The Middle East is defined by its lack of democracies in the region, with monarchies and dictatorships much more utilized. These sometimes harsh, cemented regimes can be resistant to change, and for that reason, along with a comparative socioeconomic disadvantage with the more developed western nations. According to Human Rights Watch, there are an estimated 165 million people worldwide that have accessed the Internet at least once in the last three months (adults or children). Of that total, the US is 90.63 million, well over half of the world's population. When you also include Europe (40.09 million) and Asia / Pacific (26.97 million), you are left with only seven million people in the world using the Internet in Africa, South America and the Middle East combined. The Middle East only contributes less than 1% of the world's total (0.88 million). The Middle East region of the world has always been delayed in transitioning to the future, and the Internet is no exception. While Americans have absolute freedom on the Internet, including a multitude of ISPs that are uncensored, those in the Middle East have their Internet use restricted, in the same way that much of their media is government-controlled. In addition, the Internet in the Arab world almost has too many voices for anyone to know what is trustworthy. "Arab portals and sites must evolve distinctive and authentic voices representative of their target audiences" (Fattah). I have used three specific countries in the Middle East to delve deeper into the region to determine why the Internet isn't as popular in the Middle East, what factors are at work, how this has effected civil society in the region and what the future holds.
Bahrain: A Study in Contradiction
The Bahraini government plays both sides with regard to the Internet. It is the "arena of two conflicting objectives of the Bahraini government: its bid to become the telecommunications hub of the Gulf and its determination to suppress information critical to the rule of Shaikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the family" (HRW). Al-Khalifa, in power since March of 1999, and the authorities in the country promote the Internet, making the Internet easy to obtain, not requiring authorization to launch a website, building several Internet cafes to serve the public, and making Internet access available since 1995. The Information and Technology Publishing Company (ITP) states that as of April 2001, 16.67% of the country's population was online. Bahrain has made several refreshing steps towards increasing individual freedom for its citizens, including "a new National Charter of Action, approved in a referendum February 14-15, 2001, which includes provisions for the expansion of personal freedoms and equal rights" (Pogar). However, the government has also blocked many web sites, especially those used by the Bahraini government opposition to collect and disseminate information. Somewhat predictably, their government also employs experts to conduct Internet surveillance of Internet use in the country.
The contradiction comes in the provisions in the Bahraini Constitution which provide guarantees for freedom of speech, of the press, printing and publication and the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. The government seems to be breaking its own laws by "exercising sweeping control over all local media" (HRW) and by making public criticism of government officials and their policies off-limits. The Bahraini police utilize sophisticated and extensive informer networks, illegal searches and random arrests to control the public and limit opposition. The vagueness of the Bahraini policy is almost laughable: "email access to information is unimpeded, although it may be subject to monitoring" (HRW). In addition, Internet service for the entire country is run by the monopoly Batelco, which offers moderate prices but has no option for unlimited use at a set price. As of early February 2001, Batelco teamed up with four major PC manufacturers (Acer, HP, Dell, and Compaq) to increase computer ownership and Internet usage in the country (Information and Technology Publishing Company: ITP). Batelco offered complete packages cheaply to its citizens and found companies to participate by implying increased residual business through more citizens using the computer, and, in turn, the Internet. Once the government's watchdogs have certain web sites red-flagged, they are quick to act. They are far more concerned with strictly blocking web sites, rather than cracking down on the sources of the content on those sites.
An unfortunate but somewhat common example was that of Sayyid 'Alawi Sayyid Sharaf, who, on March 25, 1997 had security forces raid his home, confiscate his computer and detain him indefinitely. Sharaf was held for two years before being released without charge. Sharaf was under suspicion not because of technical evidence that the country had attained, but through informants and third parties. Amnesty International stated "Sharaf had been tortured while being held incommunicado by intelligence officials" (HRW). Bahrain seems fairly typical of the region: it is marked by the desire to be current, change with the future, offer its citizens technology and freedom the western world has, but yet remain cemented in the state defense of media censorship, and their internal struggle on this matter infringes on the rights of each citizen in the country.
The Bahraini government is among the best in the region for civil liberties with regard to the Internet, and civil society in the region most likely benefits from this Internet access. Its citizens are more connected to other people, have more access to information, and are being shown other cultures through the vast amount of information available. Governmental security oversteps hamper this progress, but overall the country and its citizens appear to be increasing associational life and their interest in governmental organizations. For example, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs reported a total of 65 new associations founded during the calendar year of 2002, including 11 political societies and 13 professional societies.
Saudi Arabia: The Secrecy of a Gatekeeper
Saudi Arabia, one of the leaders in the region in many different areas, only began allowing public Internet access in January of 1999, amid promises of the region's "most ambitious plan to block flow of 'undesirable' data online" (HRW). Saudi Arabia had Internet connection since 1994, only allowing its use by academic, medical, and research institutions. Under this system, citizens were allowed to purchase computers and modems, connect through dial-up to foreign Internet service providers (ISP's) and even launch web sites on foreign servers. The catch was that international calls to ISP's were very expensive, anywhere from $0.60-0.80 per minute to Bahrain and $1.70-$2.10 per minute to the United States. As a result, only 30,000 of the country's most wealthy people accessed the Internet this way. The government offered the public access to local networks, such as al Naseej, through subscription. These local networks provided subscribers with domestic and international email, links to domestic databases, and chat rooms, but no access to the World Wide Web. State institutions first connected in 1994 and King Fahd even approved public Internet access in 1997, but it was not until January 1999 that local ISP's were able to connect to the average citizen and bring them to the World Wide Web. The delay was due to the Saudi government's proclamation of systematic online information control.
The manifestation of online information control came through the King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), a Riyadh-based institution that was asked to coordinate the country's Internet policy. In February of 1998, Saleh Abdulrahman Al -Adhel, the President of the KACST, said three things with regard to the country's policy: 1) "a standing committee has been formed and approved by the government to protect society from material on the Internet that violates Islam or encroaches on our traditions and culture"; 2) "This committee will decide which sites are immoral, such as pornographic sites and others, and will bar subscribers from entering such sites"; and 3) "There are many bad things on the Internet. That is why we created a mechanism to prevent such things from reaching our society so that a home subscriber to this service can be reassured. That is why we have not rushed into providing this service. We first want to make sure we eliminate all negative aspects of the Internet" (HRW).
This policy was endorsed early on by the country's Council of Ministers, especially with regard to a "firewall" that would restrict the public from viewing any sites the country's government deemed inappropriate. Though the policy is widely known and publicized, the specifics and the technology behind it are a well-kept secret. Some reports have stated that the country only provides a list of "desirable" sites, and all others are blocked by default. According to HRW, this would be the world's most restrictive website filtering regime. Saudi Arabia does allow private ISP's, but there are under the umbrella of the KACST (the only way to access the WWW in the country) and its restrictive system of filtering and subject to its decisions. This restrictive system off totalitarian online control was supposed to just be for sites deemed offensive to the Muslim faith and its principles and followers, however its has predictably extended to political sites. For example, in early 1999 after the public gained access, "the site of at least one exiled dissident group, the Committee against Corruption in Saudi Arabia, was reported blocked" (HRW).
According to ITP, KACST, in May 2001, set a goal of 500,000 new Internet subscribers in Saudi Arabia in one year, with the overall goal of boosting economic activity and create jobs for citizens. The central threat to businesses getting wired to the web is security, which KACST's President Dr. Saleh Al-Athel has acknowledged and reacted to by developing a "Public Key Infrastructure, which forms the foundation for building secure systems" (ITP).
The Saudi Internet pricing structure is fairly expensive, with access costing between $0.40-$1.20 per hour, an additional dial-up charge of $1.20, and a fixed monthly charge of between $27 and $40. The dial-up charge goes to the country's monopoly, Saudi Telecom. According to HRW, a light Internet user would pay between $36 and $44 per month for Internet access.
The Saudi Arabian government goes a step further than the Bahraini government does with a penchant for restriction and control of the Internet. The government desires to keep the Internet from allowing opposing viewpoints the right to be viewed, and only allows its citizens a small window of what the world wide web has to offer. There are no indications that their policies will change anytime in the future.
Continuing this type of repression, the Saudi government does not allow voluntary associations, trade unions, or political parties, but the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the closest thing, helping to mediate between the Saudi society and the state as an umbrella organization. The two primary political opposition associations are not within the kingdom, and this pattern pervades throughout the kingdom, as the government also controls and owns the media, and although women have gained some rights in recent years (for example the right to establish companies) they are still far behind the times. Civil society, at least one in which the citizens are allowed to act freely and make their own associations, is seen as a threat to the Saudi royal family and government, and with the Internet it is no different.
United Arab Emirates: the Best of Both Worlds
According the Human Rights Watch, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the region's most wealthy and technologically advanced nations, can claim to be the region's most wired country. UAE has 143,000 users, 52,000 subscribers, numerous cyber cafés, and, according to the Middle East Internet Directory for 1998, the largest number of corporate websites. ITP shows that from April 2000 to April 2001 the UAE Internet population grew by 57%, now making almost one quarter of the country's population wired to the Internet. Even the government has complex, updated web sites and offers a "public-sector think-tank" (HRW), the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research. However, UAE has also led the region in censoring the web for its users, through Etisalat, the state-controlled telecommunications monopoly and only Internet provider.
Dial up users cannot directly access the Internet, rather, they dial in to a proxy server controlled by Etisalat. The server will refuse sites that are banned or if a content check by the server comes back with questionable material. The government, aware of this state censorship, has repeatedly said that this control is solely to restrict citizens from viewing pornography. Government officials have reiterated that there is no censorship of political or social views, that citizens can view sites from Israel or anywhere else. The government's system only allows viewers to see the first page of a pornographic site and no further. UAE goes further than Bahrain in guiding the Internet inside the bounds of its state Constitution. According to UAE's political counselor Abdullah al-Saleh and legal advisor Mohamed Mattar through HRW, UAE's Constitution protects freedom of opinion, and expressing it orally, in writing or by other means of expression, as well as freedom of communication by post, telegraph, or other means of communication and the secrecy thereof shall be guaranteed. UAE's government presumably takes their Constitution and extends the "other means" to the Internet. According to HRW, all sites must be registered with the Ministry of Information, but no request has ever been denied and no arrests have ever been made for any kind of "misuse" of the Internet.
UAE combines the best aspects of both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in creating a state controlled Internet system, which is technologically advanced, yet protects citizens from pornography. UAE stays within the confines of its Constitution and seems confident enough of their system not to have to preemptively silence opposing viewpoints.
In the UAE, both public assembly and association are "subject to government approval" (POGAR) and any private associations must be licensed. In reality, these rules are enforced differently in different emirates. Much like Saudi Arabia, unions are banned but umbrella organizations are allowed (such as Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and even the UAE Women's Federation has been "effective in teaching local women to organize themselves, set up literacy campaigns, and prepare women to play an active role in social development. The media, owned by the state, is slow to criticize the government, even though the UAE boasts freedom of speech. Television and radio stations are no different, owned by the government, and their content must conform to guidelines. However, over the years "a higher rate of institutionalization, both at the federal and emirate level" (POGAR) can be seen as a significant sign of improving civil society in the region. In addition, traditional institutions seem adaptive to old and new forms, including the Internet.
The Future for the Region
All signs indicate that the region is becoming more wired to the Internet and that citizens will have access to more information and more freedom. In April 2001 ITP asserted that the Arab Internet population has grown by 1.5 million in the last year, now estimating the total number of Arab Internet users at 3.54 million. The projection is that the total "number of Arab Internet users should burst the five million mark - or nearly 2% of entire population - by the end of the year" (ISP). Even further, ITP projects that at the end of the current year the number of Arab Internet users could double to between 10 million and 12 million users. If the past is any indication of the future, then Internet usage will grow exponentially in the next five years in the Middle East. HRW published a study of the DIT Group from July 1997 to January 1998, a six-month period, and found that Internet users in the UAE almost doubled and users in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia increased by over 15% - and that was over four years ago. There are more ISPs, more sites, more home computers, faster and cheaper service, and greater bandwidth now. Bandwidth will not be much better until 2005, according to ITP, with the combined bandwidth of eight Arab countries (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Syria, and the UAE) being equal to the bandwidth of what 518 cable modem subscribers in the US have. But these bandwidth growing pains will be fixed in time, as the region suffers from its technological advance delay from the western world, especially with regard to infrastructure. This should all make the transition to a wired society much easier. However governments in the region need to be careful about restricting access to websites and censoring people and their ideas. When countries break their own laws to try and control their citizens, that is when either the government or the laws are ineffective and need to be changed.
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Matt Mackowiak