Image via twitter.com/fouadmokdad, July 2018: One of the unverified WhatsApp applications found online. Many websites and hyperlinks to unverified WhatsApp applications–marketed as “WhatsApp Plus” and promising its users additional features for free–are being shared widely on Twitter, WhatsApp, and other social media. SMEX (smex.org), an organization whose mission is to[...]
Last week, the Egyptian parliament approved a draconian also known as the Cybercrimes law, which compels Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Egypt to censor content and collect data on users at the behest of the government and outlines harsh punishments for individuals. Violators of this law can face up to[...]
Feature image via Pixels, 2018. According to a statement from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF), several WhatsApp users have complained that their accounts have been hacked and their information stolen by unknown parties who managed to exploit SMS activation codes sent by the company to users’ phones via SMS.[...]
Feature image via Youtube: The image Youtube presents when a video is no longer available. On Saturday, Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled to uphold a lower administrative court’s decision instructing the Ministry of Communications and Information to block YouTube for 30 days. This ruling came in response to YouTube’s alleged[...]
A targeted, albeit relatively unsophisticated, cyberespionage campaign with servers based in Iran has targeted the Android mobile devices of users in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, and Iran, according to a recent report from the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab. Following the publication of the report, an independent hacker dumped some of the[...]
Feature image via Pixel. This week, authorities arrested journalists, bloggers, and human rights activists in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Early Wednesday morning, Egyptian police raided the home of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas and arrested him. His whereabouts are still unknown but authorities confiscated his personal computer, phones, and books,[...]
Feature image via facebook May 15, 2018: A bar graph shows newest Transparency report displaying the number of content restrictions in Lebanon. In Facebook’s newly published Transparency report, the company revealed it restricted or removed content in Lebanon for the first time since it began issuing the reports in 2013.[...]
Feature image October 26, 2017: The Great Departed playing in Zurich. On May 11, SMEX and Lebanese band Al-Rahel Al-Kabir (The Great Departed) launched a petition demanding that iTunes Middle East release a public explanation for its refusal to upload five of the band’s songs, which mock religious fundamentalism, political[...]
In a tweet, a Mauritanian citizen makes light of his account’s suspension on Facebook. Mauritanian activists accused local telecom operator Mauritel of reporting some of their accounts on social media. This move, they say, comes after more than a week since they launched a digital rights campaign demanding that the[...]