Lebanon’s Internet to Get Worse Unless You Stop It

A rallying cry from Lebanese Bloggers everywhere to Lebanese everywhere. Get in touch with you MP ASAP!

Here are the details from Darine:

Tomorrow, Parliament is scheduled to vote on a new E-Transactions law that could have terrible implications for the Lebanese economy and for professional and personal privacy. To date, private sector and civil society have not been allowed to comment on the the law.

Among the articles of concern are:

• Article 92, saying anyone providing online services must apply for a license. Result: More paperwork, more bureaucracy, more delays, less revenue.
• Article 82, allowing for the warrantless search and seizure of financial, managerial, and electronic files, including hard drives, computers, etc. Result: The government has pre-approval to seize your company and personal assets and information, without cause.
• Article 70, establishing the Electronic Signature & Services Authority, a new regulatory and licensing body with practically unchecked powers. Result: Another agency, who can make or break your organization at their whim.

This is a complete farce and shows incredible short-sightedness in our un-progressive parliament. Don’t know how to get in touch with your MP? Check the official parliament website for details.

Word circulating on Twitter seems to suggest that the campaign has worked and parliament’s session tomorrow has been postponed. In any case, you still need to get in touch with your MP and ensure that this law remains locked up in some drawer and not in our law books.

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Beirut or Broadgate?

That’s according to telegraph.co.uk’s Jonathan Russell’s opinion on the state of crime in London:

An article in the greatly undervalued and generously over-punctuated Badge – billed as “the voice of the London cab driver’s club” – reports that traffic wardens, sorry civil enforcement officers, are now too scared to patrol certain City streets after 7pm.

In Beirut, they do patrol the city but don’t really seem to get much done:

From *: Beirut Street Scenes: Chillin'

A LLB certificate is on the way.

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Multiplying Diamonds

Something magical happens to diamonds soon after they arrive in Lebanon:

“85 percent of the diamonds arrive as industrial worth a couple dollars a carat, but some 250,000 more carats leave as gem-quality diamonds than arrive – worth 36 times their import value.”

That’s according to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, a non-legally binding process sanctioned by the UN in 2003 aimed at certifying the origin of rough diamonds from sources free of conflict fueled by diamond production.

The KPCS report shows that Lebanon is suspected of trading in conflict diamonds. In 2008, Lebanon imported over US$1.3 million in diamonds yet exported over US$48.5 million worth of gem quality bling. Unless there’s a diamond mine underneath Burj Hammoud, this should raise alarms.

Lebanon joined the KPCS in 2007 as a way to regulate its diamond polishing industry. It is quite clear that Lebanon’s law enforcement is what needs serious polishing.

Now Lebanon: Lebanon's Dirty Diamonds

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My Nationality Campaign Scores a Point

Great news for the My Nationality campaigners:

In a rare move Tuesday, a Mount Lebanon court granted Lebanese citizenship to the children of a Lebanese woman following the death of her non-Lebanese husband, giving hope to thousands of other families to follow suit.
…
Judges John al-Azzi, Rana Habka and Lamis Kazma granted the children citizenship rights after concluding there was no law prohibiting a Lebanese mother from conferring her nationality to her children after the death of her husband. The judges also referred to Article 7 of the Lebanese Constitution, which states that all Lebanese citizens have equal rights before the law.

One small step forward. Now we just need the courts to recognize the children of a Lebanese mother regardless if their dad is dead or alive.

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“You would think, ‘Is this Beirut?’”

Beirut is being used as a defense strategy in the US:

Comparing the streets of New Bedford to Beirut, defense attorney Kevin Reddington said jurors should consider the city’s history of gang violence in weighing the fate of murder defendant David “Crunchy” DePina.

“It’s a case about what happens on the streets of New Bedford,” said Reddington, arguing that DePina, a reputed Monte Park gang member, feared for his life because he had been shot twice and had several friends killed by gun violence.

“You would think, ‘Is this Beirut?’”

“This is a case about self-defense and self-preservation,” Reddington said.

So basically, the defense strategy rests on the idea that New Bedford, i.e. Beirut, is in a bad neighborhood and therefore the residents need to resist the violence with violence. Are you seeing the deeper connection to Beirut?

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