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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20140916T180000
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SUMMARY:Attitudes to Cybersafety and Online Privacy in the Middle East
DESCRIPTION:Damian Radcliffe\, leader of the Rassed research program at Qatar’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ictQATAR)\, delivered the inaugural CIRS Monthly Dialogue of the 2014-2015 academic year with a lecture on “Attitudes to Cybersafety and Online Privacy in the Middle East” on September 16\, 2014. Emphasizing the importance of the topic\, he noted that\, despite their varying characteristics\, most countries around the world share similar concerns regarding issues of cyber safety\, online privacy\, and data security. This has become a global conversation\, and one that is no less relevant to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. “There are very consistent values and attitudes that can often be found amongst internet users even though they might be from incredibly different countries and cultures\,” he explained. \n \n \nIn order to test whether this hypothesis was indeed applicable to the countries of the Middle East\, Radcliffe conducted research into Arab attitudes towards cyber safety\, online privacy\, and data security. Collaborating with researchers from a previous World Economic Forum study conducted in 2011\, Radcliffe and his team surveyed just under 3\,000 internet users from 14 countries across the Middle East. When combined with the previous study\, the global sample surveyed was over 11\,000 internet users covering nearly 60 countries. “One of the reasons we were really keen to take this project was the fact that it also gave us the opportunity to benchmark the experience of internet users in the Middle East with other people around the world\,” Radcliffe explained. The research questions covered five specific areas of study including\, usage of ICT and other technologies available in the household; attitudes towards the internet; concerns of internet users; trust in different online actors and online players; and behaviors of internet users. \n \nAttitudes to Cybersafety and Online Privacy in the Middle East  from ictQATAR  \nThis comparative dataset gave the research a broad range of results as well as ones that could be broken down geographically and categorized as emanating from the GCC region\, North Africa\, or a combined MENA figure which also included some additional respondents from the Levant. The resulting data gave the researchers the opportunity to make specific differentiations between the various regions of the Arab World. For example\, one of research findings highlighted the fact that differences between internet behaviors in the GCC and North Africa can be attributed to socio-economic factors. “People in the GCC are much more likely to access the internet on the move given smartphone penetration in the region…over 70% in Saudi and Qatar\, whereas it is something like 2% in Egypt\,” Radcliffe reported. \n \n \nWhile there were some important key differences between internet users worldwide\, the overall research findings proved Radcliffe’s initial hypothesis which stated that Middle East internet users are not so dissimilar from others around the globe. “Equivalency in terms of technological access as a regional figure compared to the rest of the world was pretty good. In fact\, if you look at the GCC\, there is much higher access to advanced forms of technology than there are in many other parts of the world\,” he noted. The research team found that internet users in the Middle East\, especially younger users\, were very active online and were positive about the impact of the internet on their lives. \n \n \nIn comparison to the global average in terms of attitudes towards the internet\, one main distinction of Middle East internet users was their tendency to place very little trust in those organizations that only existed online\, which explains why “e-commerce here is much less prevalent than it is in other markets. In fact\, within the region\, people are much less likely to engage in e-commerce than they are in any of the other regions that we surveyed. They are also among the least likely to bank online. Traditional methods of shopping and banking still remain popular\,” Radcliffe explained. Another key difference was Middle East internet users’ tendency to be more trusting of traditional forms of authority\, whether in terms of government or financial institutions. The research results indicated that regional internet users were generally in favor of having governing authorities regulate internet content and were not too concerned about the safety of their personal information online. This is in stark contrast to those surveyed in Western countries who tended to be more wary of government and financial institutions\, which is most likely a symptom of the recent economic crisis in those countries. \n \n \nRadcliffe ended the lecture by highlighting some thoughts for the future of digital technologies\, arguing that\, with increased availability of personal surveillance technologies\, issues of trust will most likely intensify in future. The more digital devices in the world\, the greater the risk of security breaches\, but simultaneously the greater the possibility of doing this differently and more constructively. “New technologies will bring new challenges\, but also new opportunities\,” he concluded. \n \n \nDamian Radcliffe is an award-winning content creator\, journalist\, and researcher who has led diverse teams at the intersection of journalism\, media innovation\, and civic engagement for nearly 20 years. He currently leads the Rassed research program at Qatar’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ictQATAR)—an initiative which explores the impact of ICT on society and the potential afforded by emerging technologies. His team has published over 80 studies\, presentations\, articles and infographics since mid-2012—in both English and Arabic—and their work as featured across a broad range of regional and international media. Their research was in the Top 1% of globally viewed content on LinkedIn’s SlideShare platform in 2013. \n \n \n\nRead the full Report in English\nRead the full Report in Arabic\n\n \nArticle by Suzi Mirgani\, Manager and Editor for CIRS Publications  \n \nInfographic: The attitudes of Internet users in the Middle East towards Cybersafety\, Security and Data Privacy   from ictQATAR​ مواقف مستخدمي الإنترنت في منطقة الشرق الأوسط حيال السلامة ولأمن على شبكة الإنترنت   from ictQATAR​
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/attitudes-cybersafety-and-online-privacy-middle-east/
CATEGORIES:Dialogue Series,Regional Studies
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20140927T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Moscow:20140928T180000
DTSTAMP:20260417T150818
CREATED:20141120T120559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210901T123903Z
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SUMMARY:The Digital Middle East: Working Group I
DESCRIPTION:On September 27-28\, 2014\, CIRS held the first Working Group on “The Digital Middle East” research initiative. Academics from various backgrounds gathered for this first meeting to discuss their research findings and papers around the Digital world in the Middle East. The topics ranged from the effects technology has had on the Arab uprisings to state measures being undertaken to incorporate technology into everyday life. \n \n \nOpening the discussion\, participants focused on how the socio-political landscape of the Arab world has been changing due to the spread of the Internet. In places such as Egypt and Iran\, youth have taken to technology to express their discontent towards political regimes\, trying economic conditions and social injustices. The decentralized nature of the media model has led to mass social movements arising in several Arab states\, helping facilitate in the fall of several regimes and the severe weakening of others. In the Gulf states\, digital anonymity in places such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has provided an outlet for the youth to articulate themselves online without fear of reprisal. As a result\, political experiences were no longer isolated to the offline world\, they were incorporated into digital form having been able to transverse physical\, cultural\, and national boundaries.  \n \n \nPeople’s instantaneous connections on social media have encouraged academic focus on civil engagement frameworks and the creation of online civil societies that are both inclusive and transnational. In the case of Egypt for instance\, online activism has radically affected the nature of mediated experiences since 2011. Prior to the establishment of video sharing and communication platforms\, coverage of political events was heavily reliant on television and print journalism. But during the Arab Spring\, in certain states social media allowed for the most reliable coverage of events due to the impact of state censorship on traditional media forms. During the Arab uprisings\, cyber communities also were made possible by the work of individuals that would spend a substantial amount of time online\, collating and contributing crucial information through various digital platforms\, without monetary compensation. Discussants voiced their interest in understanding how the nature of information transmittance into the digital world has had an effect on labor theory of value in relation to free labor. \n \n \nThe events of the Arab uprisings have also instigated changed patterns in political behavior in various social groups\, especially among women. Engaging in the digital landscape in the Middle East has proven to be a liberating experience\, forging alternative collectivities defined by a common\, greater cause and uninhibited by definitions of gender\, class or race. However\, while social movements may initially emerge online\, a physical space is still necessary for civic action to occur. During the uprisings women took to the streets alongside their male counterparts; yet\, sexual harassment and various other grave violations during protests still took place in great numbers\, outlining the disparity in behaviors that still exist in the offline world. \n \n \nIt is important to note that women’s activity online also extends to gaming and game development. Recent published reports on videogame consumption in Europe and America show that female gamers far outnumber males. The trend of female gamers is also on the rise in the Middle East\, tangible proof of which can be seen in the recent phenomenon of Saudi Arabia’s annual female-only gaming convention. Participants at the working group noted that even though a digital divide still exists between the genders\, the expedited evolution of the digital world has given users more of a stake in shaping alternative discourses on gender in the region. \n \n \nWorking Group members also discussed linkages between videogames and activism. Recently videogames have become places of encounter in the digital landscape\, where users engage with one another in a non-physical space. Interviews conducted with producers and users of videogames show that they do not perceive videogames as having the potential to influence thought. However\, state initiatives in Iran show otherwise\, with the launching of the Iran Computer and Video Game Foundation created with the intention of portraying positive Muslim identities in videogames. The traditional narrative in videogames produced in other parts of the world often portray Muslim characters as terrorists and villains\, whereas the Iranian foundation aims to portray Muslim characters in a more favorable light while also improving the videogame economy by supporting local game development. Access to videogames in the Middle East is a relatively simple process\, due to the lack of robust copyright laws. The illegal nature of these pirated copies leads to a lack of recorded sales\, which in turn affects the gathering of quantitative data on gamer demographics such as age\, gender\, income level\, and time spent playing. Questions that arose from this discussion called for more quantitative and qualitative research on user profiles and needs. \n \n \nIssues of intellectual property infringement are widespread in the Middle East\, due to the lack of a unified copyright law\, creating a myriad of issues surrounding this topic. Considering that the globalization of media culture has not been accompanied with equivalent access to media\, people in the Middle East infringe on copyright out of convenience and comfort. Such behavior can affect software designers greatly because it restricts developers from selling their products in a fair market. However\, for educational purposes\, software piracy has contributed greatly to the education of younger generations by giving them free access to expensive software that they could train and learn from. \n \n \nWorking Group members also discussed the role state actors have had in the changing face of the digital world\, choosing to develop once offline activities such as commerce and governance into electronic format. Naturally\, the growth of political activity and online activism has also caused states to rethink their methods of authoritarianism\, leading to acts of state censorship targeting social media sites\, such as in the cases of Iran and Turkey. This has led to much debate about the role technology plays within existing power structures in state and society.  This innovative technological behavior in the Middle East is indicative of growth in access and usage of the Internet\, yet limited statistical analysis is available to fully understand this phenomenon. \n \n \nCommerce has always played an integral role in strengthening and sustaining Middle Eastern societies both historically and at present. With the advance of technology\, commerce has taken a different form in the shape of online shopping. In 2013 approximately a third of GCC residents accessed the internet only to shop\, a 7 percent increase from the year before. The e-commerce experience in the Gulf has also made use of various digital platforms\, created initially for sharing pictures and communication purposes\, to selling products online. The change in cultures of consumption has been aided by the development of digital technology\, yet evident gaps in the e-commerce model\, such as efficiency and growth\, still need to be addressed and accounted for. \n \n \nIn terms of e-governance in the Gulf\, attempts have been made in recent years to use technology as a way to improve information and service delivery to citizens. Practically\, this proved to be harder to implement as issues of transparency conflicted with Gulf government’s initial commitment to e-governance. Discussants problematized the centralist nature of Gulf states as being an obstacle for e-governance\, especially since citizens are often suspicious of various state initiatives and often are too fearful to fully engage with the state and its agencies online.   \n \n \n\nSee the working group agenda\nRead the participant biographies \nRead more about this research initiative\n\n \n  \n \n \nParticipants and Discussants: \n \n \n\nIlhem Allagui\, Northwestern University in Qatar\nHaya Al Noaimi\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nJon Anderson\, Catholic University of America\nZahra Babar\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nMarion Desmurger\, UNESCO Representation in the Arab States of the Gulf & Yemen\nShahd Dauleh\, Qatar’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICTQatar)\nMuzammil M. Hussain\, University of Michigan\nMehran Kamrava\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nGholam Khiabany\, Goldsmiths University of London\nDionysis Markakis\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nSuzi Mirgani\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nDamian Radcliffe\, Qatar’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICTQatar)\nVit Šisler\, Charles University in Prague\nAnnabelle Sreberny\, School of Oriental and African Studies\, University of London\nMark Allen Peterson\, Miami University in Ohio\nDaniel Varisco\, Qatar University\nElizabeth Wanucha\, CIRS – Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nShafiz Affendi Mohd Yusof\, Universiti Utara Malaysia\nLuciano Zaccara\, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\nNorhayati Zakaria\, Universiti Utara Malaysia\nMohamed Zayani\, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar\n\n \n  \n \n \nArticle by Haya Al-Noaimi\, Research Analyst at CIRS
URL:https://cirs.qatar.georgetown.edu/event/digital-middle-east-working-group-i/
CATEGORIES:Focused Discussions,Regional Studies
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