Feature image via:http://pixabay.com/en/shield-private-public-internet-www-107860/.
We published last year about blocked websites in Lebanon, you can check the old data base here. This year, we gathered more data, counted 50 blocked websites, and divided it into categories.
Poker Websites: 8 blocked websites under law 417 issued in 1995 which gives Casino Du Liban an exclusive right to invest in gambling.
Escorting services: 23 website goes under “promoting prostitution” according to Cybercrime and Intellectual Property office, under articles 523 and 524 of penal code.
Pornographic Sites: 5 pornographic websites are blocked based on a previous reference by the general prosecutor whom misjudged a case and took a decision and blocked these website.
Israeli Websites: 11 Israeli websites are blocked either from the source or following an order by the Lebanese general prosecutor, based on decree No.12562 issued on 19 of April 1963, following Boycott Israel Office attached with the Lebanese Economy Act. It’s not clear yet what is the mechanism to flag Israeli websites to be blocked in the country.
Breaching copyright: Two blocked websites breach copyright and are blocked following orders by the US government.
LGBT: One website was blocked and identified as a forum for lesbians in the Arab region.
About the research:
This is a manual research to map blocked websites in Lebanon on various ISPs. Online censorship has been happening inconsistently and inaccurately on different ISPs.
Random neighborhoods were tested following the location of contributors, whom we are grateful and mention here by alphabetical order: Alaa Abi Raad, Alaa Gazal, Alaa Al Sayegh, Ayman Dandash, Imad Bazzi, Joey Ayoub, Khodor Salamah, Salim Al Lawzi, and translated to English by Nisan Kurdi.
We encourage you to test your ISP and send us your result if you are in Lebanon, this is a direct link to the database.