Syrian websites hosted in Canada, US

Syrian websites, including the ministries of finance, economy and trade, and religious affairs, are hosted on US-based servers, said a university director

AP | November 18, 2011



More than two dozen websites belonging to the government of Syria are being hosted by servers in the United States, Canada and Germany, according to a report by Canadian researchers.

The report released on Thursday said the operations raise legal questions because they may violate Canadian and US sanctions against Syria. Syria has used police and military forces for the past eight months to put down a popular uprising.

Ronald Deibert, the director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, said several Syrian websites, including the ministries of finance, economy and trade, and religious affairs, are hosted on US-based servers.

Overall, the report said, 17 Syrian government websites are hosted by Canadian providers, seven are hosted by US providers and two by German companies.

"We had a moral obligation to report this given the violence in Syria," Deibert said in a telephone interview.

One of the US-based companies, called SoftLayer, is listed as hosting the ministries of finance and economy and trade as well as the General Commission for Competition and Antimonoply. SoftLayer did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

iWeb, a Montreal-based hosting company, is listed as hosting several Syrian government sites. A company spokeswoman said iWeb would have a statement later today.

The report noted that in Canada and the US, a Web host typically has not been held liable for such content if the company responds to requests that it be taken down.

Deibert said it was unclear whether Web hosting violates US and Canadian sanctions. Canada's foreign affairs department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"There's definitely a question. Cyberspace governance is immature and underdeveloped," Deibert said. "Sanctions are designed around a world much less fluid and material than cyberspace is. I think if you are going to put named entities on a sanctions list that government needs to provide some guidance to the private sector about what that means."

Comments

 

Other News

Income Tax dept holds Ghatkopar Outreach on new IT Act

The Income Tax Department organised an outreach programme in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, to raise awareness about the key features of the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026. The initiative is part of a nationwide effort to promote taxpayer awareness, simplify compliance, and strengthen a transparent, eff

Making AI work where governance is closest to people

India’s next governance leap may not solely come from digitisation. It will come from making public systems more intelligent, more adaptive, and more responsive to the dynamics at the grassroots. That opportunity is especially significant at the panchayat level, where governance is not an abstract po

Borrowing troubles: How small loans are quietly trapping youth

A silent crisis is playing out in the pocket of young India, not in stock markets or government treasuries, but in smartphones of college students and first-jobbers who clicked on the Apply Now button without reading the small print.  A decade ago, to take a loan, you had to do some paperwor

A 19th-century pilgrim’s progress

The Travels of a Sadhu in the Himalayas By Jaladhar Sen (Translated by Somdatta Mandal) Speaking Tiger Books, 259 pages, ₹499.00  

India faces critical shortage of skin donors amid rising burn cases

India reports nearly 70 lakh burn injury cases every year, resulting in approximately 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Experts estimate that up to 50% of these lives could be saved with adequate access to skin donations.   A significant concern is that around 70% of burn victims fall wi

Not just politics, let`s discuss policies too

Why public policy matters Most days, India`s loudest debates stop at the ballot box. We can name every major leader and recall every campaign slogan. Still, far fewer of us can explain why a widow`s pension is delayed or how a government school`s budget is actually approved. That


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter