Some Work

This is a second draft of the second section I have to write for my second National Model Arab League. I am chairman of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior. Last year I was in environmental where I was, ahem, second in command.

Regulating Internet resources that promote internal political instability.
I. Facts
In researching this topic delegates will find a plethora of information on one side of the debate and a dearth on the other. Internet sources are uniformly in favor of free net usage and access. In fact, it can be hard to remember that the governments and organization that we represent are often opposed to these principles, and that the thrust of this topic is in cooperating to censor internet material that each government finds dangerous. On methods of censorship, not surprisingly, precious little exists online, and I applaud any delegate who can come up with hard facts on the methods and data of online censorship in the Arab world. That said, we must not allow this information discrepancy to hobble our discussion of the Internet issue.
The internet is quite a new phenomenon in the world at large, and particularly in the Arab world, where it has “one of the lower and slower rates of Internet growth in the world”, according to Jon W. Anderson, whose article “Producers and Middle East Internet Technology” has data on usage that is relevant to our discussion. His April 1999 estimates for Internet usage, in absolute numbers of subscriptions, are:

Saudi Arabia	340,000
UAE	290,000
Egypt	210,000
Lebanon	160,000
Kuwait	105,00
Bahrain	80,000
Jordan	70,000
Oman	45,000
Morocco	35,000
Qatar	20,000
Tunisia	10,000
Yemen	5,000

Growth rates from 1997-1999 are generally proportionate to total number of 1999 subscriptions, and growth rates were higher in 1999 than in previous years. Keep in mind that the user per subscription ration is high in the Arab world, and inversely proportionate to the ratio of subscriptions per person. Edmund Ghareeb cites a 2000 Internet survey indicating 1.9 million users in March of 2000, but projecting growth to 12 million users by the end of 2002 (Ghareeb, 415).
Moving beyond simple facts, delegates must understand the theoretical debate about the actual effects of the Internet on the “Arab street”. It is worthwhile to research and understand the opposing camps in the endless debate about the effects of a new technology - be it the crossbow or the fax machine - on a society. Briefly, the "technological determinists" on one end and the "instrumentalists" on the other occupy the two extreme positions of the debate. Determinists believe that technologies have innate values, and will thus affect any society to which they are introduced in a similar fashion. For instance, the musket has been called a “democratic technology” because when it was introduced it took military power out of the hands of the trained military elite, sidelining Teutonic Knights and Samurai alike. Marshal McLuhan is a well-known determinist academic in the field of communication; he said, “The medium is the message,” and maintained that a means of mass communication has an innate message (McLuhan and Fiore). Many contemporary pundits inadvertently agree with McLuhan, assuming that new communication technologies will overthrow traditional or oppressive regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere. Mamoun Fandy’s article in the Middle East Journal’s special issue on the Information Revolution (v.54 no. 3) contends with McLuhan and with the media perception, and claims that the new media of communication have not effected change in the Arab world, where trust is vested in personal reliability more than in expert opinion. Fandy’s viewpoint can be characterized from a theoretical standpoint as “utilitarian.” Utilitarians believe that a new technology will be utilized by a given society within their cultural context and its effect (or lack thereof) will be a product of the society and its worldview. For utilitarians, objects and technologies hold no values except those imbued on them by the user. Thus, the printing press, though it caused tremendous upheaval in Europe, did not have even a shadow of that effect when introduced in the Arab world: different societies used the same technology with different effects.
In the context of this theoretical debate, it is vital to keep in mind the size and influence of the Internet in the Arab world vis-à-vis older forms of mass communication, including television, newspapers, radio, the mosque and the souq. While we are specifically discussing the Internet, the wider significance of mass communication and information access in your country, not your personal experience of Internet use as an American (or other) university student, should serve as your base of reference.

II. Legislation, etc.
The Internet is probably the most unregulated sphere of modern life, due to its newness, complexity, and sheer size. Most governments are unsure how to - or if they should - regulate Internet usage, tax e-commerce, and combat Internet crime. Western governments have taken a laissez faire approach to the Internet, and do very little to interfere in the online world. Arab governments differ in their level of regulation, but are typically wary of the World Wide Web, and quicker to regulate it. The small number of Arab users and hosts makes a regulating government’s job easier. Exactly how effective Arab regulators are is anyone’s guess. To cite an anecdote, a friend of mine attests that the Syrian blockage of YahooMail can be circumvented with a bit of simple hacking.
Internationally, legislation is virtually nonexistent. International law protects intellectual property online as well as on paper, and international agreements exist to outlaw hacking and other obvious crimes. However, very little consensus exists on what to do or how to do it, and most Western governments are content to do nothing, leaving legislation on the world’s most borderless facet up to local governments. The United Nations has passed resolutions on “questions relating to information” (e.g. A/RES/64/56), but they tend to focus on freedom of speech, journalism, bridging the digital divide, and even the U.N. website - they do not explicitly encourage regulation of politically destabilizing material.

III. Responsibilities of the Delegate
As always, the delegate must accurately research and represent his or her country’s relevant facts and viewpoints. Of particular interest in this topic area are the extent and methods of regulation or censorship used in your country; are they successful? Is the internet really a relevant issue in mass communication in your country? Furthermore, research your government’s desired level of internet use and regulation. What are its long term goals regarding information technology?
In your theoretical approach to technology, adopt your government’s or prevailing national attitude. Is the government utilitarian, determinist, or something in between? Do you suspect a hidden agenda regarding the Internet?
Find out whether your government feels threatened by other groups or governments, and if you can, visit websites that may be considered dangerous by your government. I would encourage delegates to use creative means of research to find difficult to come by information; speaking to expatriates from your country is a worthwhile, if non-academic, means of research.
Needless to say, these directives and questions are not exhaustive, and it is the delegate’s responsibility to come fully prepared and well read on this topic.

IV. Bibliography and Recommended Resources
Anderson, Jon, “Producers and Middle East Technology: Getting Beyond ‘Impacts’,” Middle East Journal 54:419-431 (Washington, D.C.: Middle East Institute, 2000).
Eickelman, Dale, “Bin Laden, the Arab “Street” and the Middle East’s Democracy Deficit,” Current History 101:36-39 (New York: Events Pub. Co., 2002).
ESIS Program, http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/esis/default.htm.
Fandy, Mamoun, “Information Technology, Trust, and Social Change in the Arab World,” Middle East Journal 54:378-394 (Washington, D.C.: Middle East Institute, 2000).
Georgetown University, Working Papers on New Media & Internet Technology in the Middle East, http://nmit.georgetown.edu.
Ghareeb, Edmund, “New Media and the Information Revolution in the Arab World: An Assessment,” Middle East Journal 54:395-418 (Washington, D.C.: Middle East Institute, 2000).
Human Rights Watch, MENA IT Study, http://www.hrw.org/advocacy/internet/mena/int-mena.htm.
“Internet Use Skyrocketing in the Middle East,” NUA Surveys Ltd, 9 March 2000. http://www.nua.net/.
McLuhan, Marshal and Quintin Fiore, The Medium is the Message (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967).
United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2002, http://www.undp.org.
United Nations General Assembly, “Combating the Criminal Misuse of Information Technologies”, Resolution Adopted By The General Assembly 55/63. 22 January 2001. Document number A/RES/55/63.
United Nations General Assembly, “Questions Relating to Information”, Resolution Adopted By The General Assembly 56/64. 15 February 2002. Document number A/RES/56/64.
Special thanks to Dr. Karla Cunningham, SUNY Geneseo, on this section.