1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,007
34c3 intro
2
00:00:15,022 --> 00:00:19,660
Herald: All right, so the next talk is
3
00:00:19,660 --> 00:00:25,510
"Catch me if you can: Internet Activism in
Saudi Arabia." Now I have one question for
4
00:00:25,510 --> 00:00:31,450
you. Who has ever been in Saudi Arabia?
Like, actually in the country. And no,
5
00:00:31,450 --> 00:00:40,751
Dubai is not Saudi Arabia. I see a couple
of hands, like three or something. That's
6
00:00:40,751 --> 00:00:45,790
actually more than I thought. I'm
surprised, because you cannot just get a
7
00:00:45,790 --> 00:00:52,440
tourist visa for Saudi Arabia, even if you
would like to go there. But our next
8
00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:58,430
speaker, she has been in Saudi Arabia and
actually lived and worked there for two
9
00:00:58,430 --> 00:01:08,470
years. So Miriam, also known to you maybe
as Noujoum, has quite some knowledge about
10
00:01:08,470 --> 00:01:15,640
the culture, people, and politics of this
country that seems quite foreign to us
11
00:01:15,654 --> 00:01:21,680
all. So we're all excited to hear Miriam
now. Give her a nice applause, thanks.
12
00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:28,259
applause
13
00:01:28,259 --> 00:01:29,749
Noujoum: Thank you very much for the kind
14
00:01:29,749 --> 00:01:34,280
introduction, and welcome everyone. I'm
super excited to talk to you today about
15
00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,340
internet activism in Saudi Arabia. It's
one of my favorite subjects. I could go on
16
00:01:38,340 --> 00:01:42,570
and on for hours, but we just have half an
hour. So let's dive right into it. First I
17
00:01:42,570 --> 00:01:45,760
want to show you what
I want to tell you today about. First I
18
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,380
want to give you some basic information
about Saudi Arabia. Then we are going to
19
00:01:50,380 --> 00:01:56,060
look at Saudi Arabia's cybercrime law and
see how it has affected activists in
20
00:01:56,060 --> 00:02:00,880
recent years, and then I want to talk
about internet censorship and how we can
21
00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,290
actually measure it by running an OONI
probe. And then finally, because I don't
22
00:02:05,290 --> 00:02:09,740
want to leave you depressed I also want to
spend some minutes on talking about
23
00:02:09,740 --> 00:02:18,020
positive things. The modern state of Saudi
Arabia was founded in 1932 by the Al Saud
24
00:02:18,020 --> 00:02:23,130
family, who is still ruling to this very
day and it's an absolute monarchy and the
25
00:02:23,130 --> 00:02:27,010
culture is dominated by an
ultraconservative branch of Islam that is
26
00:02:27,010 --> 00:02:31,540
called Wahhabism and due to its riches
from the oil industry, the country is
27
00:02:31,540 --> 00:02:37,090
actually quite modern when it comes to
commodities and technology. And I'm going
28
00:02:37,090 --> 00:02:42,770
to throw some statistics at you. The total
population of Saudi Arabia is around 33
29
00:02:42,770 --> 00:02:49,610
million people and 75% of them are younger
than the age of 30. And you can see here
30
00:02:49,610 --> 00:02:55,440
the population pyramids of Saudi Arabia
compared with the population pyramid of
31
00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:59,220
Germany, and you get a very good idea what
a country with a younger population looks
32
00:02:59,220 --> 00:03:04,080
like versus a country with an older
population. And the young population of
33
00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,550
Saudi Arabia is one of the factors why so
many Saudis are active on social media
34
00:03:08,550 --> 00:03:15,670
compared to other countries. Around 75% of
the population are owning a smartphone and
35
00:03:15,670 --> 00:03:21,180
35% are really active on social media, and
active in this case means that they log in
36
00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:29,300
to their social media accounts at least
once every month. 25% of the population
37
00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:34,739
are active users on Facebook and 20% of
the population are active on Twitter, and
38
00:03:34,739 --> 00:03:40,879
Saudi Twitter users account for 40% of all
Twitter users and the whole Arab world,
39
00:03:40,879 --> 00:03:45,159
and that's a lot of people. And if you
can't remember any of these statistics
40
00:03:45,159 --> 00:03:49,239
right now, never mind. The important thing
to take away from this is the population
41
00:03:49,239 --> 00:03:52,470
of Saudi Arabia is
very young and most of them are active on
42
00:03:52,470 --> 00:03:56,430
social media and on the Internet. And now
that we are all excited about the
43
00:03:56,430 --> 00:04:00,269
widespread use of social media in Saudi
Arabia, let's have a look at Saudi
44
00:04:00,269 --> 00:04:07,460
Arabia's cybercrime law. Saudi Arabia
cybercrime law was instated in 2007 and
45
00:04:07,460 --> 00:04:12,620
the law specifies what is seen as a
cybercrime and which crimes are met with
46
00:04:12,620 --> 00:04:17,209
which punishments. And most of the
articles are just what you would expect
47
00:04:17,209 --> 00:04:21,899
from the cybercrime law, but have a look
at article 6 at paragraph 1 that you can
48
00:04:21,899 --> 00:04:29,819
see here. It says there at the end that a
cyber crime is, like... actions on the
49
00:04:29,819 --> 00:04:34,350
Internet are considered a cyber crime if
they are a threat to public order,
50
00:04:34,350 --> 00:04:39,219
religious values, public morals, or
privacy, and then article 7 focuses on
51
00:04:39,219 --> 00:04:44,089
cyber crimes in relation to terrorism, or
being active on the Internet in regards to
52
00:04:44,089 --> 00:04:49,009
terrorism. And as you can probably
imagine, the problem here is that these
53
00:04:49,009 --> 00:04:54,360
are super vague terms that are not really
defined, which means that any judge can
54
00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,149
give his own interpretation of what he
thinks qualifies as a cyber crime, what he
55
00:04:59,149 --> 00:05:07,650
thinks is a threat to public safety or to
public morals. In 2011 the cybercrime law
56
00:05:07,650 --> 00:05:10,580
was overhauled and the Saudi government
introduced
57
00:05:10,580 --> 00:05:15,689
new rules and regulations, so that now
internet newspapers and also bloggers had
58
00:05:15,689 --> 00:05:22,409
to obtain a license from the Ministry of
Culture and Information. And in 2014 the
59
00:05:22,409 --> 00:05:26,289
cybercrime law was overhauled once again,
so that now the Saudi authorities could
60
00:05:26,289 --> 00:05:31,389
also take legal action against social
networking sites like Twitter, because
61
00:05:31,389 --> 00:05:37,660
they would allow accounts to be active
that would supposedly promote adultery,
62
00:05:37,660 --> 00:05:43,099
homosexuality, and atheism. And Saudi
authorities are also trying to regulate
63
00:05:43,099 --> 00:05:48,339
the content of YouTube channels. And now
you would think that something that is
64
00:05:48,339 --> 00:05:54,789
called cybercrime law is used to actually
chase and catch and convict the bad guys,
65
00:05:54,789 --> 00:06:02,139
and the cybercrime law actually does that.
In July this year a Saudi man was
66
00:06:02,139 --> 00:06:06,460
sentenced to seven years in prison and a
ten years travel ban because he was
67
00:06:06,460 --> 00:06:10,889
supporting the terror organization Daesh,
also called ISIS, and he had tried to
68
00:06:10,889 --> 00:06:16,169
travel to Syria and also support the
fighting there. But he was also convicted
69
00:06:16,169 --> 00:06:21,429
of other charges. He was also convicted
of charges saying that he was preparing,
70
00:06:21,429 --> 00:06:27,279
storing, and sending material that would
harm the public through his tweets. And
71
00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,669
also his tweets were supposedly insulting
the Saudi rulers. His cell phone was
72
00:06:31,669 --> 00:06:35,330
confiscated, his Twitter account was
closed, and he is forbidden to tweet for
73
00:06:35,330 --> 00:06:40,979
up to five years after his release from
prison. Now this is just one case, but up
74
00:06:40,979 --> 00:06:46,479
until 2014 the Saudi religious police
claimed that they had closed over 10,000
75
00:06:46,479 --> 00:06:50,949
Twitter accounts and they had arrested
plenty of users because of religious and
76
00:06:50,949 --> 00:06:56,339
ethical violations. But some of the people
who are prosecuted under the Saudi
77
00:06:56,339 --> 00:07:00,759
cybercrime law are actually just liberal
activists. They are young people who try
78
00:07:00,759 --> 00:07:04,779
to form a movement. They want to be
outspoken on the Internet. They want to
79
00:07:04,779 --> 00:07:10,889
campaign and push for change. And now
we're going to meet some of them. First up
80
00:07:10,889 --> 00:07:15,610
is Ashraf Fayadh. He is an artist and a
poet and he was arrested and sentenced
81
00:07:15,610 --> 00:07:20,090
because of apostasy, because of things
that he supposedly said on Twitter and in
82
00:07:20,090 --> 00:07:26,249
one of his books. And when police failed
to bring proof of his apostasy or atheism
83
00:07:26,249 --> 00:07:31,280
they said that he was arrested because he
was smoking and wearing long hair. And it
84
00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:37,989
is actually suspected that he was arrested
because previously he had made a video of
85
00:07:37,989 --> 00:07:42,670
Saudi religious police lashing a young man
in public, in his home town Abha, and he
86
00:07:42,670 --> 00:07:46,960
had then posted that video online. And a
lot of people think that this is the real
87
00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:51,659
reason why he was arrested. And his
sentence has changed many times in
88
00:07:51,659 --> 00:07:56,050
different appeal courts, from four years
in prison and eight hundred lashes, to a
89
00:07:56,050 --> 00:08:00,490
death sentence because of the supposed
apostasy, and then back to eight years in
90
00:08:00,490 --> 00:08:05,639
prison and eight hundred lashes. And
Amnesty International classifies Fayadh as
91
00:08:05,639 --> 00:08:11,939
a prisoner of conscience. As far as I
know, he is still in prison today. Hamza
92
00:08:11,939 --> 00:08:16,699
Kashgari is also young poet and a writer.
He was arrested because of three tweets
93
00:08:16,699 --> 00:08:19,129
that he had written about a fictive
meeting with the
94
00:08:19,129 --> 00:08:25,529
Prophet Mohammed. He was accused of
blasphemy or apostasy as well, to which
95
00:08:25,529 --> 00:08:30,499
the penalty is usually death under sharia
law. He tried to leave the country and
96
00:08:30,499 --> 00:08:34,820
claim asylum in New Zealand, but he was
caught at Kuala Lumpur Airport and he was
97
00:08:34,820 --> 00:08:38,940
brought back to Saudi Arabia and arrested,
and he was held in prison for two years
98
00:08:38,940 --> 00:08:44,089
without trial. And similar to the case of
Ashraf Fayadh, the accusation of apostasy
99
00:08:44,089 --> 00:08:49,089
is actually highly suspicious to be an
excuse, because Kashkari was very publicly
100
00:08:49,089 --> 00:08:53,139
outspoken on the internet and social
media. He had supported the Arab Spring.
101
00:08:53,139 --> 00:08:57,830
He was supporting pro-democracy movements
in Saudi Arabia. He had criticized
102
00:08:57,830 --> 00:09:02,840
authorities about mishandling the Jeddah
flat disaster and other issues. And he was
103
00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:09,170
released in October 2013. Mariam Al Otaibi
is a young Saudi woman who was arrested
104
00:09:09,170 --> 00:09:13,620
because she was very active in the
movement against the male guardianship
105
00:09:13,620 --> 00:09:17,839
system. And she was very active in the
movement to abolish the system. As you
106
00:09:17,839 --> 00:09:22,590
see, in Saudi Arabia,
every woman has to have a male guardian.
107
00:09:22,590 --> 00:09:25,810
And even when they are a grown ups, when
they are adults. And why is that a
108
00:09:25,810 --> 00:09:30,220
problem? Without the permission, or the
consent, of their male legal guardians,
109
00:09:30,220 --> 00:09:34,720
women cannot go to university, they cannot
take up jobs, they can't go see the
110
00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,740
doctor, they can't leave the country and a
lot of other things. And the Guardian can
111
00:09:38,740 --> 00:09:43,880
be their father, husband, uncle, brother,
or even their son. And activist in Saudi
112
00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:48,969
Arabia have fought for a very long time to
abolish this male guardianship system. And
113
00:09:48,969 --> 00:09:52,759
here you can see the Twitter account of
Mariam Al Otaibi. You can see that she has
114
00:09:52,759 --> 00:09:58,829
almost 50,000 followers. And here, in her
Twitter bio, you see one of the core
115
00:09:58,829 --> 00:10:03,510
hashtags of the movement in which she is
active, and it's an Arabic hashtag and it
116
00:10:03,510 --> 00:10:08,599
translates to "Saudi women want the
abolishment of the guardianship system."
117
00:10:11,439 --> 00:10:16,079
Mariam actually herself tried to flee her
abusive brothers and her father, and she
118
00:10:16,079 --> 00:10:18,470
moved to a different city to live her own
life. And then
119
00:10:18,470 --> 00:10:23,910
she was arrested at her workplace because
her father had filed a runaway report. But
120
00:10:23,910 --> 00:10:30,660
very soon, the charges against her changed
from being a runaway to disruption of
121
00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:35,260
public order because of her activism on
Twitter. And her house was searched and
122
00:10:35,260 --> 00:10:39,480
her cellphone and her laptop were
confiscated. And after 104 days in
123
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:44,269
detention without trial, she was released
in July this year. And her release was
124
00:10:44,269 --> 00:10:49,410
actually deemed a very big success and a
victory by Saudi feminists because she was
125
00:10:49,410 --> 00:10:53,589
released from prison without the presence
or the permission of a male guardian,
126
00:10:53,589 --> 00:10:58,069
because usually how it works is if a woman
is released from prison, her male guardian
127
00:10:58,069 --> 00:11:02,949
has to pick her up. If he doesn't do that
she just stays in detention. But she was
128
00:11:02,949 --> 00:11:08,089
released just like that. And here you can
see two designs of the Saudi artist
129
00:11:08,089 --> 00:11:13,120
MsSaffaa. On the left you see a poster
that she designed to support the release
130
00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:18,490
of Mariam Al Otaibi from prison.
The hashtag says "We are all Miriam Al
131
00:11:18,490 --> 00:11:22,389
Otaibi." And on the right you see another
design that she did, that is very famous
132
00:11:22,389 --> 00:11:25,950
for the movement to
abolish the mayor guardianship system,
133
00:11:25,950 --> 00:11:33,240
and this hashtag says "I am my own
guardian." Loujain AlHathloul is another
134
00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:37,680
young Saudi woman who was arrested in
December 2014 when she was trying to drive
135
00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:42,730
her car over the border from the United
Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia. Shortly
136
00:11:42,730 --> 00:11:46,490
before, she had tweeted "follow me on
Twitter to find out what will happen at
137
00:11:46,490 --> 00:11:51,110
the border." And she had for a very long
time been active in the woman to drive
138
00:11:51,110 --> 00:11:56,220
movement. That means that she had already
posted videos of herself driving in Saudi
139
00:11:56,220 --> 00:12:02,060
Arabia online, showing how she was defying
the ban on women driving. She live-tweeted
140
00:12:02,060 --> 00:12:06,810
this whole experience of being detained at
the border. Her passport was confiscated.
141
00:12:06,810 --> 00:12:11,830
Her friend and lawyer, who came to her
support, was also arrested, and ultimately
142
00:12:11,830 --> 00:12:17,819
she was released after 73 days without
trial. Raif Badawi is probably the
143
00:12:17,819 --> 00:12:21,560
activists that most of you have heard of,
because Amnesty International did a huge
144
00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:26,240
campaign to support his release, and also
his wife is very active, publicly, to
145
00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:31,800
work for his release. He is a writer and
an activist, and he was arrested in 2012.
146
00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:37,020
He was charged of insulting Islam through
electronic channels and he was brought to
147
00:12:37,020 --> 00:12:41,569
court on several charges, including
apostasy, and as you already know by now,
148
00:12:41,569 --> 00:12:48,440
the death penalty is included when you are
charged of apostasy. And similar to Ashraf
149
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,610
Fayadh, his sentence was changed multiple
times in different appeal courts and
150
00:12:52,610 --> 00:12:55,029
eventually
he was sentenced to 10 years in prison
151
00:12:55,029 --> 00:13:00,580
and a fine and thousand lashes, of which
only the first 50 were administered,
152
00:13:00,580 --> 00:13:05,509
probably because of international
attention and outrage. And what got Raif
153
00:13:05,509 --> 00:13:11,060
Badawi in trouble in the first place was
setting up a website that was called Free
154
00:13:11,060 --> 00:13:16,480
Saudi Liberals. In court he was accused of
setting up a website that undermines
155
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,470
general security, ridiculing Islamic
religious figures, and going beyond the
156
00:13:21,470 --> 00:13:27,249
realm of obedience. And he was told that
his website would violate Islamic values
157
00:13:27,249 --> 00:13:32,420
and propagates liberal thought. And the
court ordered his website to be closed and
158
00:13:32,420 --> 00:13:36,319
he is still in prison today.
The last activist that
159
00:13:36,319 --> 00:13:40,720
we are going to look at is Muhammad Salih
Al Bajadi. He was, prior to his arrest,
160
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:45,759
also very politically active. In 2009, for
example, he managed a website that was
161
00:13:45,759 --> 00:13:50,720
called "monitor of human rights in Saudi
Arabia." And he is also the co-founder of
162
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:55,340
a Saudi Arabian human rights organization
called "the Saudi Civil and Political
163
00:13:55,340 --> 00:14:00,230
Rights Association." He was also arrested.
His office was searched. And Amnesty
164
00:14:00,230 --> 00:14:04,510
International labeled him a prisoner of
conscience as well. And they said that he
165
00:14:04,510 --> 00:14:09,959
was held solely for the peaceful exercise
of his rights to freedom of expression,
166
00:14:09,959 --> 00:14:14,879
assembly, and association. But in court,
however, he was charged with insurrection
167
00:14:14,879 --> 00:14:19,250
against the ruler, instigating
demonstrations, and speaking with foreign
168
00:14:19,250 --> 00:14:22,980
media channels. And
he was sentenced to four years in prison
169
00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:29,649
and a five-year ban on foreign travels.
Now, even if you don't see yourself as an
170
00:14:29,649 --> 00:14:33,950
activist, if you are active on social
media in Saudi Arabia you can find
171
00:14:33,950 --> 00:14:38,060
yourself the center of unwanted attention
in just a second. There are some
172
00:14:38,060 --> 00:14:42,589
conservatives who would flat-out think
that being on Twitter is a sin in and of
173
00:14:42,589 --> 00:14:47,900
itself, as you can see here. And just
three month ago, actually, Saudi
174
00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:54,269
authorities urged citizens to monitor each
other and to report posts on social media
175
00:14:54,269 --> 00:14:59,410
that would harm the state's reputation. So
as you can imagine, that leads to a huge
176
00:14:59,410 --> 00:15:03,850
level of self-censorship. When I was
living and working in Saudi Arabia, I once
177
00:15:03,850 --> 00:15:08,870
talked to a work contact and I asked him
why he wasn't more active on Twitter, and
178
00:15:08,870 --> 00:15:13,330
he said the first day that he had signed
up on Twitter, he had received a direct
179
00:15:13,330 --> 00:15:17,980
message by a person he didn't know, and
the message just said "welcome. We are
180
00:15:17,980 --> 00:15:25,180
watching you." And when you live in Saudi
Arabia and you don't use a VPN or TOR all
181
00:15:25,180 --> 00:15:29,850
the time you inevitably run across a
website that is blocked at some point. For
182
00:15:29,850 --> 00:15:33,779
me, for example, that was the search
engine StartPage. When I was trying to
183
00:15:33,779 --> 00:15:39,699
access that page, I would land on a site
that would look like this. And Saudi
184
00:15:39,699 --> 00:15:42,970
authorities are hosting
a firewall which blocks access to
185
00:15:42,970 --> 00:15:48,490
thousands of websites. Actually the Saudi
authorities, they openly acknowledge that
186
00:15:48,490 --> 00:15:53,309
widespread filtering takes place, and they
would say that it targets pornographic,
187
00:15:53,309 --> 00:15:58,440
Islam related, human rights, and political
sites. And as you can imagine, criticism
188
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:04,689
of the royal family and of Islamic
teachings is generally not tolerated. Now,
189
00:16:04,689 --> 00:16:09,699
rewind three years. Three years ago at
Congress I ran into a guy named Arturo,
190
00:16:09,699 --> 00:16:14,389
and he told me how he and his friends were
working on this OONI project, and they
191
00:16:14,389 --> 00:16:19,589
were running probes all over the world to
measure the extent of filtering and
192
00:16:19,589 --> 00:16:24,100
Internet censorship in different
countries. And so we teamed up and we did
193
00:16:24,100 --> 00:16:30,059
some measuring in Saudi Arabia. And OONI
stands for Open Observatory of Network
194
00:16:30,059 --> 00:16:34,509
Interference. And I would very much like
Arturo to come on stage for a few minutes
195
00:16:34,509 --> 00:16:40,209
and to tell you himself what OONI is all
about, and how running that probe in Saudi
196
00:16:40,209 --> 00:16:41,239
Arabia worked.
197
00:16:41,239 --> 00:16:42,079
Arturo: Thank you Miriam
198
00:16:42,079 --> 00:16:47,329
applause
199
00:16:47,329 --> 00:16:52,019
Arturo: So, yeah. As
??? three years ago we met and
200
00:16:52,019 --> 00:16:56,490
I was already working at the time on this
project ??????????? for the Open
201
00:16:56,490 --> 00:17:02,160
Observatory of Network Interference. What
we do is we're a community mass project
202
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,120
I guess that does network
measurements with
203
00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:09,369
??? of what we
call "network interference" or "network
204
00:17:09,369 --> 00:17:13,360
?????????." That can be a sign of internet
censorship or surveillance
205
00:17:13,360 --> 00:17:18,749
And we do this for a variety of different
????????? look into the blocking of
206
00:17:18,749 --> 00:17:24,099
websites such as the one we saw in the
previous slide in Saudi Arabia. But also
207
00:17:24,099 --> 00:17:29,279
whether or not circumvention tools like
tor, VPNs work or do not work or whether
208
00:17:29,279 --> 00:17:35,060
or not and how instant messaging apps are
blocked or not blocked around the world
209
00:17:35,060 --> 00:17:40,480
and we do this through some apps that can
be installed either on your mobile phone
210
00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:46,280
or on your computer and these are run by
tens of thousands of volunteers around the
211
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:51,500
world to gather evidence of internet
censorship around the world.
212
00:17:52,995 --> 00:17:58,429
I guess I will not go too much into what
OONI does because we actually have an
213
00:17:58,429 --> 00:18:02,370
assembly on the third floor where you--
called the OONIverse and you are welcome
214
00:18:02,370 --> 00:18:07,130
to come by and we can tell you all about
it but also we have a longer presentation
215
00:18:07,130 --> 00:18:13,880
on the third day at 2:30 in borg room and
there I can go more into what OONI is
216
00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:20,615
about and how we have been working with
people like Miriam to collect sort of
217
00:18:20,615 --> 00:18:25,223
undeniable evidence that internet
censorship is happening but also how.
218
00:18:26,174 --> 00:18:29,179
Miriam: Perfect thank you very much. I
would very much suggest that you go and
219
00:18:29,179 --> 00:18:30,584
see that talk as well.
220
00:18:30,584 --> 00:18:35,179
applause
221
00:18:35,179 --> 00:18:38,179
So apart from the
websites that you would expect to be
222
00:18:38,179 --> 00:18:42,770
blocked in Saudi Arabia like porn and
gambling websites or the website of the
223
00:18:42,770 --> 00:18:47,700
Israeli Secret Service there are plenty of
other websites that are blocked and OONI
224
00:18:47,700 --> 00:18:52,330
has compiled a very huge and comprehensive
list of different websites that are
225
00:18:52,330 --> 00:18:56,640
blocked in Saudi Arabia that you can find
on their website and I brought you three
226
00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,010
short examples just to show you what kind
of websites could be blocked.
227
00:19:01,010 --> 00:19:05,690
On the left you always see the information
that is provided on the OONI web page and
228
00:19:05,690 --> 00:19:10,299
on the right side you see a screenshot of
the actual web site that is blocked in
229
00:19:10,299 --> 00:19:15,930
Saudi Arabia. So first up we have Al-
Manar, Al-Manar is a news media web site
230
00:19:15,930 --> 00:19:22,110
with ties to Hezbollah. Second we have
bahai.org, the Bahai are a religious
231
00:19:22,110 --> 00:19:26,650
group, they are a religious minority and
they are oppressed in pretty much all of
232
00:19:26,650 --> 00:19:31,120
the Arab countries. You can see that
actually their website is also blocked in
233
00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:36,530
the United Kingdom and in Italy for
whatever reason. And thirdly we have
234
00:19:36,530 --> 00:19:40,919
proxify.com, it's just one of many
examples of different websites that offer
235
00:19:40,919 --> 00:19:46,050
services of anonymity and of
circumvention. And now because I don't
236
00:19:46,050 --> 00:19:50,370
want to leave you too depressed when you
leave this talk I also want to look at
237
00:19:50,370 --> 00:19:55,159
some positive things that have happened as
well because despite all this persecution
238
00:19:55,159 --> 00:19:59,640
that I have talked about up until now
activists in Saudi Arabia have been able to
239
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,170
secure some very important victories in
the past years and if you have followed
240
00:20:04,170 --> 00:20:08,240
the news lately a little bit then maybe
you have noticed that a lot of things are
241
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:13,490
happening in Saudi Arabia, a lot of laws
and traditions are changing and because of
242
00:20:13,490 --> 00:20:17,690
time restraints I'm only focusing on two
issues here right now that I personally
243
00:20:17,690 --> 00:20:22,190
find especially important.
So the first example are the Saudi
244
00:20:22,190 --> 00:20:28,850
municipal elections in 2015 these were the
very first elections when women in Saudi
245
00:20:28,850 --> 00:20:33,850
Arabia were allowed to actively and
passively participate in the elections and
246
00:20:33,850 --> 00:20:40,290
in the end 20 women were elected to
municipal councils out of 2,000 seats that
247
00:20:40,290 --> 00:20:45,230
were open in these elections and women had
to overcome incredible hurdles to
248
00:20:45,230 --> 00:20:50,809
participate or to be candidates. For
example, organizations that were set up to
249
00:20:50,809 --> 00:20:56,210
educate women about the elections to help
them to run as candidates and to tell them
250
00:20:56,210 --> 00:21:01,169
how to register these organizations were
forbidden. Female candidates weren't
251
00:21:01,169 --> 00:21:06,860
allowed to hold public rallies, they were
not allowed to give speeches online, in
252
00:21:06,860 --> 00:21:10,350
TV, in public.
They were not allowed to post pictures of
253
00:21:10,350 --> 00:21:15,779
their faces put them on posters or post
them anywhere really. So women were
254
00:21:15,779 --> 00:21:21,930
basically confined to campaigning online
really and especially registering as
255
00:21:21,930 --> 00:21:26,930
candidates but also as voters was super
hard some women were flat-out denied being
256
00:21:26,930 --> 00:21:32,330
registered without being given any reason
but one problem that also the men actually
257
00:21:32,330 --> 00:21:37,720
had one problem was that voters in order
to be registered they had to bring proof
258
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,419
of their residency and they would usually
prove that by showing a rental contract.
259
00:21:42,419 --> 00:21:45,860
Now the problem is that women cannot
produce a rental contract because their
260
00:21:45,860 --> 00:21:50,290
names are not on these contracts but the
names of their fathers or their husbands.
261
00:21:50,290 --> 00:21:55,090
That's just one of the many problems they
had and this is one example from YouTube
262
00:21:55,090 --> 00:21:59,070
because up until now I have talked a lot
about Twitter but there's also a huge and
263
00:21:59,070 --> 00:22:04,070
thriving and very important YouTube scene
in Saudi Arabia and the following video is
264
00:22:04,070 --> 00:22:08,341
by a famous Saudi YouTube group and they
are called Telfaz11 and they have a
265
00:22:08,341 --> 00:22:12,850
regular show that is called ??? and
this clip is actually part from one of
266
00:22:12,850 --> 00:22:18,860
their shows and they produced this video
mocking how women were organizing and how
267
00:22:18,860 --> 00:22:23,809
women had to work so hard to just
participate in these elections while men
268
00:22:23,809 --> 00:22:29,039
were just lazy and enjoying their
privileges and now let's see if this
269
00:22:29,039 --> 00:22:29,751
works.
270
00:23:55,129 --> 00:24:04,350
So that's just one example. I like them
very much because they have a very fine
271
00:24:04,350 --> 00:24:08,700
sense of where the red lines are and how
much fun they can actually make of the
272
00:24:08,700 --> 00:24:15,380
government and of actual problems that
persevere in Saudi Arabia. And then we
273
00:24:15,380 --> 00:24:21,100
have another example, three months ago the
Saudi King announced that he would lift
274
00:24:21,100 --> 00:24:25,799
the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia
and starting from May next year women
275
00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:29,950
would be for the first time ever be-- oh
not for first time ever, for the first
276
00:24:29,950 --> 00:24:34,240
time in a long time they would be allowed
to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, and
277
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,899
activists had campaigned for this change
they had campaigned for the lift of the
278
00:24:38,899 --> 00:24:43,769
ban on women driving for a long time for
many years that's a long story I don't
279
00:24:43,769 --> 00:24:48,830
have that much time as I want to to talk
to you about it but we have one example
280
00:24:48,830 --> 00:24:55,519
here one out of many and this is a music
video from 2013 and this went viral in
281
00:24:55,519 --> 00:25:01,470
Saudi Arabia and they were supporting the
campaign by the women to drive movement
282
00:25:01,470 --> 00:25:07,570
who were trying to get the ban lifted and
in their music video they are making fun
283
00:25:07,570 --> 00:25:12,380
of the baseless arguments that were used
to justify the driving ban, why women were
284
00:25:12,380 --> 00:25:19,070
not allowed to drive cars and the context
for the fall of 2013 is that at this time,
285
00:25:19,070 --> 00:25:23,399
a lot of women were defying the ban on
women driving, they were driving around,
286
00:25:23,399 --> 00:25:26,690
they were filming themselves while doing
it, they were posting all these videos
287
00:25:26,690 --> 00:25:32,309
online a lot of women were arrested yet
more women were driving around and yeah
288
00:25:32,309 --> 00:25:37,179
that was just one of the videos that came
out at that time, I also want to show it
289
00:25:37,179 --> 00:25:37,946
to you.
290
00:26:39,149 --> 00:26:44,370
All right just wanted to show you this short
short part but the whole video is really
291
00:26:44,370 --> 00:26:54,019
ridiculous you have to look it up you're
gonna find it on YouTube. And so you know
292
00:26:54,019 --> 00:26:58,399
the story eventually after many years of
activism the ban on women driving was
293
00:26:58,399 --> 00:27:03,850
lifted just now. The work, the really hard
work of all the activists is just one of
294
00:27:03,850 --> 00:27:08,210
many aspects why it was lifted but we have
to appreciate this and here you see some
295
00:27:08,213 --> 00:27:14,268
of the reactions of women in Saudi Arabia
being super happy about this development.
296
00:27:14,269 --> 00:27:22,149
And so final thoughts, what can we learn
from all of this? I would say one thing
297
00:27:22,149 --> 00:27:25,451
that we can learn from it is the
government is not your friend. Whatever
298
00:27:25,451 --> 00:27:31,380
technology is at their disposal they will
use and they will not only use it to catch
299
00:27:31,380 --> 00:27:35,460
terrorists and put them in prison but they
will also use that technology or these
300
00:27:35,460 --> 00:27:41,080
laws to also persecute activists for
example or anybody whom they label as
301
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:46,359
terrorists because of this really vague
terms and the cybercrime law. And that is
302
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,520
also why it's really important
that we don't let the government put
303
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,890
backdoors in our safety-- like in our
software anywhere because the wisdom the
304
00:27:53,890 --> 00:27:57,590
government is not your friend applies to
pretty much every government really if you
305
00:27:57,590 --> 00:27:58,758
think about it.
306
00:27:58,758 --> 00:28:05,150
applause
307
00:28:05,150 --> 00:28:08,660
And also you have heard
how the Saudi government changes laws and
308
00:28:08,660 --> 00:28:12,900
seemingly becomes more modern and more
liberal and tries to appease the young
309
00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:18,660
population but you have to keep in mind
that they are still super autocratic, it's
310
00:28:18,660 --> 00:28:22,310
still an absolute monarchy and I don't
think that this will change anytime soon
311
00:28:22,310 --> 00:28:28,239
no matter how many news we get next year
about like women-- the first woman becomes
312
00:28:28,239 --> 00:28:32,840
Minister of Foreign Affairs or Saudi Crown
Prince gives a speech about the importance
313
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:37,160
of freedom of religion for the economy or
something like this. But still, the
314
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,980
government is trying to appease the
younger generation and the younger folks
315
00:28:40,980 --> 00:28:44,890
and that is at least something and I think
one of the important aspects here is, how
316
00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:49,019
do they know with what they can appease
the young generation? Well they know it
317
00:28:49,019 --> 00:28:53,939
because the young people keep telling them
on social media all the time and they go
318
00:28:53,939 --> 00:28:59,460
to jail over and over for speaking their
minds for pushing for change and we have
319
00:28:59,460 --> 00:29:04,170
to acknowledge this as the victory and the
sacrifice that it is and it also shows us
320
00:29:04,170 --> 00:29:08,509
that it makes sense to keep speaking up
and to tell the government what it is that
321
00:29:08,509 --> 00:29:12,750
they want and what it is that they want to
change and to keep up the pressure because
322
00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:17,750
the rule of the royal family rests on a
rather unstable religious legitimation so
323
00:29:17,750 --> 00:29:22,159
they have to make an effort to stay in the
good graces of the population because they
324
00:29:22,159 --> 00:29:26,100
certainly don't want to see another Arab
Spring in their country.
325
00:29:26,100 --> 00:29:30,059
And now I'm hoping that you can take away
something from this talk and that it has
326
00:29:30,059 --> 00:29:34,440
helped to-- helped you to see the Saudis
in a different light so that next time
327
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,429
when someone talks to you about Saudi
Arabia and how they are all rich beheading
328
00:29:38,429 --> 00:29:43,630
bigots you can tell them well, not all
Saudis and then you think of the activists
329
00:29:43,630 --> 00:29:47,880
and that you appreciate the hard work that
Saudi activists are doing on the ground
330
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:53,299
all the time. There's a lot more I would
like to tell you but time is up. If you
331
00:29:53,299 --> 00:29:57,570
are interested in this kind of subject
check out some of these talks I saw the
332
00:29:57,570 --> 00:30:02,160
talk "Tightening the net in Iran", it was
superb, go and watch it online, see the
333
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:06,820
video, go and see the OONI talk also and
lastly I would say thank you very much for
334
00:30:06,820 --> 00:30:08,426
your time and your attention.
335
00:30:08,426 --> 00:30:12,401
applause
336
00:30:12,406 --> 00:30:17,053
34c3 outro
337
00:30:17,053 --> 00:30:34,000
subtitles created by c3subtitles.de
in the year 2018. Join, and help us!