Hillary Clinton responds to Syria shutting down Internet
In a possible attempt to frustrate opposition groups to the Assad government, much of Syria has been unreachable by the internet since Friday. More than two-thirds of all Syrian networks were withdrawn from the global routing tables, essentially leaving only state-run SyriaTel as the sole source of internet activity.
3G mobile networks and smaller, independent Internet Service Providers (ISP) have been shut down.
Of course, Syria has a history of shutting down opposition voices using numerous tactics from police-state violence to jailing bloggers who appear threatening to the government.
In response to the Syrian internet shutdown, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the following remarks Saturday:
We are deeply concerned by reports that Internet service has been shut down across much of Syria, as have some mobile communication networks. We condemn any effort to suppress the Syrian people’s exercise of their rights to free expression, assembly, and association.
Two weeks ago, the White House released the International Strategy for Cyberspace, which noted that “States should not arbitrarily deprive or disrupt individuals’ access to the Internet or other networked technologies.” We condemn such shutdowns in the strongest terms.
The Syrian government has a history of restricting the Internet in an attempt to prevent the Syrian people from accessing and sharing information. The Syrian government must understand that attempting to silence its population cannot prevent the transition currently taking place. We believe that even in the face of significant obstacles, the Syrian people will — and should — find a way to make their voices heard.
The United States stands for universal human rights, including freedom of expression, and we call on all governments to respect them.
According to the website, Infowar Monitor, the contest in cyberspace between governments and opposition groups have come to a head since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year.
They report that Syria has become the first Arab country to have a public Internet Army hosted on its national networks to openly launch cyber attacks on its enemies. Known as The Syrian Electronic Army, they are a pro-government computer attack group that is actively targeting political opposition and Western websites.
Could they be behind the internet shutdown? Still unknown up to this point.
Note: The internet in Syria was restored on Saturday
Source: examiner.com
Bashar al-Assad under pressure April 2011 cartoon by Carlos Latuff via wikimedia commons
