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

[Ti Chesley]

Details, please? :)

On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 8:41 AM, elham gheytanchi <elhamucla at hotmail.com> wrote:
> and Iranian officials purchase filtering software from companies in the
> US via third parties.
>
>
> ________________________________
> Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:55:33 -0800
> From: sina.rabbani at gmail.com
> To: irene.poetranto at utoronto.ca
> CC: liberationtech at mailman.stanford.edu
> Subject: Re: [liberationtech] New Citizen Lab Report: The Canadian
> Connection: An investigation of Syrian government and Hezbullah web hosting
> in Canada
>
> 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 report, entitled The Canadian Connection: An investigation
> of Syrian government and Hezbullah web hosting in Canada, 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 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 and Canada Centre for Global
> Security Studies, 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 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 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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