7. Watch out The Economist July soth 2004 Arabs and the internat Watch out ‘The internet can undermine harsh regimes-and land its usersin jail BDEL RAHMAN SHAGURI'S com: puter is an ordinary one, but when he clicked the “send” button on its e- ‘mail programme backin February 2003, itsent him straight to jail. The 32-year: old from Damascus loaks set to stay there after being sentenced to tworand- ‘vhalf years in jail for “spreading fase in- formation”—thatis to say, passing friends copies of an on-line newspaper ‘that Syrie’s government doesn't like. Four other Syrians have also spent the past year in all for internet offences, ssuch as showing photographs of anti- ‘government demonstrations that off ally never took place. The severity may seem odd, since Syria's president, Bashar ‘Assad, led the country's main internet ‘lub before he gothis current job. Syria is not the only Arab state with a hyperactive cyberpolice. Tunisians jok- ingly cal the worldwide web the inter net, and with good reason. Asin Syria, all the country's service-providers are run by either the government or the president's elatives. Owners of internet cafés roust keep careful records oftheir customers. Many websites, including such dangerous outlets as Yahoo and Hotrnail, are banned. Zouhair Yahyoui knows ust how dangerous. Before being released last ‘November, he spent 18 months in prison for the sin of running the country’s most popular dissident website, Tunezine. In ‘April, a Tunisian court sentenced six young men to between 19and 26 years in prison for downloading what pros- cecutors said was “terrorist material Unlike Tunisia (or Saudi Arabia, ‘which has blocked some 400,000 web- sites), ypt does not censor the net. ts plan to get more people touse ity al- lowing cheap internet access justly hhailed asa model. Butits special cyber- police taskforce is vigilant, especially in {tapping homosexual menby posing on- line as potential mates. Lued to some public meeting place, the Iavelomn gays find themselves clapped in jtons and charged with "debauchery". Even so, the intetnet ishaving a pro- found impact on closed Arab societies as, forum for minority and dissident views. Though long shut in by UN econ: ‘omic sanctions, and by the stifling cen- sorship of its press, at leasta fifth of Libya’s sm people now use the internet; cither by incompetence or choice, the country’s rulers have failed to block the dozens of sites that mock, question and {insult them. Although the Saudi authori- ties’ firewalls are massive, Qaeda's op eratives in the kingdom stil manage to tse the internet as their main mode of communication and propaganda. And, though Syria's police are mean to polit cal dissidents, they are nice to software pirates. Forjusta dollar, yeu can buy a programme off the streets of Damascus tocover your internet tracks~and safely eta look atall the forbidden stuffAnswer the following questions on the text: 1. Find possible examples of puns, ironies (situational or verbal), anltheses, parallelisms ‘andor ary other Iiterary or lexical device in the text. 2. Could you give @ synonym for “oad” in “The severity may seem add"? 3. “Tunisian call the Intemet the Intemyet". Explain the humour. 4. Deserbe the effect the internet can have on harsh regimes and on ts users in Arab ‘counties. Wty do you think this isso? 8. Could you give an antorym for “hail” “Just hailed as a model"? (Paragraph 5). “Hil” Is 8 homonymic word, what isthe meaning of is homonym? 6. Can you find ary other horionymic words in the text? If so, could you explain all ‘heir meanings? 7. Gve synonyms or @ paraphrase and a translation for “lured to’, “lovelom” and "debauchery". 18. Find a synonym for “prison” in the text and give its ahtematve speling and say whether there are any differences in usage. 9. Give a summary and an analysis of this text, commenting on the genre, text type ‘and cormmunicative functions, 410. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the Itemet ard how would you Use it~ fatal ~ in your classes?