Tuesday, January 03, 2006
It's official: BigBrother is watching!
About three months ago I had a post where I was wondering why Jordanian bloggers barely come across local political issues. The raised question was;is it because BigBrother is watching? Many bloggers and readers said that local politics is not attractive enough to lure them. Some stated it clearly; it was out of fear!(I♥AMM , Tynes's, Lina's , Black-Iris)
Well, the big news came out yesterday!
The security forces have captured a Jordanian - 24 years old - last Sept in Zarqa city while he was in a cyber cafe visiting a website for making fireworks. He was admitted to a State Security Court yesterday for the charge of possessing and manufacturing explosives. His charge sheet states that since 1998 he was visiting several internet cafes, where he downloaded all the necessary information from the internet for producing explosives. Then he would save it on disks and start experimenting at home. He was able to produce and try different explosives at home. He pleaded not guilty.
Source : Al-Ghad (Arabic) , Jordantimes (English)
First of all, good job for our security forces! I mean no one has the right to do what he was doing no matter what their reasons were! Now, I don't think there is any recorded incident in Jordan of arresting anyone over their internet use.
The question is: Do you think monitoring the internet is vital to thwarting terrorist attacks in Jordan?Well I'm in favor of this, as far as it would not violate our civil liberties.
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as you well know big brother does monitor all jordanian sites and these blogs as well (or they are starting as i've heard through the grape vine). and they've done little to infringe on our rights. jordan doesn't even block sites like other nations in the region.
is it essential to combat terrorism. definitely. in a day and age when the ingredients to make powerful explosives can be viewed on the internet it is important.
is it essential to combat terrorism. definitely. in a day and age when the ingredients to make powerful explosives can be viewed on the internet it is important.
Right on!
Monitoring the internet is vital!
And they should do it for sure, as far as they don't turn like other neighbouring countries.
I didn't get the grape vine part (yes my brain is processing slowly these days!Viruses)
Monitoring the internet is vital!
And they should do it for sure, as far as they don't turn like other neighbouring countries.
I didn't get the grape vine part (yes my brain is processing slowly these days!Viruses)
Dear Firas,
Your line of argument parallels the kind of reasoning that President Bush and his cohorts use when discussing the State's right to spy on people's phone lines. Bush (and others) maintain that such acts are necessary because, ultimately, they protect the lives of Americans.
This kind of reasoning is flawed because one can not protect the rights, liberties, and freedoms of some while infringing on the rights, liberties, and freedoms of others. Monitoring other people's internet use, as well as spying on their phone calls, are violations of civil liberties -- whether at home or abroad.
Perhaps a smarter move would be to attempt to really understand (and possibly remedy) the political, economic, and social conditions that make a 24 year Jordanian man want to learn how to make bombs in the first place.
Best,
Dana
Your line of argument parallels the kind of reasoning that President Bush and his cohorts use when discussing the State's right to spy on people's phone lines. Bush (and others) maintain that such acts are necessary because, ultimately, they protect the lives of Americans.
This kind of reasoning is flawed because one can not protect the rights, liberties, and freedoms of some while infringing on the rights, liberties, and freedoms of others. Monitoring other people's internet use, as well as spying on their phone calls, are violations of civil liberties -- whether at home or abroad.
Perhaps a smarter move would be to attempt to really understand (and possibly remedy) the political, economic, and social conditions that make a 24 year Jordanian man want to learn how to make bombs in the first place.
Best,
Dana
Firas,
The way you present the story makes it hard for me to understand why you would support such activities by the Jordanian government, or any other government. Thus, I would totally agree with what Dana has stated above.
You present the story as if this was a young man who want to learn how to make firecrackers and just downloaded the directions, and the Jordanian government was following him back and forth from the café to his home. This would seem like a crazy thing for the Jordanian government to do.
But, if we read the story you provide us with the links, we can then see that these are suspects who belong to suspicious groups and have been under investigation for a while. These people were suspicious due to their preaching. Long term investigations that have some sort of evidence that show these people can be a threat to national security are okay to investigate when it comes to what they are looking at, researching or doing on the net.
But unfortunately, as Dana mentioned with what is going on in the US, once we allow these invasions of privacy to take place, the government take advantage of them and all of a sudden, the government knows everything you are doing, reading or writing. Think about the things you guys do online. Think about the private emails you send to friends, family, or loved ones. Do you really want the government to see all that?
The way you present the story makes it hard for me to understand why you would support such activities by the Jordanian government, or any other government. Thus, I would totally agree with what Dana has stated above.
You present the story as if this was a young man who want to learn how to make firecrackers and just downloaded the directions, and the Jordanian government was following him back and forth from the café to his home. This would seem like a crazy thing for the Jordanian government to do.
But, if we read the story you provide us with the links, we can then see that these are suspects who belong to suspicious groups and have been under investigation for a while. These people were suspicious due to their preaching. Long term investigations that have some sort of evidence that show these people can be a threat to national security are okay to investigate when it comes to what they are looking at, researching or doing on the net.
But unfortunately, as Dana mentioned with what is going on in the US, once we allow these invasions of privacy to take place, the government take advantage of them and all of a sudden, the government knows everything you are doing, reading or writing. Think about the things you guys do online. Think about the private emails you send to friends, family, or loved ones. Do you really want the government to see all that?
Dear Salam and all,
Again, this kind of logic is barren.
If it were true that infringing on people's civil liberties for the ostensible protection of (some) people's lives ultimately makes this world a safer place to live in, then the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan would have been glowing success stories for Bush's (war-mongering) government.
Time and again, we have seen that without an accurate understanding of people's larger questions, concerns, and demands, and without attempting to place (troubling, difficult, and painful) issues within their proper political, cultural, and historical contexts, our world will continue to be an unsafe and quite dangerous place to live in.
Again, this kind of logic is barren.
If it were true that infringing on people's civil liberties for the ostensible protection of (some) people's lives ultimately makes this world a safer place to live in, then the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan would have been glowing success stories for Bush's (war-mongering) government.
Time and again, we have seen that without an accurate understanding of people's larger questions, concerns, and demands, and without attempting to place (troubling, difficult, and painful) issues within their proper political, cultural, and historical contexts, our world will continue to be an unsafe and quite dangerous place to live in.
SUNNI STYLE:
Grape+Wine = DAMAR! You should try it before judging it :D
DANA:
Hi Dana, welcome to my blog.
Well, when your country is threatened I guess you should think and act practically. Now if the government is going to wiretap someone, it should be based on a court order or a constitutional law. Bush was actually criticized from not telling many senators about his authorizations to the NSA. They argued that such things (tapping international communications) falls within the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Agency jurisdiction. Do we have such acts in Jordan? I don't know! Now in this particular case, they found tangible evidence, explosives!
So I guess such acts should be constitutional!
Now it is of course vital to understand why this 24 guy was trying to do that! But what is smarter than knowing his motive, is stopping what he was doing! He could have harmed himself (he was actually wounded several times while he was making the explosives), or it could have killed many innocent people!
Dana, I agree with you that they should start thinking about all the political and social conditions that lead him to this! But for the time being, their first priority is to stop him, before anything goes wrong.
SALAM:
That's the point!
LINDA:
Well, before posting anything on my website I really double check it several times, of course I do make mistakes (like the Suffi Suffi thing). Now, I really suggest that you reread the Jordan Times article (I would have suggested Al-Ghad's, but I know you are not that good in Arabic).
The article is talking about what cases did the National Security Court dealt with that day! They had three trials. The first one was for 6 suspects, the second trial was for 4 men, and the third one was this 24years old guy –HAITHAM QARYOOTI.
So he has no relation or what so ever with the other group! The article is very clear, please go over it again and you will see that he has no connection with the other groups. Well we don't know all the circumstances that lead to his capture, but it was obvious that accessing such websites got their attention! According to their story, yes it seems that they have been monitoring him for a while, since 1998! In Jordan you are asked to present an ID card whenever you go to a cyber café, of course some owners don't comply, others do.
Now of course it is illegal for them to invade my privacy, but on the other hand they should stop anything before it's too late. So such acts should be constitutional as I've mentioned.
HAITHAM:
Well I do agree with you, that we should have a law or an amendment in the constitution regarding this. Khalaf has thankfully stated the law, though it is very vague. Now regarding the story it self, they claim that they have found material in his home, and he was injured which means that he went to the ER seeking burning treatment. Now in any ER in Jordan doctors are obliged to report any suspicious cases to the resident police officer in the hospital. Now, this guy might not be a terrorist! I mean if so, they would have sent him a highly professional manual like the other many manuals floating all over the internet! Well we do not know his psychological condition! Maybe he's one of those brainwashed kids who thought he gonna make a difference but got no connection with any organized groups. And thought he is safe by using cyber cafes rather accessing it from home (Accessing Dial up in Jordan is cheaper than going to a cyber Café, PCs are affordable as well). Now it could be the shop owner that ratted him? He might have made him suspicious! A possible scenario would be like this, intelligence officers were suspicious for having someone accessing such websites for all these years from one place, they check it out and it's a cyber café, they might have asked the owner to call them whenever he is there to have tangible evidence! It might be his neighbors annoyed by the sounds !Lol noisy neighbors. I don't see why it's hard to believe the story? I mean this is the most rational scenario. Of course they can't arrest people for simply accessing terrorist websites. But if they caught a printed manual in your home/office you are in deep trouble! In this guy's case, they caught explosives in his home! I mean the internet simply lead them to his secret hobby! Haitham there are people in Jordan who wanna see everything burning and people dying, their motive? It's not money or power, they think they are pleasing God (ALLAH). And unfortunately many of them are young men. I really do suggest the next time you come to Jordan to visit certain areas where women are all veiled and men wear like Afghanis.
Grape+Wine = DAMAR! You should try it before judging it :D
DANA:
Hi Dana, welcome to my blog.
Well, when your country is threatened I guess you should think and act practically. Now if the government is going to wiretap someone, it should be based on a court order or a constitutional law. Bush was actually criticized from not telling many senators about his authorizations to the NSA. They argued that such things (tapping international communications) falls within the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Agency jurisdiction. Do we have such acts in Jordan? I don't know! Now in this particular case, they found tangible evidence, explosives!
So I guess such acts should be constitutional!
Now it is of course vital to understand why this 24 guy was trying to do that! But what is smarter than knowing his motive, is stopping what he was doing! He could have harmed himself (he was actually wounded several times while he was making the explosives), or it could have killed many innocent people!
Dana, I agree with you that they should start thinking about all the political and social conditions that lead him to this! But for the time being, their first priority is to stop him, before anything goes wrong.
SALAM:
That's the point!
LINDA:
Well, before posting anything on my website I really double check it several times, of course I do make mistakes (like the Suffi Suffi thing). Now, I really suggest that you reread the Jordan Times article (I would have suggested Al-Ghad's, but I know you are not that good in Arabic).
The article is talking about what cases did the National Security Court dealt with that day! They had three trials. The first one was for 6 suspects, the second trial was for 4 men, and the third one was this 24years old guy –HAITHAM QARYOOTI.
So he has no relation or what so ever with the other group! The article is very clear, please go over it again and you will see that he has no connection with the other groups. Well we don't know all the circumstances that lead to his capture, but it was obvious that accessing such websites got their attention! According to their story, yes it seems that they have been monitoring him for a while, since 1998! In Jordan you are asked to present an ID card whenever you go to a cyber café, of course some owners don't comply, others do.
Now of course it is illegal for them to invade my privacy, but on the other hand they should stop anything before it's too late. So such acts should be constitutional as I've mentioned.
HAITHAM:
Well I do agree with you, that we should have a law or an amendment in the constitution regarding this. Khalaf has thankfully stated the law, though it is very vague. Now regarding the story it self, they claim that they have found material in his home, and he was injured which means that he went to the ER seeking burning treatment. Now in any ER in Jordan doctors are obliged to report any suspicious cases to the resident police officer in the hospital. Now, this guy might not be a terrorist! I mean if so, they would have sent him a highly professional manual like the other many manuals floating all over the internet! Well we do not know his psychological condition! Maybe he's one of those brainwashed kids who thought he gonna make a difference but got no connection with any organized groups. And thought he is safe by using cyber cafes rather accessing it from home (Accessing Dial up in Jordan is cheaper than going to a cyber Café, PCs are affordable as well). Now it could be the shop owner that ratted him? He might have made him suspicious! A possible scenario would be like this, intelligence officers were suspicious for having someone accessing such websites for all these years from one place, they check it out and it's a cyber café, they might have asked the owner to call them whenever he is there to have tangible evidence! It might be his neighbors annoyed by the sounds !Lol noisy neighbors. I don't see why it's hard to believe the story? I mean this is the most rational scenario. Of course they can't arrest people for simply accessing terrorist websites. But if they caught a printed manual in your home/office you are in deep trouble! In this guy's case, they caught explosives in his home! I mean the internet simply lead them to his secret hobby! Haitham there are people in Jordan who wanna see everything burning and people dying, their motive? It's not money or power, they think they are pleasing God (ALLAH). And unfortunately many of them are young men. I really do suggest the next time you come to Jordan to visit certain areas where women are all veiled and men wear like Afghanis.
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