Access Contested - Security, Identity ,and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, cyberspace has emerged as a leading

sphere of contestation between largely democratic forces seeking to use the Internet

and related “ liberation technologies ” to expand and enhance freedom, knowledge,

and connectivity and autocratic states eager to stifl e that potential. This volume is the

most compelling and informed account and analysis of the new contestation in cyber-

space that is now available.

The Arab Spring highlighted the importance of new social media networks, which

were vital tools used by activists in mounting the historic revolutions in Tunisia and

Egypt. But as we know, the Jasmine Revolution also caused dictatorships to tighten

their controls. It is important to bear in mind that the ultimate outcome of the Arab

Spring and similar uprisings will not be determined by technological factors alone,

because authoritarian regimes also appreciate the political potential of cyberspace to

advance their own objectives. Indeed, there is more than ample evidence of the sharp-

ening contestation in cyberspace, from the Egyptian government ’ s crude wholesale

closure of the Internet during the Tahrir Square protests (following a precedent set by

Burma ’ s ruling junta during the 2007 Saffron Revolution) to the Syrian and Iranian

regimes ’ more sophisticated use of Facebook and other social media to identify,

monitor, and repress activist networks.

Similarly, as this volume details, with the Internet ’ s center of demographic gravity

shifting to Asia, China is adopting proactive approaches to contesting cyberspace by

supplementing long-established fi ltering, censorship, and surveillance techniques

with more aggressive measures, including cyber attacks on dissident Web sites. Paki-

stan ’ s use of blasphemy laws to ban Facebook, as well as Bangladesh ’ s blocking of

access to YouTube because of politically embarrassing video footage, demonstrate that

regimes are using regulation as a pretext for restriction, replicating the backlash against

terrestrial civil society in cyberspace. Governments are striving to suffocate the liberat-

ing potential of cyberspace through the monitoring of Internet caf é users, “ just-in-

time ” targeted Internet blocking, and the establishment of “ national cyber zones ” to

ensure state control.