Rumeurs de la censure d'Internet en Algérie :

[Al-khiyal]

Rumeurs de censure en Algérie :
Facebook mène une « enquête »

Lundi 10 Janvier 2011 -- Facebook, le réseau social mondial, est-il victime de censure en Algérie ? Depuis quelques jours, des internautes algériens rencontreraient des difficultés pour accéder au site. Difficiles à quantifier, les cas de personnes résidant en Algérie et ayant rencontré ces derniers jours des difficultés seraient toutefois nombreux si on se fie à des témoignages publiés sur Facebook et d'autres sites internet. Ces blocages pourraient être liés aux dernières émeutes contre la cherté de la vie. Interrogé lundi 10 janvier par TSA, un porte-parole de Facebook a indiqué que le site mène actuellement une enquête pour connaître la réalité de ces blocages signalés en Algérie. «Nous avons eu connaissance de ces affirmations (de censure) et nous enquêtons», a indiqué Stefano Hesse, directeur de la communication EMEA (Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique) de Facebook.

En Algérie, Facebook compte actuellement 1,2 million d’utilisateurs, selon une enquête publiée en octobre dernier par deux entreprises algériennes spécialisées dans le conseil en webmarketing (Med&Com) et les solutions logicielles (Ideatic). En Tunisie, le réseau Facebook a été victime de blocages après le déclenchement des émeutes contre le régime. Washington a ainsi répercuté une plainte du réseau social Facebook qui s'inquiète d'un piratage venu de Tunisie contre certains comptes d'internautes. La semaine dernière, l'ambassadeur tunisien aux Etats-Unis s'est vu convoqué au département d'Etat. Washington exige de son pays le respect des libertés individuelles, notamment en matière d'accès à internet.

[Al-khiyal]

Moussa Benhamadi :
«Il n’y a aucun contrôle sur l'internet en Algérie»

Mercredi 2 Février 2011 -- Alors que des voix s'élèvent pour «dénoncer» un contrôle «filtrage visible» sur l'internet, à la faveur notamment de la loi sur la cybercriminalité, le ministre des Postes et des Technologies de la communication, Moussa Benhammadi, a affirmé qu'il n’y a aucun contrôle sur l'internet en Algérie. S'exprimant en marge de la séance de clôture de la session d'automne du Parlement, M. Benhammadi a déclaré que le seul pays où il n’y a pas de contrôle sur internet, c'est l'Algérie. «Je peux vous l'affirmer, en ma qualité d'une des personnes à avoir lancé internet dans le pays. Que celui qui peut prouver le contraire vienne me voir». M. Benhammadi a, dans ce contexte, évoqué «un contrôle légal». Pour lui, l'Algérie ne peut demeurer en marge de ce qui se passe dans le monde, il y a des interceptions légales qui font suite à des décisions de justice. «Cela existe aussi en Algérie», reconnaît-il. Quant au cas du SG du syndicat des douanes, Ahmed Badaoui, qui aurait été arrêté suite à l'interception d'un SMS qu'il a envoyé, le ministre dément catégoriquement. «Il n’y a aucun contrôle sur les SMS et encore moins sur les appels téléphoniques des citoyens», dira-t-il, affirmant qu'il n’y a aucune interception de SMS au niveau d'Algérie Télécom, de Mobilis, Djezzy ou Watania». C'est la presse qui «gonfle» l'information, selon le ministre. Il a par contre rappelé l'augmentation du débit en ce qui concerne l'internet, insistant sur la volonté de l'Etat à développer les technologies de la communication.

[Al-khiyal]

Marche du 12 février, levée de l’état d’urgence, censure de l’internet…
Les explications de Yazid Zerhouni

Mercredi 2 Février 2011 -- Après avoir observé le silence pendant plusieurs mois, Yazid Zerhouni s’est exprimé, mercredi 2 février, en marge de la clôture de la session d’automne du Parlement. Le vice‑premier ministre a notamment exclu la levée de l’état d’urgence, rejetant ainsi cette revendication de l’opposition. «Nous n’allons pas lever l’état d’urgence», a‑t‑il dit à des journalistes. Il a réfuté les accusations selon lesquelles l’état d’urgence est utilisé par le pouvoir pour restreindre les libertés politiques et individuelles. «On n’a pas instauré l’état d’urgence pour restreindre les libertés», a‑t‑il dit. Selon lui, l’état d’urgence est un mécanisme qui permet une coordination entre les forces de sécurité et l’armée.

L’ancien ministre de l’Intérieur a également affirmé que la marche du 12 février ne sera pas autorisée car les autorités redoutent des «dérapages». «Officiellement, elle (ndlr : la marche du 12 février) est interdite. Mais ceux qui appellent à cette marche doivent assumer leurs responsabilités quant à la casse et aux dérapages. Nous avons tiré les leçons du 14 juin 2001», a expliqué M. Zerhouni. La marche du 14 juin 2001 avait été organisée à Alger par les Aarouchs de Kabylie. Elle a été sévèrement réprimée par les forces de l’ordre. Yazid Zerhouni a indiqué que la loi sur les «associations» sera révisée. Selon lui, cette révision va permettre d’agréer de nouvelles associations, sans préciser si les partis politiques en attente d’un agrément seraient concernés.

Censure de l’Internet : ni confirmation ni démenti

Interrogé sur les rumeurs concernant une censure de l’Internet par les autorités algériennes, Yazid Zerhouni est resté évasif, refusant de confirmer ou de démentir les rumeurs. Avant de préciser : «je peux seulement vous dire que chez moi j’ai Internet». Depuis quelques jours, l’accès internet en Algérie connaît quelques perturbations. Les réseaux sociaux comme Facebook sont difficilement accessibles.

[Al-khiyal]

Report:
Facebook being blocked in Algeria

As massive street demonstrations are met with widespread violence in Algeria, the country is reporting that many Facebook accounts have been deleted or blocked by the government, in an effort to stifle protests against President Abdelaziz Boutifleka, activists on Twitter reported around midday in the country. They also said that the government is working fast to cut off all Internet providers in the country. All part of the effort to quell Egypt-inspired protests aimed at ending the 12-year rule of Bouteflika.

Bikya Masr managed to speak to one protester on the ground in the capital Algiers. The vision of what she described is reminiscent of when Egypt shut down its Internet Service Providers and government-sponsored “thugs” attacked protesters during the 18-day battle that ended in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak. “It is chaos, but the protesters are trying to stay strong. The police are everywhere,” the woman, 24, told Bikya Masr, asking that she remain anonymous due to the security situation on the ground. “I have seen men and women get grabbed, assaulted, beaten and then taken to police stations. We are extremely worried about what is going on because there is not a lot of media here and the world doesn’t seem to be watching. People are likely getting tortured as we speak.”

Tens of thousands of Algerians were expected to take to the streets of Algiers as part of the first day of what Algerians are calling the February 12 revolution. Mostafa Boshashi, head of the Algerian League for Human Rights told al-Quds that “Algerians are tired of facade democracy. “People need real democratic change this time and we need our voices to be heard,” Boshashi added. Boshashi told the newspaper that police are already preventing people from other cities to enter the capital, adding that this was to be expected. “Many have already made it into the city,” he added.

People around the region have inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian protests, which drove their presidents from the two North African countries. Egypt’s victory came on Friday, when Hosni Mubarak turned over power to the military. The economic situation in Algeria led many to protest between January 5 and 9, but the police met the demonstrations with force and live bullets, killing at least three. Hundreds were wounded in the riots and the ministry of interior in the country said they had arrested 1,000 people. 25 percent of Algeria’s 34.5 million are under the age of 14. Algeria has the eighth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and ranks 16th in oil reserves however, unemployment rates are at 10 percent, and possibly higher.

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria shuts down internet and Facebook as protest mounts

February 12, 2011 -- Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria on Saturday as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in violent street demonstrations. Plastic bullets and tear gas were used to try and disperse large crowds in major cities and towns, with 30,000 riot police taking to the streets in Algiers alone. There were also reports of journalists being targeted by state-sponsored thugs to stop reports of the disturbances being broadcast to the outside world. But it was the government attack on the internet which was of particular significance to those calling for an end to President Abdelaziz Boutifleka's repressive regime. Protesters mobilising through the internet were largely credited with bringing about revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

"The government doesn't want us forming crowds through the internet," said Rachid Salem, of Co-ordination for Democratic Change in Algeria. "Security forces are armed to the teeth out on the street, and they're also doing everything to crush our uprising on the internet. Journalists, and especially those with cameras, are being taken away by the police." President Hosni Mubarak had tried to shut down internet service providers during 18 days of protest before stepping down as Egyptian leader on Friday. Mostafa Boshashi, head of the Algerian League for Human Rights, said: "Algerians want their voices to be heard too. They want democratic change. At the moment people are being prevented from travelling to demonstrations. The entrances to cities like Algeria have been blocked."

At least five people were killed in similar protests in Algeria in January, when the Interior Ministry said 1,000 people were arrested. On Saturday at least 500 had been arrested by early evening in Algiers alone, with hundreds more in Annaba, Constantine and Oran taking part in the so-called February 12 Revolution. "The police station cells are overflowing," said Sofiane Hamidouche, a demonstrator in Annaba. "There are running battles taking place all over the city. It's chaos. As night falls the situation will get worse." Algeria has the eighth largest reserves of natural gas in the world, and is also oil-rich, but its youthful population suffers mass unemployment, a chronic lack of housing, and widespread poverty. Political corruption is also endemic.

[Al-khiyal]

Watching Algeria

Early reports from Algeria tonight suggested that another Internet takedown may be underway, similar to the one that affected Egypt. So far, however, we don't see confirming evidence for it. Algerian providers get their international connectivity via submarine cables from Europe, with diverse transit from a long list of providers: Level3, Cogent, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, France Telecom, and Tinet. A pretty wide range of Algerian providers (Telecom Algeria, Wataniya Telecom Algeria, SPA Anwarnet, Smart Link, Orascom/Djezzy, etc.) have direct international connectivity, as seen in the BGP routing table. There's still no Internet exchange, or at least none that's widely advertised. All of that presumably makes a "kill switch" strategy somewhat more difficult to implement.

Algeria typically has about 135 routed network prefixes in the global routing table, and our data show that they are all still routed and relatively stable. Traceroutes inbound confirm that sites hosted in these prefixes are still alive, and spot checks of websites hosted in Algeria show that most are up and functioning normally. A few that we checked were unreachable, including the telecommunications regulatory authority (www.arpt.dz), the Prime Minister's office (http://www.cg.gov.dz), and other sites hosted at Djaweb (Telecom Algeria's hosting brand). It's possible that new Internet blocks have been put in place that would not be visible from outside, such as Iran-style throttling or shutdowns of residential connections. We'll have to wait for some assessment of drops in inbound/outbound traffic levels to spot those subtler internal changes.

[Al-khiyal]

The media and the Algerian Internet rumors

Well, here we go again…the mainstream media tonight jumped on rumors that Algeria had shut down the Internet, without bothering to check their facts with people on the ground. They didn’t check Twitter either; Algerians were tweeting throughout. So far, neither the Telegraph nor Mashable – the two outlets primarily responsible for the rumor – have bothered to issue retractions, despite hard evidence. The Telegraph’s report was just obscene – not only did they claim the Algerian Internet had been shut down, but their subheader also stated that, “Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria.” Really? Facebook accounts were deleted? The article doesn’t mention anything to back that up, so I have no idea what the intent was. Did users delete their accounts out of fear? Were they phished by the government and then deleted? Did Facebook delete the accounts of users utilizing pseudonyms? Did they really mean that Facebook was blocked? Turns out, none of the above. In fact, the Internet didn’t go down at all, but that didn’t stop Mashable from parroting the Telegraph report. Algerian commenters quickly jumped in, however, to point out that the story had not been verified and that the Telegraph was Mashable’s only source. Renesys, which was instrumental in reporting on the Egyptian Internet shutdown, explains the situation:

Algeria typically has about 135 routed network prefixes in the global routing table, and our data show that they are all still routed and relatively stable. Traceroutes inbound confirm that sites hosted in these prefixes are still alive, and spot checks of websites hosted in Algeria show that most are up and functioning normally. A few that we checked were unreachable, including the telecommunications regulatory authority (www.arpt.dz), the Prime Minister’s office (http://www.cg.gov.dz), and other sites hosted at Djaweb (Telecom Algeria’s hosting brand).

Now, there were indeed reports from some Algerians on Twitter that the Internet was intermittently off, which I see no reason to doubt. @EyesOnAlgeria, precise location unknown, reported earlier today that his (her?) Internet was unreliable. As for the Facebook “deletions,” well…no evidence of any kind has surfaced as of yet.