends on the good will of the user, the little use, the poor presence and the marginal reactions to these government initiatives prove their failure to harness the social networks in their favor. Internet users in the Middle East have won it as an alternative protest and communication tool for non-establishment parties.

The Internet, and especially the social networks, serve those elements in the Middle East who call for the change of the existing situation - socially and politically; Whether these are liberal secular elements or Islamic terrorist organizations. Internet users are stretching the limits of freedom of expression in their countries and are reshaping the relationship between governments and their citizens in the Middle East.

The large amount of information available to users, and the information they create, oblige the region's administrations to change existing operating patterns in several areas:

• Human rights: Governments are committed to more transparency on human rights. Today it is more difficult to "disappear" regime opponents. These moves more than once created a lot of media coverage and were, in Egypt for example, a turning point in relation to torture.
• Company: The Internet is a new media in which pressure groups can be created for social change in the country; A protest about the cost of living, an expression of apprehension about the attitude of government officials towards citizens, about the ignorance that exists among large audiences and more, and this sometimes while calling for a social and national soul-searching.
• Politics: The governments of the region are aware of the power of the Internet and some of them harness it for their needs. The users, for their part, try to use the Internet as an ideal tool not only for political protest, but also for creating pressure groups, protests and even activities for political changes of this and that kind.

Looking ahead

When means of communication are strictly limited, the Internet is almost the only means of receiving uncensored information and, above all, of transmitting it, and is an alternative communication network to the state one.

The boundaries in government-citizen relations in the Middle East are stretched not only because the Internet creates new opportunities for knowledge and information for users, but because of the price that the governments themselves are forced to pay. Can a government ignore online appeals and campaigns, which win not only local and international resonance? Can a government bear over time the price of blocking the most popular international websites?

If information is power, then the Internet shifts the weight from the government to the consumer. The power of Internet users in the wider world and in the Middle East is increasing due to the exposure to information and the ability to translate it into a challenge to the existing political, social, economic, religious and cultural systems, to the point of actual citizen activity to change the existing situation.

The conclusion is that the deeper the penetration of the Internet into the Middle East, the more and more the margins of freedom that the users will ask for, the more and more strained the relations between the governments and the citizens. These will weigh their hand and these will deepen their call for change in events such as those we witnessed in Egypt and Iran and even worse than them. Undoubtedly, in many days the Internet will bring about social and political changes in the countries of the Middle East and will force the regimes to change their activity patterns towards their citizens - and maybe even change altogether.

Tal Paval is a doctor of the Middle East on behalf of Bar-Ilan University, he is an expert on the Internet and technology in the Middle East and the Islamic world and on online warfare, VP of Technology at Terrogence and the owner of a commentary website on the subject.

The full article was published in Galileo magazine, April 2010