Hamza Ben Mehrez's Blog (22)

“Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success,” said Vint Cerf, considered by many as the father of the Internet. He was speaking of a vision shared widely and a fundamental concept on the Internet: Net Neutrality. A term often heard, Net Neutrality is simply defined as the principle that Internet users can connect to any other point in the network. In other words, users…

TUNIS, TUNISIA, 4 October 2016 —

The Internet Governance in the Middle East and North Africa (iGmena) program (www.igmena.org), an initiative of the Hague-based Humanistic Institute for Development (Hivos) (www.hivos.org), held its first-ever Summit in Tunis, Tunisia, from 30 September and to 2 October. iGmena Summit 2016 was hosted by…

On May 10, 2016, the Egyptian Parliament began working on a new draft of a bill related to cyber crime. This bill was been submitted by MP Tamer Shihawi, and sets out new penalties and sanctions for a number of illegal electronic practices and crimes. Shihawi’s suggestion came as a reaction against what he called "chaotic" and individual "violations" on the internet.



He justified his proposition by the fact that this law aims to protect national security,…

Venue : 404 labs, 13  Jugurtha Street, Mutuelle Ville

The Internet Governance in the Middle East and North African Region program(IGMENA) will organize a roundtable discussion on 20 May 2016 at 3 PM. The meeting will be held in the previous ATI headquarter (404 labs). The Tunisian Internet Agency ATI is the exclusive state Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in the country. ATI was considered, during the former regime as the…

As an Internet Society board member coming from the Middle East, I’m often confronted by the question of whether it is enough to have Internet access, or must we also ensure that the access is open and unrestricted. I hereby lay the case in this short article in defense of the argument that having an open Internet does matter and we ought to ensure it remains so.



For development



With an open Internet, there is a steady stream of…

The Constitutive General Assembly of the Moroccan Federation of Internet Associations (MFIA) was held on the sidelines of…

In the Middle East and North Africa region, technology has become a tool that mediates a vast set of interoperable relationships between Internet governance stakeholders that include governments, businesses, civil society, the technical community, and academia. It touches upon fundamental aspects of the end user’s everyday consumption of the Internet. This includes issues that concern cybersecurity, human rights, net neutrality, state surveillance, and censorship.…

The world is currently watching and waiting for the victory of one of two warring sides. It is a battle of privacy versus national security. The world is divided into two rival groups: one stands up for the personal privacy side (Apple), while the other takes the side of national security (FBI) as it is public interest and it is a worthy protection.



The story started when FBI asked for Apple’s help to breach the privacy settings of one of Apple’s…

The ICANN 55 fellowship in Marrakesh, 5-10 March 2016 represented the perfect opportunity to showcase the engagement of the IGMENA community of fellows from across the MENA region. They came to the ICANN fellowship program to explore what it means to be an active member of the ICANN fellowship community. They discovered the ICANN multi-stakeholder policy process through their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and support from their coaches and the wider ICANN community.



IGMENA…

The second IGMENA Google Hangout of 2016 addressed the topic of Exploring Gender Internet Policy Gaps in the Mena Region. The debate was moderated by Mr. Hamza Ben Mehrez, the Policy Analyst Lead at IGMENA. The participants in this debate were prominent women Internet governance leaders from across the MENA Region:

 

• Ms. Oumaima Elsherif, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Promising voices foundation for human rights and participatory development,…

 

Four women Internet Policy Analyst (IPA) authors, part of the Internet Governance for the MENA Region (IGMENA) program, came to the Tunis International Radio Channel to talk about gender, human rights, and Internet governance and shed light on Internet gender policy gaps in the MENA region. The radio session tacked many questions on gender as it relates to Internet policies. The IPA authors answered questions such as: What is the size of the Internet gender gap?…

Internet Governance for the MENA Region (IGMENA) program authors came to the Tunis International Radio Channel Radio (RTCI) Session English Hour with Mrs. Hayat Toukabri to share their experiences with the Internet Policy Analyst (IPA) project and the Arab Internet Governance Forum (AIGF) that was held in Beirut. The radio guests included:

 

• Mr. Hafeth Yahmadi, Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group Member, AIGF

• Mr. Hamza Ben Mehrez,…

We are so happy to announce that our project made it to the semi finals of WSIS prize 2016! We can win this prize only if you vote for our distinguish Igmena initiative!



The voting phase is open to all WSIS Stakeholders and will be conducted entirely online. Only votes submitted through the WSIS Prizes 2016 website will be counted. The voting period will last until 10 March 2016. We all need to vote for the IG-MENA project in Category 4.



You…

Topic: Exploring Gender Internet Policy Gaps in the Mena Region

Date: Monday, February 22, 2016

Time: 15:00 CET – 16:00 CET

Platform: Google Hangouts 



Speakers:

• Ms. Noha Fathi, Independent Internet governance consultant, Egypt 
• Ms. Nour El Nemr, Political Science Student at the British University ,…

On the fifth anniversary of its revolution, Tunisia had much to celebrate, many lessons still to learn, and a lot to teach other countries. However, the upheavals in the region make Tunisia’s own fitful democratic transition uneasy to adapt a hopeful vision for the future of democracy in the country. Yet as grim as things may sometimes look, there is no choice but to stay optimistic for the course towards internet freedom, a strong internet governance (IG) ecosystem…

Moroccan Internet users have discovered since Tuesday, January 5th, in the late afternoon, a total blocking of voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) calls, particularly on the Viber, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp applications

cut Morocco’s Voice over IP (VoIP). There has been no official communication on the issue from the Moroccan…

In the Middle East and North African Region, technology has become a tool that mediates a vast set of relationships that touches fundamental aspects of the dailyuser’s life on the internet. This includes issues that concern cyber security, human rights, and anti-surveillance measures.

The numbers of individuals that can understand, build, and work with these evolving technological tools and platforms remains relatively small in the Arab world. Further, these people are…

Since people in the Arab world manifested their massive desire for political change and more access to social and economic freedom and rights. The Arab revolution has arguably demonstrated the internet's ability to drive democratic change. As tech-savvy youngsters in Tunisia and Egypt pushed aside their ageing despots, the surprising criticism are hurrying to not only include online activism in the mainstream of the political and social transformation in the Arab world but a calls for push…