A lot of people have been complaining about the new Internet laws which Lebanon is planning to introduce. These are some points that are highlighted by Naharnet as important but I don’t think they’re a bad thing at all:
– Article 92 demands that anyone providing online services must apply for a license
– Article 82 allows for the search and seizure of financial, managerial, and electronic files, including hard drives and computers
– Article 70 paves the way for the establishment of the Electronic Signature & Services Authority, a new regulatory and licensing body with wide powers over the ICT sector
So basically if you do something wrong the government can seize your computers which is how it is everywhere in the world including the US. Then, if you want to start an online business you need to get a license, I see that as a positive thing since from my experience with local businesses they can be very dodgy sometimes. Finally establishing of the ESSA, does anyone even know what that is?
Am I missing something here? Is that it?
Personally I don’t think there is a problem. I might be very wrong here since I am just basing all this from a Naharnet article and the YouTube video above. The Naharnet article says this law could curb online freedom but unless the law says all bloggers must register with the government, torrents should be illegal, playboy.com should be blocked and political sites must be shutdown, I don’t see what Internet freedom we will be losing…