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Media theorist and writer Paul Brown remindedme of this poem by Martin Niemöller: 21First they came for the Socialists, and I did notspeak out –Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and Idid not speak out –Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speakout –Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me – and there was no oneleft to speak for me.21 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_It is not uncommon....It is not uncommon that I hear the sound of childrencrying in my sleep. The world has become, JulietteEdwards says, our prison. We are reading daily ofthe poor behaviour of governments and their securityservices the world over, in particular theOrwellian NSA and their contempt for any publicoversight or scrutiny.Every day we are seeing footage from warzones and outright, brazen atrocities perpetratedby powerful governments and their elites on civilianpopulations increasingly marginalised by ineptinternational response; and the castration of independentmedia and the victimisation of journalists.A year since Snowden’s infamous revelations, onewonders if anything has changed. The screws aretightening and I still hear the sound of children cryingas I sleep.“If there is anything important in all the massesof noise,” suggests Andrew Sargeant, “it would belike finding a haystack, inside a needle, inside ahaystack.”BahrainThe struggle of online activists against surveillance technologyAli AbdulemamIntroductionBahrain is a tiny island in the Persian Gulf, ruled bythe Al-Khalifa family since 1783. The population ofBahrain stands at 1,314,089: 1 46% are Bahraini andthe rest are foreigners, mainly workers.The illiteracy rate stands at 1.13% of the population(2013). 2 At 87%, Bahrain has the highestinternet penetration rate amongst Arab countries 3and also has the highest Twitter usage. 4 Informationand communications technologies (ICTs) are veryimportant both to foreigners and the Bahrain economy,which is dependent on financial services andoffshore banks. The internet became available inthe country in 1994, making Bahrain one of the earliestArab countries in the region to have internet.Since the start, civil society activists have usedthe internet for their activities and communications– leading to the first arrest of an online activist in1998, the censoring of sites and, recently, spying onactivists through advanced surveillance technology.Civil society organisations depend on the internetfor advocacy, as the traditional media is eitherowned by the regime, or is controlled through publishinglaw. 5 Publishing stories or media releaseson the internet is a way for activists to go viral inBahrain.Policy and political backgroundBahrainOnline.org 6 (BOL) was the first site to be createdand funded by online activists. It was startedin 1998 during the implementation of the StateSecurity Law 7 (from 1975 to 2001), which allowedthe government to arrest anyone for three yearswithout proper investigation or trial. This was alsoduring the Dignity Uprising in Bahrain 8 (1994-2000),1 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ba.html2 www.alwasatnews.com/3654/news/read/699870/1.html3 www.alwasatnews.com/4070/news/read/823318/1.html4 www.alwasatnews.com/3825/news/read/742134/1.html5 iaa.bh/ar/arpolicyRules.aspx6 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain_Online7 www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/LegislationSearchDetails.aspx?id=5682#.U9EIU4BdUZE8 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s_uprising_in_Bahrainwhich led to dozens of deaths and thousands of politicalprisoners. For more than 100 years Bahrainhas been known to experience uprisings every 10years. The regime is also widely known for its humanrights violations, torture, discrimination andtotalitarianism.BOL was the main source for opposition opinionsand in 2001 during the National Action Charter 9(NAC), a reform project launched by the new emir,BOL hosted an online debate to discuss it – andsimilar online discussions have continued since itslaunch. This has caused a shift from BOL just reportingon stories, to acting as a public opinion maker,often critical of the government.Campaigns have been launched on the website,and videos and photos of protest activities or humanrights violations posted online. The fact thatthe regime could no longer control the flow of informationand news led to the arrest of activists whoran the site in February 2005. 10 The site was blockedin 2002, although massive public interest in the siteremained.Online resistanceIn March 1999 the previous emir of Bahrain diedsuddenly and his son succeeded him to the throne.At that time the Dignity Uprising was struggling,after most of its activists on the ground had beenarrested. There was also no political will to moveforward with reform, the state security law and itsmen were controlling the island, and the economywas in difficulties.At that time BOL started to become popular andreceived more attention from people trying to findnews from different, credible sources.When the new emir came to power, he promisedreal reform, allowing people to have their full rights,including freedom of expression, and shifting thepower to the people. Basically, he promised to modernisethe country. People believed him, and startedto debate the NAC. Many started to share their opinionson BOL, using anonymous names which gavethem some privacy and security.9 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Action_Charter_of_Bahrain10 Committee to Protect Journalists. (2005, March 14). Attacks on thePress 2014: Bahrain. Committee to Protect Journalists. www.cpj.org/2005/03/attacks-on-the-press-2004-bahrain.php#more68 / Global Information Society WatchBahrain / 69