Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: February 17, 2012
Iran's government blocked a number of foreign-based websites right before the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The government also blocked encrypted traffic, causing Tor users to drop offline on Friday. After a concerted effort by Tor to mask...
ONI Blog: Tor Helps Iranians Get Back Online
Iranian Internet users experienced a drastic blackout over the weekend as the government blocked encrypted Internet traffic. Tor, an anonymity and circumvention tool that offersa network run by volunteers, reported that on Friday, the number of Tor users in Iran—usually around...
ONI Blog: Iran Blocks Foreign Websites Before Islamic Revolution Anniversary
Iran has blocked multiple websites right before the upcoming anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. According to reports from users in the country, Gmail, Facebook, and Yahoo have all been blocked, along with other foreign websites. The AFP reports that...
ONI Blog: Iran Creates Stricter Controls in Internet Cafés Ahead of Elections
The Iranian government is stepping up controls on the Internet in the country, just in time for the country's legislative elections in March. New measures have been placed on Internet cafés that will now require users to provide...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: January 13, 2012
Members of the NetCoalition trade association are considering shutting down in protest of the SOPA bill that's about to be voted on in Congress. Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have been discussing the possibility of conducting a mass Internet...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: January 6, 2012
Iran's parliament has recently proposed to implement stricter controls over the Internet, including placing blog posts, comments, and text messages under the same surveillance as mainstream media. In attempts to create a "national" and "clean" Internet, the Iranian government is acting...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: December 16, 2011
Every week, the OpenNet Initiative provides a weekly news roundup (dubbed "Threats to the Open Net") in addition to our usual in-depth blog posts. If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for our newsreel, our entire blog,...
ONI Blog: Pakistan's Mobile Carriers Delay Ban of 1,700 Words in SMS Messages
After the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority announced a list of nearly 1,695 words to be banned in SMS messages sent via Pakistani cellular networks, Pakistani mobile operators today said they would defer implementing the list until they receive further clarification from...
ONI Blog: Threats to the Open Net: November 11, 2011
Every week, the OpenNet Initiative provides a weekly news roundup (dubbed "Threats to the Open Net") in addition to our usual in-depth blog posts. If you would like to subscribe to the RSS feed for our newsreel, our entire blog,...
ONI Blog: Behind Blue Coat: Investigations of commercial filtering in Syria and Burma
There is growing concern about the use of commercial filtering and surveillance technology in countries that regularly restrict Internet content and violate human rights. Considerable attention has been focused in recent weeks on Syria, particularly following the Syrian regime’s violent crackdown against...

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