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Amr Gharbeia statement Annenberg-Oxford Media Policty Summer Institute
With the internet and telephone kill switch application in Egypt in January 2011, telecom regulation has come to the public opinion's forefront in Egypt, and indeed worldwide, as masses began to see more clearly how it affects all other other freedoms and rights, including the right to life itself.
Two months the start of the revolution, leaked documents from Egypt's notorious State Security Investigations headquarters indicated the government's interest in acquiring advanced surveillance technology. The uncovering of such dealings between companies based in Western democracies and undemocratic regimes like those of Egypt and Bahrain resulted in successful worldwide effort to regulate export of 'electronic weapons', or so-called lawful intercept.
In addition to these two incidents and other developments over the past two years, my contribution through the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights—where I am now Civil Liberties Director—in building and coordinating a coalition of civil society groups and activist which drafted amendments to Egypt's telecom act and a leading freedom of information bill, and working against censorship of internet platforms such as YouTube, and very recently voice over IP services, has increasingly driven me towards a position of building telecom infrastructure that incorporates privacy by design, and towards accepting regulation only as a last resort, particularity since a sizable part of the world's population live under governments that have neither a political process, nor due process and rule of law required and assumed by independent telecom and media regulation.
Through the Annenberg-Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute, I would like to get a chance to look further into the subjects of open spectrum and decentralied telecom infrastructure. It is arguable that the use of these two approaches, coupled with the right—and emerging—technologies, are not only good for the right to communication, but are also good for economic empowerment of a larger sectors of society. Telecom can become a resource, a maker of freedom and a generator of income, instead of being an expense and a threat to privacy and security.
I strongly believe that the future of internet freedom will be defined by the developments in a number of countries currently undergoing democratisation and periods of economic growth, and all the social dynamics both bring. I am hoping that by acquiring more knowledge about the current challenges in internet related policies, and by further elaborating positions with like-minded people from other countries, I will increase my ability to affect policy reforms in Egypt, and perhaps beyond.