Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
ONI Blog: Saudi journalist to Western journalists in Beijing on Internet filtering: “quit your belly aching”
Saudi journalist Molouk Y. Ba-Isa wrote an interesting article in Saudi Arabia’s principal English daily (Arab News) in which she reminds the Western journalists covering the 2008 Olympics in Beijing that censorship for people like her in countries such as Saudi...
- Posted on 14/Aug/2008; tagged in Saudi Arabia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Human rights, Political filtering, Social filtering
ONI Blog: Sudan blocks youtube: Is it political or social?
Sudan blocked access to the video sharing Web site youtube last week without giving any explanation. Users who attempt to access the site receive the standard blockpage which says, “Sorry this page has been blocked by [the] National Telecommunication Corporation”.
While it is...
- Posted on 28/Jul/2008; tagged in Sudan, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Political filtering, Social filtering
ONI Blog: Facebook Faceoff
As spite spurs activism among the nation’s youth, Egypt contemplates banning Facebook- the infamous Social Networking Site (SNS) that has taken the country by storm.
The rising food prices and consequential rise in cost of living in Egypt has caused a great...
- Posted on 21/Jul/2008; tagged in Egypt, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Surveillance, Political filtering
ONI Blog: A Blind-date with the Censors in UAE
Western software companies continue to make key decisions about what is acceptable speech in numerous countries around the world by compiling the lists of web sites that fall into potentially undesirable categories, such as provocative content and hate speech.
Livejournal.com, a free service...
- Posted on 20/Jun/2008; tagged in United Arab Emirates, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Overblocking
Report: Internet Filtering in Bahrain in 2004-2005
PDF Version
1. Executive Summary
2. Political, Technical, and Legal Context in Bahrain
A. Sensitive / Controversial Topics for Media Coverage
B. Internet Infrastructure and Access
C. Legal Background
3. Testing Methodology
A. Methods
B. Results Analysis
C. Methods Specific to...
Report: Internet Filtering in Tunisia in 2005: A Country Study
PDF Version
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Political, Technical, and Legal Context in Tunisia
A. Sensitive / Controversial Topics for Media Coverage
B. Internet Infrastructure and Access
C. Media Ownership and Control
D. General Media Regulation
E. Internet Access Regulation
...
ONI Blog: Dubai free zone no longer has filter-free Internet access
ONI's preliminary investigation found that Dubai's ISP, du, which started filtering the Internet on April 14, 2008, targets sexual materials as well as politically oriented content. Examples of political sites blocked include Arabtimes.com...
- Posted on 18/Apr/2008; tagged in United Arab Emirates, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
ONI Blog: A Preview of our forthcoming Iran Blogosphere Study
ONI has documented filtering in Iran in a number of studies over the past four years, demonstrating an increase in the extent of filtering. At the core of the issue is the impact of Internet filtering on the range...
- Posted on 07/Apr/2008; tagged in Iran, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
ONI Blog: Maktoobblog.com is blocked in Yemen
Several days ago, Internet users in Yemen reported that they could not access maktoobblog.com, a major blog hosting service in the Middle East and North Africa. ONI technical investigation verified that the service has been blocked by Yemennet, Yemen’s government-run ISP....
- Posted on 24/Mar/2008; tagged in Yemen, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
ONI Blog: Norooznews.ir: Yahoo email, messenger and group blocked in Iran
ISPs in Iran were ordered to block Yahoo email, messenger, and group sites, reported Iranian Web site Norooznews.ir (Farsi).
The site added that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology refused to acknowledge the reports of the blocking which went into effect...
