MyAdhan Blog

Link: Opening up an Internet café in Syria? Good luck

Tough licensing procedures, harsh security regulations, strict censorship measures, and blatant abuses of personal privacy are among the litany of things that young entrepreneurs endure when setting up Internet cafés in Syria. New Internet laws keep coming and Syrian authorities often quote unwritten legal conditions because they are, like many Arab governments, behind the technology curve, always scrambling to figure out new ways to catch up in their methods of control. Take the bureaucratic process that any would-be Internet café owner must now endure. First, you have to get a license from the Syrian Telecommunications Institution, which inevitably involves a great deal of paperwork and administrative procedures. Next, there is a security license granted by the Interior Ministry in which a set of security instructions is issued in a coordinated effort with the Telecommunications Institution. Among the instructions given to potential café owners by this joint communiqué are that each café visitor must provide his name, ID, and the names of his or her mother and father. The café owner must then present to visitors instructions as to which religious and political websites they are banned from using. A typical sign-up sheet at an internet cafe in Syria. Names of father, mother and ID must be presented, although this is often not enforced. Reporters Without Borders estimates that the Syrian authorities had previously banned over 100 websites, while the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCMFE) estimates that more than 161 sites have been banned, with the latest being Wikipedia, Youtube and Maktoob blogs. As for the sites of “questionable moral standing,” they come at the end of the list of banned websites. Although in practice, the porn websites are available in nearly every café. Inevitably there are the lectures from the authorities in both governmental offices briefing you about what you need to avoid when you operate the café; euphemisms for “We will get you if you don’t censor your users.” And the penalties are stiff for those who fail to follow the rules. These range from simply closing the café to having the licenses withdrawn, paying huge fines and in extreme cases, jail time.