September 30th, 2010 by Jason

Questions are being raised about how a new draft law will affect internet access and freedom in Syria. Obaida Hamad writes in Syria Today that the draft law has been “finalised.” Details about the law are sparse, but Hamad postulates that, “it will entail a voluntary system of registration with the Ministry of Information, by which sites can choose to be officially recognised. Another proposed clause is that sites nominate someone who is ultimately responsible for content.” The efficacy of these controls is questionable. As  Taleb Kadi Amin, a former deputy information minister, points out, “‘Sites are already blocked and people work out how to access them very quickly. Facebook is blocked, but it remains one of the most viewed sites in Syria.’”

In the New York Times, Robert Worth writes that Syrians have “a tenuous measure of freedom” on the internet but that freedom “is threatened by an ever present fog of fear and intimidation, and some journalists fear that it could soon be snuffed out,” due to the new law. Worth notes that the regime maintains a Facebook page for President Bashar al-Assad.

Posted in Freedom, Syria, Technology |