Syrian ISP Blocks Blogspot.com

Damascus-based bloggers reported Wednesday that Syrian Telecom, one of two main internet service providers in Syria, has blocked access to all blogs hosted at Blogger.com. Any blog associated with the domain name blogspot.com was not accessible by Syrian Telecom subscribers as of February 15.

The other main state-owned ISP, the Syrian Computer Society (SCS), has again blocked access to Al-Domari, a political satirical blog that was blocked by SCS on January 26, but unblocked again a few days later. The SCS did not censor any other blogspot.com addresses.

Most Syrian blogs are hosted at Blogspot.com. And as a result of this move, at least 70 Syrian blogs will not be accessible to approximately 126,000 subscribers of the Syrian Telecom ISP.

It is not clear whether Syrian Telecom had intended to censor all Blogspot addresses or blocked them in an effort to censor Al-Domari. The address www.blogger.com, which Blogspot subscribers use to post and control settings on their blogs, is still accessible on both Syrian Telecom and SCS.

It's ironic that Syrian Telcom has recently published an article introducing blogging and highlighting the importance of blogs. Following are some excerpts translated from Arabic:

Blogs can become a serious rival to conventional media, because of their ability to draw attention and because of their accessibility and interactivity. In addition, a blog does not need a huge capital nor a permission from authorities. [...]

In the Arab World, the blogging phenomenon is spreading quickly, with the number of blogs reaching thousands. In this region, where the freedom of speech is limited, blogs are of high importance because they present an alternative to censored media and an outlet of criticism for those who want to express their suppressed feelings. [...]

It's worth mentioning that the spread of blogs in Arab countries that ban private newspapers or media outlets, poses a challenge to the authorities because censorship is practically difficult, while closing down blogs can evoke negative reactions more than serving the authorities' objectives.

It's action time! I could not find the email address of the Syrian Telecom ISP. It is not listed on their website and they don't have a feedback form. (though I found one at their main website). Anyway, the Syrian Telecom ISP can be reached at phone numbers 3087 (technical support) and 3086 (customer care).

SCS can be contacted at support@scs-net.org or customer-care@scs-net.org  and telephone numbers 9955 (technical support) and 9981 (customer care).

Update @ 2/15/05 5:45 PM: Possibly because of the huge load of complaints it  is receiving, the SCS has changed the message that users get when trying to access a blocked site. The new message says:

"This website is blocked according to the regulations of the service-governing party which is Syrian Telecom."

The old version said: "This page cannot be displayed because it belongs to a blocked website. For more information, please contact Technical Support at support@scs-net.org"

Update @ 2/20/05 2:20 PM: Syrian Telecom has unblocked Blogspot.com. Al-Domari remains blocked.