Syrian protestors are scared to use Facebook and Twitter, saying the government tracks their posts, as officials in that region attempt to prevent another Arab Spring uprising.
"The government reopened Facebook because they realized that it was more useful for them to allow activists to communicate on the site, and then track us down using their team of loyalists who search the Internet," said one protester going by the name Rana.
Rather than tweeting or posting, therefore, they have taken to spreading protest news via word of mouth and slightly safer IRC chat rooms. But these methods are slower and tend not to draw large crowds.
Perhaps because they fear to post any revolutionary thoughts online, Syrians have not seen large-scale uprisings like those during Egypt and Tunisia's revolutions. Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarakmust pay a $91 million fine for shutting down digital communications during the winter protests, with the aim of preventing people from rallying against him on Facebook and in the streets.
After Egypt exploded into revolution, news of the uprisings instantly reached Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and others via Twitter and Facebook, aiding those countries' people in orchestrating rebellions as well. Even Yemen had 100,000 people turn out to protest President Ali Abdulla Saleh's rule.
In an effort to prevent the overthrow of its President Bashar al-Assad, Syria blocked social media and other websites since 2000. Some even accuse Iran of aiding in Syria's online restrictions, saying Tehran sent tracking equipment to al-Assad to help it spy on its citizens. Both countries deny this accusation.
Neither Syria nor Iran desires a large-scale uproar like the movements in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and other countries this past year. Iran is planning to create an airtight internal Internet within two years in order to dampen any anti-government sentiment.
Syria also requires people to show ID and take thumbprints when they buy SIM cards for their phones, leading some protestors to use SIM cards from the deceased to avoid government tracking.
It's difficult, however, to gauge the level of Syria's governmental control over the Internet and mobile communications. In a country that forbids foreign journalists and pressures local media to censor their stories, most non-official news about Syria comes from underground bloggers, YouTube videos and exiled activists.
And sometimes no news comes at all. "On days when a lot of people are killed, the government will just shut down the Internet," said an activist going by the name of Ammar. "Then nobody knows."
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