[liberationtech] New Citizen Lab Report: The Canadian Connection: An investigation of Syrian government and Hezbullah web hosting in Canada

[SiNA]

Most if Iran's propaganda machine is also hosted in the US and Canada!
On Nov 17, 2011 11:24 AM, "Irene Poetranto" <irene.poetranto at utoronto.ca>
wrote:

> A new Citizen Lab <http://citizenlab.org> report, entitled *The Canadian
> Connection: An investigation of Syrian government and Hezbullah web hosting
> in Canada* <http://citizenlab.org/canadian-connection>, has found that
> websites of some ministries of the Syrian government, Syrian television
> station Addounia TV and Hezbullah media arm Al-Manar are being hosted on
> Canada-based web servers. As these three entities are all subject to
> Canadian sanctions, there are legal questions concerning the provision of
> web hosting services to these organizations.****
>
> This report continues Citizen Lab <http://citizenlab.org> research into
> the intersection of the private sector, authoritarianism, and cyberspace
> regulation, turning our attention to a component of the Internet that does
> not typically receive the same amount of attention as filtering,
> surveillance, and computer network attack products and services: web
> hosting services.****
>
> *Summary of main findings:*****
>
>    - Websites of the Syrian government, including the Ministries of
>    Culture,Transport, and others, are hosted on Canada-based web servers
>    through intermediary companies, one of which, called “Platinum
>    Incorporated,” advertises that it has co-location servers in Canada.***
>    *
>    - The Syrian TV station Addounia TV, which is sanctioned by Canada and
>    the European Union for inciting violence against Syrian citizens, uses
>    Canada-based web servers to host its website.****
>    - The website for Al-Manar - the official media arm of the Lebanese
>    political party, Hezbullah - is hosted on Canada- and US-based web servers
>    and employs Canada-based web servers to stream its TV broadcast globally.
>    Al-Manar satellite broadcasts have been banned by the US, France, Spain,
>    and Germany as well as the European Union. The United States includes
>    Al-Manar on its Specially Designated Nationals List, a list of entities
>    with which U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing, and the
>    assets of which are blocked. Canada currently classifies Hezbullah as a
>    terrorist organization.****
>    - There are legal questions concerning the provision of web hosting
>    services to each of these organizations. As the Syrian government, Addounia
>    TV, and Hezbullah are all subject to Canadian sanctions, services provided
>    by Canada-based hosting providers to these entities may fall within the
>    scope of the sanctions.****
>    - Any consideration of the removal of an organization’s website from
>    web hosting services, however, must be treated as a potential infringement
>    on freedom of speech and access to information, with due process and proper
>    accountability mechanisms clearly articulated and followed.****
>
> Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab <http://citizenlab.org> and Canada
> Centre for Global Security Studies<http://www.munkschool.utoronto.ca/canadacentre/>,
> at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, remarks:
> ****
>
> “Our findings peel back the layers of a complex, highly nuanced, and often
> seamy world of web hosting. That Syrian government websites, including a
> Syrian state-backed television station known to be inciting violence, are
> hosted in Canada, is at minimum in contradiction to Canada’s stated foreign
> policy and possibly material support to a regime that is now globally
> condemned for its repression and violence. We encourage governments, civil
> society, and the private sector to seriously consider how best to handle
> the expanding responsibilities of web hosting companies and how due process
> and proper accountability mechanisms can be normalized in ways that protect
> free speech and access to information, while avoiding support for human
> rights abuses and repressive regimes in ways that we document in this
> report.”****
>
> *The full report can be accessed here:
> http://www.citizenlab.org/canadian-connection*
>
> *--*****
>
> *About the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies*
> The Canada Centre for Global Security Studies<http://www.munkschool.utoronto.ca/canadacentre/>is an interdisciplinary unit at the Munk School of Global Affairs,
> University of Toronto that engages in advanced research and policy
> development around global security issues including cyber security, global
> health, and region-specific concerns, such as the Arctic, Europe and the
> Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia, and the changing face of the
> Americas.
>
> *About the Citizen Lab*
> The Citizen Lab <http://citizenlab.org/> is an interdisciplinary
> laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of
> Toronto, Canada focusing on advanced research and development at the
> intersection of digital media, global security, and human rights. The
> Citizen Lab’s ongoing research network includes the Information Warfare
> Monitor, the OpenNet Initiative, OpenNet Eurasia, and Opennet.Asia.
>  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Irene Poetranto****
>
> Communications Assistant****
>
> Citizen Lab****
>
> Munk School of Global Affairs****
>
> University of Toronto****
>
> www.citizenlab.org****
>
> Follow us on Twitter @citizenlab****
>
>
>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
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