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Middle East Internet Scorecard

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we're-keeping-score dept.

sturgeon writes "With the escalating violence and frequent reports of phone and Internet blockages across the Middle East and North Africa, it's getting hard to keep track of what is happening where. Arbor released a new report and graphic scorecard of Internet censorship in the region."

16 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Was getting worried for a second... by grub · · Score: 3, Funny


    Phew, that's a relief!
    At first I was thinking things were getting worse in the Middle East but then realized the graphs weren't written right to left.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Was getting worried for a second... by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And if they elect religious figures to parliament and establish a religious democracy?

      Tunisia and Egypt have had their revolutions, it's up to them to decide on the government they want, if they want fundamentalists representing them, thats their right.

      Same for the United States if the voters of a state elect a fundamentalist or an atheist.

    2. Re:Was getting worried for a second... by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 2

      We were doing good in patching up ties to Iran right after the Revolution, till the Embassy crisis hit and both side stonewalled and got all conflicty. Then the Shah stayed in the US and we wouldn't send him back to an execution, the Soviets went all in to Afghanistan and that really balled things up.

      But that's not really a case of not trusting a fundamentalist government, that was strategic global politics in the Cold War.

      Turkey was like that in the past, now it's going more and more Islamist like Iran, it's worrying traditional Turkish allies like the United States, Germany and Israel.

      I think it's good politics for the United States to keep ties with a revolutionary country like Egypt even if it does trend toward religious openness and more religious people in the government. To be kneejerk will just end up "losing" the country like the US did with Iran.

    3. Re:Was getting worried for a second... by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      I can easily envision Turkish-style republics in Egypt and Tunisia, and in particular in Egypt where the Army is as well-respected as it is in Turkey.

      Libya, if Gadhafi does fall, is the odd man out here. It's military has been emasculated by Gadhafi, who has long preferred the use of secret police. I would be much more worried about instability in Libya leading to the accession of some other form of tyranny.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Was getting worried for a second... by treeves · · Score: 2

      ...and openly having no chance in hell of being elected president.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    5. Re:Was getting worried for a second... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or the United States in the 19th century?

  2. the "score" by khallow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ugh, this just like the "convention wisdom" garbage that Newsweek used to do (maybe they still do, I don't know). Getting an up, down, or left/right arrow ("") is a pathetic way to assign a "score". And why does Algeria get a "" instead of an up arrow for maintaining its internet connection with the absence of any filtering?

    It's like having a murder index where you only get up arrows when you stop killing people. If you already don't kill people and never will kill them, you just keep getting "".

    1. Re:the "score" by chemicaldave · · Score: 2

      I should also point out that this only measures traffic, and attributes any decrease to "filtering." While that is possible, and probably true, I can't help but wonder how much of a decrease in traffic is due to people not being at home using the Internet and instead protesting out on the streets. I point out Bahrain as an example.

  3. Information Wants To Be Free by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Information wants to be free, but more importantly people want to be alive. Shooting peaceful protesters seems like a much worse offense than trying to shut down the intertubes.

    1. Re:Information Wants To Be Free by metrometro · · Score: 2

      You are being to cynical about it. The press is made of people and they aren't the monsters you describe.

    2. Re:Information Wants To Be Free by elrous0 · · Score: 3

      Individually, perhaps not. But get them together and tell them that their jobs depend solely on ratings and see what happens.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  4. its always nice to see by nimbius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    an impartial American citizen grading and critiquing the openness and freedom of the internet in the middle east. The scorecard in america of course will not be published, as we call our censorship against wikileaks "patriotism." and our arrest and suppression of legitimate hackers "DMCA." and "intellectual property rights." our bandwidth throttling of torrents isnt a form of censorship at all either, but "Terms of Service." and the inability to make skype calls from an internet enabled cellphone? thats just part of business.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:its always nice to see by Beelzebud · · Score: 2

      You say we have had censorship against wikileaks, and yet I can go there right now and have access to every part of their site.

  5. Re:All hail our new Caliphate overlords by Nidi62 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Doubtful. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has nowhere near the backing to take over the Egyptian government democratically, and they don't have the manpower to take it over militarily. Even under a proportional representation system, the Muslim Brotherhood would be forced to enter into a coalition if they wanted to govern. As such, their presence in a coalition would be moderated by the other coalition members. So, no, there will be no Muslim Brotherhood-led Caliphate.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  6. Crappy information design by ashidosan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The green graphs are the traffic over the previous three weeks, yet turn yellow for single-day traffic anomalies somewhere in the previous three weeks? The X axis is labeled with only one set of dates.

    I guess we're supposed to look at these and go "yup, the problem is here, where this line appears to not be part of the same pattern as the others."

    This scorecard thing is terrible. I can only be thankful for the many paragraphs which state exactly the same thing, only clearer.

  7. Re:All hail our new Caliphate overlords by Beelzebud · · Score: 3, Informative

    You need to watch less Glenn Beck.