Jonathan-
It's actually a very good point you're making. I hope that one outcome
of a civil society response to this incident is that pressure can also
be placed on the PA and Hamas to stop infringing upon online speech of
organizations under their jurisdiction in similar ways.
Of course the point of this post and this article is to highlight a
specific incident in which neither the PA or Hamas are implicated.
-Mallory
On 05/08/2012 11:09 AM, Jonathan Ezor wrote:
The one-sided, incendiary and inaccurate terminology of the blog
posting quoted by Mallory Knodel creates the impression that, were it
not for the actions of the overbearing Israelis, Palestinians would
otherwise enjoy full computer and Internet freedom. Of course, this is
far from the truth. Rather, as reported by many including Thomas
Friedman in his 7 May 2012 New York Times editorial
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/world/middleeast/arab-spring-stirs-palestinian-journalists-to-test-limits.html),
it is the Palestinian Authority which has suppressed online speech,
arrested bloggers and journalists for governmental criticism, and
sought to block entire Web sites, only to be foiled in the last effort
because (as Friedman says the now-resigned Palestinian Authority
communications minister Mashour Abudaka stated) "with Israeli Internet
providers covering much of the West Bank, it is impossible to block
any site completely, 'so why give us the image of a dictatorship?'"
That is, Palestinians must utilize Israeli ISPs because they, unlike
their Palestinian counterparts, are not being blocked in the name of
suppression.
It is incumbent upon all of us that, before we accept any side's
version of events such as the alleged seizure of the BlockTheWall
computers reported in this blog, we seek out additional, empirical
sources to get a full (or at least better) understanding of what
happened. This is as true today as it was for the various actions
chronicled by Bruce Sterling in The Hacker Crackdown decades ago, and
those who are subject to governmental action may be just as likely to
skew reporting for their own purposes as governments themselves.
{Jonathan}
-------------------
Prof. Jonathan I. Ezor
Assistant Professor of Law
Director, Institute for Business, Law and Technology (IBLT)
Touro Law Center
225 Eastview Drive, Central Islip, NY 11722
Direct: 631-761-7119
e-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; PGP key 0xFBA73A9E
Skype: jonathanezor Twitter: profjonathan
*From:*[email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of
*Mallory Knodel
*Sent:* Tuesday, May 08, 2012 10:46 AM
*To:* Liberation Technologies
*Subject:* [liberationtech] Computer seizure in the West Bank
I believe these actions, such as those by the FBI on the May First and
Riseup server, are indicative of the power of online networks for
social change. The two situations are quite different in that
escalation of this attack on Palestinian civil society is a very real
possibility without some international outcry. Some are suspecting
that this is related to the current hunger strike of thousands of
Palestinian prisoners.
<snip>
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--
Mallory Knodel
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Association for Progressive Communications :: apc.org <http://apc.org>
skype/yahoo. malloryknodel :: mobile. +1917.796.6884
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