Stories about Syria

Syria Plunges Into Total Info Darkness

  30 November 2012

On Thursday, the US-based internet connectivity monitoring firm, Renesys, reported that internet was cut off in Syria. All of Syria's 84 IP address blocks were inaccessible, “effectively removing the country from the Internet.”

A Campaign for Syrian Bloggers

  16 July 2012

The number of citizen journalists and bloggers arrested in Syria rises daily. A new campaign--for blogger Hussein Ghrer--seeks to raise awareness of the blogger's plight.

Syria Files: More Western technology for the Syrian regime

  7 July 2012

Western technology has played a key role in providing the Syrian regime with tools to track and repress citizens for years. The latest Wikileaks files on Syria, which include more than two million emails from political figures and companies, reveal that the involvement of Western companies in the crackdown against Syrian citizens has continued despite sanctions and international pressure.

Internet Regulation and the ITU: Civil Society Must Be Heard

  22 May 2012

Since its infancy, the Internet has benefited from a lightweight and decentralized approach to governance—a combination of targeted government regulation, technical coordination by companies, and a number of formal and informal multistakeholder organizations to help guide the Internet’s development, such as the IETF, W3C, and the IGF, just to name...

Arab World: Technology in the Time of Revolution

  18 April 2012

The Arab uprisings have created a debate about the role played by social media and mobile technology in bringing change. Whatever conclusion you come to on that subject, activists certainly make use of a wide range of new technologies, and Tarek Amr takes a look at some of them in this post.

Syria: Razan Ghazzawi and Female Colleagues Freed

  19 February 2012

Syrian Blogger and Freedom of Speech advocate Razan Ghazzawi, who was arrested for the second time earlier this week, was released on Saturday along with her female colleagues. Her male colleagues from the Syrian Center for Freedom of Expression in Damascus remain in detention.

Syria: Razan Ghazzawi Arrested… Again

  16 February 2012

Syrian security forces have arrested blogger and free speech advocate Razan Ghazzawi along with her collegues at the Syrian Center for Freedom of Expression in Damascus. This is the second time Razan Ghazzawi is arrested. The news caused disbelief among netizens who were very quick to react.

China: Censoring Opinions on China's veto on UN resolution on Syria

  8 February 2012

Even though the People's Daily propagated [zh] that “China’s veto was in accordance with the Syrian people’s basic interests”, Chinese concern citizens have not been misled by the official media and believed that China should be responsibility for bloodshed after Syrian resolution veto. However, the popular opinion against China's vote...

Syria: Free Razan Ghazzawi

  5 December 2011

Syrian authorities have arrested blogger Razan Ghazzawi on the Syrian-Jordanian border today. Ghazzawi, who was arrested on the Syrian-Jordanian border, was on her way to Amman to attend a workshop on press freedom in the Arab world. Her arrest has drawn criticism and anger from bloggers and activists around the world, who called for her immediate release.

US and European firms help Syrian regime spy on citizens

  15 November 2011

To track and surveil citizens online, repressive regimes in the Middle East and North Africa have relied on Western technology for years. US company BlueCoat has been accused for months of providing the Assads with products for online crackdown, and the firm finally acknowledged that the Syrian regime has been...

Detained Bloggers and Journalists in Syria: The List Gets Longer

  28 October 2011

Since the street protest movement began in March 2011 in Syria, threats and physical attacks against journalists have increased. The list of detained bloggers and journalists gets longer and includes foreign journalists arrested and deported. Among the latest, prominent blogger and programmer Hussein Ghrer, who disappeared on October 24.

Syria: Prominent Blogger Disappears in Damascus

  26 October 2011

Syrian blogger Hussein Ghrer left his home in Damascus on Monday, October 24, and has not come back. He is a thirty-year-old married father of two. The most recent post on Ghrer's blog focuses on the arrest earlier this year of now-released Syrian blogger Anas Maarawi in the context of freedom in Syria.

BlueCoat: US technology surveilling Syrian citizens online

10 October 2011

In the context of repression in the Middle East and North Africa, surveillance technology has played a key role in providing authoritarian regimes with the tools necessary to track citizens online. Among these companies, BlueCoat has proved to be the most efficient in helping the Syrian regime control every movement of Syrians on the Internet.

Syrian Government Blocks WordPress

18 September 2011

Syrian Twitter users are reporting that the popular blogging platform WordPress is blocked on ISPs in the country. This move comes amidst a wave of anti-regime protests that's taking the country by storm despite being faced by a brutal governmental crackdown.

Syrian uprisings and official vs. decentralized communications

  27 April 2011

The world looks at Syria for the first time in decades, while hundreds of thousands of citizens demonstrate against the regime that has ruled the country for almost 50 years. While hundreds of protesters were killed according to many reports, the official version shows quite a different picture. The gap...