After many years of restricted Internet use, Tunisians, by toppling Ben Ali’s regime, removed the imposed censorship by the government and became free to express their views and criticism against it; however, this freedom is under threat of a setback.

After many years of restricted Internet use, Tunisians, by toppling Ben Ali’s regime, removed the imposed censorship by the government and became free to express their views and criticism against it; however, this freedom is under threat of a setback.

Concerns about the return of blocking policy on the cyberspace, which largely contributed to the Arab Spring, have increased, following the statement of the minister revealing that the government is drafting a law to define the “concept and scope of censorship” that will be presented to the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) in the coming period.

“Ammar 404 is back” has become the most common phrase among Tunisian activists on social networking sites following the statements of the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Mongi Marzouk that the current government intends to “monitor” the Internet.

“Ammar 404” is the nickname Tunisian Internet activists used for the Internet censorship system under Ben Ali, when all websites criticizing the regime were banned where the standard “404, File Not Found” error message that was so often received when visiting a blocked site.

Restricting Internet use

The minister explained that the intent behind Internet censorship was to “protect users” from what he called “Internet crimes”, considering that some “confused” the concepts of legal censorship with blocking. The fact that Internet censorship would not affect people’s freedoms has been emphasized by the Prime Minister’s political consultant, Lotfi Zitoun, who stated that his government “will not issue any decree that would restrict freedoms”.

The “Tunisian Spring”, according to international organizations, is gradually retracting from the Internet, and reports suggest recent “Internet surveillance and free speech restrictions”.  In addition, ‘Reporters without Borders’ demonstrated some concerns about the Tunisian authorities’ will to impose restrictions on the Internet in a country where Internet has been classified as “free” since the 13^th of January 2011 – the day on which the former president announced in his last speech the removal of Internet restrictions.

At the time, this statement was perceived as a confession made on the part of Ben Ali’s regime that it really adopted means of restriction policies to block sites classified as “forbidden” for their criticism of Ben Ali’s domestic and foreign politics. Consequently, after the disposal of the regime in January 2011, Internet censorship and blocking systems were removed.

Controversy continues in Tunisia on whether censorship is the ideal solution to protect cyberspace from many violations such as incitement to violence, slander or libel. However, such concerns are not convincing enough for other parties warning against what they call government’s “implicit” intentions aiming at “taming the electronic space and restricting freedom of expression,” as declared by Iyed Dahmani, an NCA member.

This controversy increased following an earlier proclamation of the Minister of Information and Communication Technologies that “internet in Tunisia is under surveillance as any other modern communication technology, and such surveillance is in turn under a specific law framework that ensures the safety of citizens and consequently the end of websites blocking era”.

Blocking operations targeting mainly pornographic sites were resumed by the Tunisian Internet Agency after it got the court order it had specified as a condition to do it. However, these blockings later widened to include Facebook accounts of activists, by permission of military justice.

Censorship justifications

The government justified the return of Internet censorship, saying that there is “no state that does not have censorship”, “ censorship must be governed by law”, and that “police censorship” will not return.

Zitoun says that opening the file of Internet censorship was not a “political decision” but rather a “technical” one, denying his government’s intention to “resume censorship” on the Internet. He claims that his government intends to guarantee Internet freedom; however, this freedom is far from absolute.

Ridha Guellouz, a general director at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, believes that the blocking operation is intended to “preserve traditional morals” formulated “on a national level agreement”.

Despite the justifications of the current government that blocking policies aimed at protecting families and morals, opponents of such policies express concerns that this step might be an excuse for the government to block whichever content it does not approve. These opponents are skeptic about the government’s promises that censorship operations will be subject to legal obligations defined in the current Communication Act, which obligates the authorities responsible for censorship to obtain a “jurisdictional permission” to block or monitor any Internet activity.

The objection made by civil society activists to any governmental interference that may restrict Internet freedom coincides with the government intention to pass the law of “Internet governance” proclaimed by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, upon launching the Information and Communication Technology Forum. He stressed the fact that “talking about restrictions on Internet usage in Tunisia has become past”. He, however, added: “today, there is no room for political utilization”.

This exception by the first man in power has been perceived by the general secretary of Tunisian Workers’ Communist Party, Hamma Hammami, as a gateway to impose strict censorship on the Internet, stressing the fact that it is “an indicator of an emerging dictatorship.” Hammami remarked that the former regime adopted Internet restriction policies in order to control the local public opinion, and suggested this might the aim of the Ennahda Movement.

“The censorship sought by the government is a cloned version of the former regime’s guard dogs” says Blogger Haytham Makki.  “Any attempt to impose censorship on the Internet will be addressed vigorously and violently in cyberspace.”

Having been one of the bloggers who contributed to reporting the revolution events, Makki stressed his full rejection of imposing Internet censorship that aims at “testing” political activists, basing his argument on his conclusion that “the government used to adopt a test balloons policy.”

Test balloons

Fatima Riyahi, a well-known revolutionary blogger, described the controversy about “the comeback of Internet censorship and blocking” as “air balloons”. She even scoffed at the government’s intent to adopt a censorship policy, which is “useless” due to “proxy systems”.

It seems that 4.2 million Internet users, according to official statistics, will have to wait until Tunisia accedes to the “Freedom of Expression Online Dynamic Coalition,” which was undertaken by the Prime Minster who said, “Tunisia is among the six member states presenting this initiative to the UN Human Rights Council on 29 June 2012″. Tunisia seeks to host the Third Freedom Online Conference of 2013.