CAIRO: As the number of internet users grows, security further tightens its grip on their activity, namely when it comes to “disseminating and receiving sensitive political information, according to a report on blogging in Egypt by the US-based NGO, Freedom House.
The report titled “Freedom on the Net: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media, explores the level of freedom internet users enjoy in different countries including Egypt, Cuba and Ethiopia.
The report explained that although there is no explicit and direct internet censorship by the government, there are other informal methods that establish red lines. The report cited court cases against journalists and friendly phone calls from military or security officers to both journalists and activists.
Topics such as the military, the president s health, Muslim-Christian tensions and torture are among the sensitive topics that bring activists and journalists into the spotlight, the report said.
Egypt’s blogosphere emerged fours ago, and as bloggers gained popularity, it “helped spur interest in blogging among young Egyptians, and with this came a diversity of opinions and content, the report indicated.
The report states that although there are no laws giving the government authority to censor internet content – due to the constitution’s freedom of speech articles and the telecommunications law – a court order last May ruled that the NTRA and the communications ministry are obliged to block “obscene websites in Egypt.
Mobile phone networks and internet service providers (ISPs) are regulated by the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) according to the 2003 Telecommunication Law. Its board is currently chaired by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel, but it also includes representatives of the president, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), the interior and defense ministries, and State Security Investigations.
Moreover, articles of the penal code and the Emergency Law give security agencies broad authority to monitor and censor all communications.
Online activists fall victim to security crackdowns prompted by these laws. In April 2008, Esraa Abdel Fattah was arrested for allegedly masterminding the April 6 general strike by creating a group on the social networking website, Facebook, calling for people to protest the hike in food prices.
To date, only activist Kareem Amer was sentenced to prison in Egypt for online activities, but security services have used detentions and harassment, and in some cases torture, to intimidate bloggers, explained the report.
In addition, security services use legal and extralegal means to collect internet and cell phone users records from ISPs, internet cafes, and network operators in the course of their investigations, the report claims.
A new registration process to use the internet in a café took effect a year ago. Coffee shop goers with wireless internet connection are given a scratch card to get access and are then required to fill out a form detailing their name, email address and cell phone number. The system then sends the user a text message with a pin code for access.
This process was condemned by human rights groups, activists and bloggers. “Coffee shops offering wireless internet connections to upper and middle class users were the only ones left unmonitored, so they’ve created this process whereby you have to register with all your personal information, said outspoken blogger Wael Abbass.
In 2008, there were 10.7 million internet users in Egypt – 14 percent – according to the report.
The report further described the press as of 2008 as “partly free and political content as “not systematically filtered.
Freedom House, founded in 1941, describes it self as “a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world, as stated on its official website.
