Arab News Blog

Comprehensive coverage of this from Eman AbdElRahman, Global Voices Online, Egypt: IslamOnline Employees Strike, 16 Mar 2010 "It is worth mentioning that this strike may be the first instance in which strikers use new media efficiently and effectively to draw all the attention needed to support their cause, from continuous Twitter updates to Live streaming."

There’s a Facebook group: IslamOnline
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LA Times, Babylon & Beyond, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Skype plans to open Persian Gulf office in effort to tackle ban, 15 Mar 2010 "At a recent media conference in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Skype announced plans to open an office in the Persian Gulf in the next few months in a move to try to lift a ban imposed on the service in several parts of the region and develop strategic
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LA Times, Babylon & Beyond, MIDDLE EAST: Iran and Arab countries "enemies of the Internet," says report, 15 Mar 2010 "As of last week, the advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders counted nearly 120 bloggers, journalists and others behind bars for their online activities — more than any other time since the creation of the Internet."

See Reporters Without Borders, Web 2.0 versus Control
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Gaith Saqer, arabcrunch.com, Updated: Google: Special Treatment to Palestine The Only Country in the World that has Free Gmail SMS After US!?, 11 Mar 2010 "Google has a neat gmail feature that lets user to send free text messages (SMS) to their friends directly from your Gmail account that works the same way gtalk works. Gmail SMS service was originally launched only for US mobile numbers in 2008
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LA Times, Babylon & Beyond, Man in sexually suggestive YouTube video is arrested, 10 Mar 2010 "Again, a controversial, sexually charged video has gone viral in Saudi Arabia. And, again, it appears to have ruffled the feathers of Saudi guardians of morality." [tip: Mona Eltahawy]

Also see al-Bab, Saudi jailed and flogged for gay video, 11 Mar 2010 "A 27-year-old Saudi man from Jeddah has been
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Tim Stevens, ubiwar.com, To Cyberwar, Or Not to Cyberwar, 12 Mar 2010 "Just to round up a few bits and pieces about this are-we-at-cyberwar-or-not business. Sorry for the reflexive nature of this post but there are quite a few posts that need drawing together in one place."
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United States Institute of Peace, Next Generation Peacebuilding in Iraq is interesting in terms of this blog, as it will include a webcast from Iraq. [today, 2 pm to 3:30 pm (Eastern)]

Also see Meedan, The US Institute of Peace webcast "Next Generation Peacebuilding in Iraq"

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It will be interesting to learn what
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boingboing.net, Beyond breaking firewalls: how to fight net-censorship "Ethan Zuckerman’s new piece on Worldchanging, "Internet Freedom: Beyond Circumvention," looks at the technical and social limitations of circumvention of censoring firewalls that we love so much as a tool for helping people in repressive regimes liberate themselves."

And here it is:

Ethan Zuckerman, worldchanging.com,
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Gaith Saqer, arabcrunch.com, AlJazeera Launches Its Arabic Live Streaming iPhone App for Free, Makes its Symbian/WinMobile App Free, 2 Mar 2010 "The number one TV news station in the Arab world, Al Jazeera, has just launched its Arabic channel Live streaming iPhone app for free." I’ll have to try this one out.
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Salma Hasan Ali, altmuslim.com, Rock and roll jihad for peace, 3 Mar 2010 "Salman Ahmad, founder of South Asia’s most successful rock band Junoon, has been on a rock and roll jihad (struggle) ever since his first concert at 18 – a medical school talent show in Lahore, Pakistan. Eyes closed, emotions pumped, he was ripping through Van Halen’s Eruption on his guitar, mesmerized by the crowd’s
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