On Wednesday, October 9, Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Joumaa filed a lawsuit against the Iraqi minister of telecommunications for disrupting and shutting down the Internet during protests in early October. The lawsuit demands that the minister of telecommunications “repeal the decision to shutdown the internet in the country and establish that network disruptions[...]
On October 4, SMEX and many other civil society organizations shared an open letter to Facebook and other tech companies to continue increasing end-to-end security across its messaging tools and resist law enforcement calls to create backdoors or exceptional access to the content of users’ messages. 4 October 2019 Dear[...]
This article has also appeared on MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab’s website. Arrived at Toronto union station on a cold Wednesday night, I rushed into a black SUV while I was keeping an eye on the endless queue of taxis waiting for the next client to come. As a Ph.D.[...]
In Lebanon, telcos and major tech companies tend to impact users’ privacy and freedom of expression. A 2018 SMEX report found that out of 66 mobile telecom operators in the MENA region, only 14 published terms of service, seven published privacy policies, and four published both. None of them are[...]
Following the massacre of peaceful protesters at a sit-in near the Army Headquarters in Khartoum on June 2nd, Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) began restricting internet connectivity throughout the country. By June 4th, the country’s internet connection was completely shutdown. Despite this, protesters called for full civil disobedience on Sunday,[...]
A few weeks ago Ogero, the ministry of telecommunications operated internet service provider (ISP), blocked Grindr, a popular gay online dating application, due to a court order from the general disciplinary judge Marie Abou Mourad, which stated that the application “secures romantic and sexual liaisons for homosexuals and bisexuals.” The[...]
It was recently revealed that Careem, the Emirati-based ride hailing company, recently purchased by Uber, routinely shares riders’ full names and phone numbers with drivers, or “captains” as the company refers to them. This policy has resulted in drivers sending unsolicited Facebook friend requests to riders, violating their privacy and[...]
On Tuesday, Uber announced that it acquired Careem, the sole competitor in the Middle East, for $ 3.1 billion. $ 1.4 billion will be paid in cash and Careem shareholders will receive $ 1.7 billion in Uber shares. “Uber will have all its transport, delivery and payment operations across the[...]
An exploit in touch’s SIM Application Toolkit (SAT) protocol enables companies and individuals to access any touch SIM card and send messages without the owner of the SIM card’s knowledge, a source familiar with the situation told SMEX. According to the source, touch SIM cards have been vulnerable for at[...]
On Wednesday, February 27, SMEX officially launched its online freedom of expression (FoE) case database, Muhal (muhal.org), at its Masaha space in Beirut. Muhal is SMEX’s ongoing, evidence-based campaign to document detentions and arrests related to online freedom of speech in Lebanon. SMEX Executive Director Mohamad Najem presented attendees with[...]
