Almost a year ago, on October 29, I received a WhatsApp notification informing me that Israeli spyware Pegasus had hacked my phone. I had expected them to tap my phone calls—I was enduring increased security harassment at that time—but I never thought they would use such spyware, especially with WhatsApp’s[...]
On Wednesday, October 9, Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Joumaa filed a lawsuit against the Iraqi minister of telecommunications for disrupting and shutting down the Internet during protests in early October. The lawsuit demands that the minister of telecommunications “repeal the decision to shutdown the internet in the country and establish that network disruptions[...]
This article has also appeared on MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab’s website. Arrived at Toronto union station on a cold Wednesday night, I rushed into a black SUV while I was keeping an eye on the endless queue of taxis waiting for the next client to come. As a Ph.D.[...]
In Lebanon, telcos and major tech companies tend to impact users’ privacy and freedom of expression. A 2018 SMEX report found that out of 66 mobile telecom operators in the MENA region, only 14 published terms of service, seven published privacy policies, and four published both. None of them are[...]
Following the massacre of peaceful protesters at a sit-in near the Army Headquarters in Khartoum on June 2nd, Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) began restricting internet connectivity throughout the country. By June 4th, the country’s internet connection was completely shutdown. Despite this, protesters called for full civil disobedience on Sunday,[...]
On Friday, January 18th, reports indicated that Grindr, a popular online dating application used by LGBTI individuals, had been blocked on the 3G and 4G mobile data networks of Alfa and Touch. After contacting both companies, a representative from Touch Lebanon informed us that the Ministry of Telecommunications had ordered[...]
As part of the 16 Days Against Gender Based Violence, we are releasing our new report “Online Privacy Threats to Women and the LGBTIQ Community in Lebanon,” which documents the state of digital privacy for women and LGBTIQ individuals in the country. We found that although the digital space can[...]
A diagram from CitizenLab explaining Netsweeper’s filtering process. April 2018. Researchers revealed in April that internet filtering technologies produced by Netsweeper, an Ontario-based technology company with offices in the UAE and distributors in the Middle East, existed on state-owned public networks in the Gulf. These technologies filter opposition websites, major[...]
This logo was used in the Public Prosecution’s instagram post announcing the arrest of a Twitter user. In Tunisia and Bahrain, government officials are pushing for laws that would further restrict online freedom of expression in both countries. Sixteen deputies from Nidaa Tounes, the ruling party in Tunisia, and one[...]
The administration of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi bought surveillance technologies from the French cybersecurity company Ercom in 2014, according to a report published on March 26 by the French weekly magazine Télérama. The purchase, which was approved by the French government, increases threats to Egyptians’ rights to private communications[...]
