Arabs wary of expressing their opinions online

That is what the big brother advocates want us to believe. Squeeze on civil liberties, freedom of speech and privacy for the sake of security.

Mcarthyism is coming back -and it's scary.

Well, everybody is blaming the governments for their actions...whereas those are CONSEQUENCES for the actions that people took.

everyone over analyses everything... Why bother...there are always going to be eavesdroppers in the world.....

Who cares?

Seriously? What exactly is my boring talk about animals going to inspire in the person that may be listening in on my phone conversations?

Give me a break.... unless you are talking about blowing something up... no one gives a c r a p what you are saying... even if he is listening.

Our Prime Minister Is an A55hole

Damn - I just said it ,, and ooh i am from Jordan

We/they all do it! What's the problem?

sorry , but that is too simplistic an answer. The fact is that they are eavesdropping and trying to connect two and two. this is where the problem lies.

There has to be transparency and accountability.

The European Union angrily demanded answers from the United States on Sunday over allegations Washington had bugged its offices, "It's beyond our imagination that our friends in the US consider the Europeans as enemies," Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement. US spying was "out of control", said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

"The US would do better to monitor its intelligence services instead of its allies."

Of late quite a few people in India have been arrested and put behind bars for their online rants..

Its either some government official or party enthusiast who tries to get some milage by colluding with the police and arresting these guys to prove their loyalty to the leader against whome displeasure was expressed.

tyrants, despots, republics, peoples mujahideen, so called democracies hounding their own folks.. the world seems to be soo messed up so its the goverments themselves using all this laws as and how its suits them. Just wondering if the USA is still following the preachings of its great founders or is it following the new evil policies and practices it has learnt in Iraq, afghanistan, etc

big brother watching.... If I am being a law abiding citizen, there is nothing they can do to me.

Its only people who have things to hide that concern themselves with who knows what, and who is watching what they are doing...

I am pretty much an open book!

Landlover, in the end it is all the same..one way or another. Same clowns, different circus.

Nicki Minaj being a judge on American Idol is like Taylor Swift giving relationship advice. It is same with Arabs and West..

It is good to see too much patriotism here. :)

It is sad to know that the worlds powerful democracies cant stop their elected leaders from doing such things locally or internationally..

Happy, exactly my thoughts.

Thats the irony part of it I guess...they want to be like west yesterday and yet frown at whatever they do..:(

Wasn't this about the ARAB world?

I am not aware that the West is in the ARAB world...:/

I guess the threat perception for US of America is the highest and so their efforts which they can also finance and support. Don't see any wrong. Others can create firewalls, if they can.

We need more Bradley Manning and Snowden. I once watched a 2 hr documentary on Julian Assange. Has his website been taken down because I can't access it here?

I remember this old soviet guy I once met in London Hyde Park. He said to me:"Democracy? Free speech? My A55!!!" Now after 17 years, I see what he meant.

Since 9/11, the United States of A55holes budget on security has increased from roughly $10m to $86m. Today I heard on Al Jazeera News that the Europeans too are not being spared the surveillance of the United States of A55holes. Now imagine what they are doing to the rest of the world. 60,000 emails,texts,phone calls are intercepted every second by satellites.

....The United States has bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, according to secret documents cited in a German magazine, the latest in a series of exposures of alleged US dirty tricks.

Well if this so called worlds greatest democracies and the great protectors of human rights and freedom like the USA, The UK can witch hunt, harass and spy on their own people and on other friendly countries too then what do you expect from countries who live in fear of their own people

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/06/20136300321519491.html

Well I don’t feel safe commenting on QL

Personally, I don't give a damn, governments all around the , democratic or otherwise are anti people. They are like gangster whom we have to pay bribes in the form of taxes to survive in their territory. The good old definition of 'nationality & national interests' does not exist anymore, but it will take 2 or 3 more decades for people to accept this reality. Till then 'keep killing each other & paying the governments for doing so'

this is what west things but not Iranians... West impose sanctions what do you call it as? Monarchy over world economy or what? It is worse than Arabs Dictatorship...

Yep Iranians are not Arabs, but they suffer the same as many Arab countries if not more

it is common mantra in many other places of the world.

On the other day me and my friend were having a casual discussion about the book "Open Veins of Latin America" it was funny but sad to read

"In 1562, Captain John Hawkins had smuggled 300 blacks out of Portuguese Guinea. Queen Elizabeth was furious: "It was detestable and would call down vengeance from heaven upon the undertakers" she cried. But Hawkins told her that in exchange for the slaves he had a cargo of sugar, hides, pearls and ginger in the Caribbean, and she forgave the pirate and became his business partner."

As long as you are getting some benefits you dont really bother what your responsibilities as a leader are.

Rip Cord ,, Again Iran is not an Arab country :)

There was a tweet yesterday @rationalspy that a qatari doctor was being held in UAE for 4+ months without apparently knowing his crime..

When you can't trust western governments to act responsibly, you have no chance with Arab governments who are mainly dictatorships. Iran is creating its own 'Internet' so they can shut out the rest of the world and manage what their people see. The Internet in one way is making us less free.

After hearing the revelations from Snowden, i think most people around the world are wary of expressing their true feelings online..

I would thin twice before calling Cameron an idiot on a public forum :O(

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/06/2013629164825184368.html

KR,, I don't think it is much better in other places !

What else can you expect in monarchies or from dictatorial government heads...these days voicing opinions online even living in democracies isn't safe.

I see the percentage in Egypt and i can touch the change, in the past they couldn't say the word "Mubarak" and now Just 29% from the sample are afraid to express ,, So good Job from 99.9% afraid to 29%

The NSA are checking on everyone and they will pass on information to their "friends"