LIRNEasia » Israel

Censorship: the nuclear option

Rohan Samarajiva — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:11:51 +0000

Some governments shut down telecom networks including the Internet to control dissent. Others do not. What are the conditions that give rise to the former action? Why do others not do this? Israel never shuts down telecom networks but Sri Lanka does. Why?

And yet the Twittering goes on. As states such as Iran crack down on online speech and organizing, clever netizens find ways around the controls. In Iran as well as in China, Burma and parts of the former Soviet Union, there’s an on-again, off-again process of citizens speaking out and states pushing back.

Of course, governments always have the nuclear option when it comes to the Internet: They can shut it down and keep it down. It’s what Burma did when monks took to the streets in 2007. It’s the policy of North Korea and Cuba, where only very few people can access the Internet, usually for very narrow purposes.

Full story in Washington Post.

Over 200,000 in Jaffna deprived of phone service now for two months

Rohan Samarajiva — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:37:34 +0000

Dialog Telekom took a courageous step in 2002, deciding within weeks of the Cease Fire Agreement being signed that it would supply telecom services to the people of the North and East who had been excluded from the country’s telecom revolution for so long, because of the conflict and the military’s prohibition of service in conflict areas. The services thus provided were, without question, the most important dividend that the people of Jaffna saw from the path of peace, followed by the mobility allowed by the opening and restoring of the A9 highway.

Now, Dialog and the people of the North are paying the price of the path of war. For two months, the mobile networks have been shut down in the North, with service being allowed intermittently in the East. This means that approximately 220,000 families are unable to communicate with their loved ones in the North and that another 200,000 or so families are not sure their phone will work when they most need it.

Dialog, a company that has been the darling of the stock market since its successful IPO is looking at the loss not only of a significant number of subscribers, but also of a higher proportion of revenues because these are high-spending customers, as documented in the sample survey LIRNEasia conducted in the Jaffna district before the window of opportunity closed in 2005. It is noteworthy that they are continuing to maintain their commercial relationship in the region, optimistic that they will be allowed to restore service soon.

LIRNEasia believes that communication is a basic right. We have shown that in many conflict areas the phones continue to work, Israel and Palestine being the classic examples. We hope that the leaders of the government of consensus will do the right thing by the people of Jaffna and the East, who are today unable to communicate with their loved ones.

Mobile masts to measure rainfall

Rohan Samarajiva — Sun, 07 May 2006 00:07:07 +0000

Interesting link between ICT network growth and LIRNEasia’s interest in applying ICTs to disaster preparedness:

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Mobile masts signal rain showers

“The signals from mobile phone masts have been used to measure rainfall patterns in Israel, scientists report.

A team from the University of Tel Aviv analysed information routinely collected by mobile networks to make their estimates.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say their technique is more accurate than current methods used by meteorological services.

The scientists believe the technique can also measure snowfall, hail or fog.

“It may also be important because if you know there is heavy rainfall – you can warn about floods,” Professor Hagit Messer-Yaron, of the University of Tel Aviv, told the BBC News website. “