Comments on: On-line Social Networks in Syria

By: Tal Pavel

Tal Pavel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:12 +0000

Although internet censorship in syria is mainly political based, There are some indications of blocking pornograhy sites over the years;

http://www.islamonline.net/Arabic/news/2005-05/23/article05.shtml
(Last paragpraph)

“Site which promotes homosexuality and lesbianism are surprisingly available to the public, hinting that the government are focusing more on political issues rather than sexual contents, with the exceptions of pornography sites and gaywired.com.”
(http://www.vpnaccounts.com/syria-internet-censorship.html)

Even ONI report for 2007 indicate few porn sites that were blocked then (http://opennet.net/studies/syria2007).

BTW – I’ve found no report regarding Syria in Herdict.org (http://www.herdict.org/web/explore/country/SY)

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:10:29 +0000

I should also add that the OpenNet Initiative (full disclosure: I work there) has far more accurate information on what is and is not filtered in Syria. I respect RSF, but they often speculate, whereas ONI actually tests, rigorously.

http://opennet.net

Herdict.org (connected with ONI) also crowdsources reports from Syrian users, although our current rates of use in Syria are fairly low.

By: Anas Qtiesh

Anas Qtiesh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:43:26 +0000

Also, it is not unprecedented for a blocked website to be unblocked. Hotmail and Yahoo mail were initially blocked and unblocked later on, this one example of a few others.

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:52:50 +0000

Nice post, Tal – Interestingly though, Syria is NOT known to block any pornographic sites, which to me shows the true nature of their censorship policies…