The Fight for Open Internet is ON

After the TShirt campaign and the Groups and fan pages created on Facebook, it was essence to move to the next level. On last Wednesday, Ala' Hawwash, Hasan Salameh, Tony Diek, Walid Abu Salah, Mohammad Amarneh and I (Mohammad Khatib), gathered for a tea party at my place around 7:30PM. We had a brainstorming session for ideas on how to enlighten people about the new Internet quota that is not being given enough attention and being covered with doubling the speed of the ADSL Lines, which we think was a mean trick to distract people attention from saying no to Internet quota.

After lots of ideas, we thought calculating the time people can spend on popular website and calculating how long the average user would consume the 10GB on internet would be a good idea to let people understand what is the internet quota means!

After around 6 hours we finally got something concrete. We wrote the following paper:

Along with Anas Abdel Razeq, Hanna Krietem and Maysara Abdelhaq we printed 2700 copy of the paper above and distributed around 2000 for Birzeit University students. Our next stop was the Expotech exhibition in Ramallah. So we took two Taxis and went there. Once we got there we started giving away some papers to people in the entrance, however, security came took all the papers and prohibited us from distributing the papers, we were pissed off, so we asked for explanation and after lots of arguments with the security guys, they kicked us out, checked our bags and at the beginning they refused to keep our papers and giving them back to us when leaving.

Hanna had a session about Open Source in the Expotech that day, once we got in they didn't allow him to speak in that session because they were afraid that he would mention the Internet Quota!

After all, the feedback of students who read the document was expected after knowing what the Internet Quota means and how it is being covered, they were upset about it, and they don't want the quota.

Next we've created an online petition to be signed by Palestinians who don't want the Internet Quota. Till now 293 person signed it, and we will be collecting more signatures tomorrow in the University so if you passed by us, please stop by and sign the petition. Please feel free to share the petition as well.

Here are some pictures of Tony and Amarneh distributing some pictures in the University. 

Tony Explaining The Internet Quota for Students entering the University

Mohammad Amarneh Distributing papers for students (not shown)
Behind him Anas Abdel Razeq

Suggestions? Comments? Ideas? Let us know.

Follow up with the TShirts Campaigns

Well, the last TShirt campaign wasn't really a big success, few people ordered or requested a free TShirt, and some troubles printing them faced me. However, I think people still don't trust what they read online regarding ordering or requesting something. Anyhow, to summarize the results, only 12 Tees were ordered, and another 12 were given away. Would like to thanks everyone who ordered a TShirt and special thanks to Hanna Kreitem for his continuous support for this campaign and for providing 4 Tees, Thanks a lot.

Unfortunately, the reactions from students wasn't as much as I expected, at least not until I got the Tees printed and they really saw them! Until then, I guess people didn't trust what I am saying or was too lazy to fill a one-minute form to order or request a TShirt for Free! I still don't know the reasons why people didn't react the way I had expected, but I am on my way to finding out and will tell you when I do know!

I woke up 2nd Nov. Monday at 8:00AM in hope to get the Tees and then go to The Technology Conference in Grandpark. Once I got there, I met Gisel Hiscock, the magnificent (as I like to call her), and my coworker back in Google Zurich, Mary Himinkool, along with Debu Purkayastha. I talked with Mary about the Internet quota that the Palestinian Telecommunication is introducing and I showed her the Tees. I gave her and Gisel a TShirt and one for Ibrahim Jabour to deliver it to him in Gaza. Gisel didn't like what they're trying to do, so she tried to talk to some employees from Hadara and Paltel.

They didn't allow us to ask questions about the Internet Quota issue, Gisel tried her best to push them to talk about it and open a discussion about it, however, Paltel (or Hadara) CEO came for 5 minutes announced the service and just got out without taking questions or giving any chance for opening a discussion. I was really pissed off with them, however, I've managed to go around it and asked a question that is somehow close. Gisel told me that she and Anthony Vonsee (of CISCO) talked and told Hadara's CEO that limiting the internet quota is wrong and they should be looking for a smarter solution and that they will lose there customers!

I (Mohammad Khatib) and Hanin Abu Baker stayed till the last minute of the conference (9:00AM - 6:30PM) , honestly except they didn't allow questions to be asked about the quota, I really loved the conference and I never knew we could have done a fantastic conference. Saw Gisel, Mary and Debu before they prepare themselves to go to Gaza. (Unfortunately, they staid three days trying to enter Gaza with a previously approved permit, however the Israeli forces didn't allow them to enter! Gaza people were looking forward to meet them! I am really sorry!)

Here a video on Al Watan TV shows the opening of the Technology Conference, you can see me at 1:00 with my MacBook Pro! Gisel Hiscock is speaking at 1:50. Check the video out.

Hamza Abu Salah and Anas Abdel Razeq two colleagues of mine were the first to show up wearing the TShirt in the Expotech, going with a group of students in a bus organized by the CSE Club on Tuesday. As I were told, they've talked with some people from Hadara and discussed the new Internet quota, but of course with no use, the guys out there are a marketing people that have been told what to say and keep repeating it again!

Following their leads, I (Mohammad Khatib) and my friend Walid Abu Salah, went to the expotech wearing them. We explored the exhibition, wasn't very pleasant except for knowing about new ISPs in the market such as GlobalCom and Yalla Wireless Internet services, the good news that they're not limited and does not follow the quota model, the bad news is they only covered 30% Ramallah (as per the statistics they provided me) and Yalla covers 90% of Nablus. This is good and introduce new Palestinian ISP alternatives for people to choose from, they told us in 2 months Ramallah should be covered fully, however, I am not sure that will happen, we'll see.

One thing we did is going to Hadara/Ittesalat Booth and presented them with a TShirt and told them this is to tell you that we DON'T like what you're doing with the Internet! We had a half-hour intense discussion and neither of us were convinced of the others point of view!

Anyhow, the fight for open internet is still on, and we're doing our best to show people what is going on and what the Internet Quota does mean! Lots of people does not understand what is going to happen! I will be writing another blog post on a continuous effort we've started today by distributing 2500 paper to enlighten people!

Palestinian "No Internet Quota" Campaigns

Update: I've sent the TShirts to be printed, they will be ready Monday morning, so if you want some please let me know. Each TShirt costs 25 Shekel. (You can also Download the TShirts Designs). If you're in Gaza and wants a TShirt, please let me know, I might be able to send them.

Update 2: Ways to protest against the Internet Quota limitation,

  - Buy the TShirt (or request one for free) and wear it in Expotech.
  - Join the Fan Page and the Group on Facebook.
  - Change your Status on Facebook and Tweet about it. Use the #saveinternet hash.(have ideas of what to tweet?)
  - Change your Profile Image to one of these Images.

Well, the news spread out, Palestinians are really angry on what Hadara (The main ISP in Palestine) is going to do by limiting the download quota!

People started creating groups, pages, fan pages on facebook with their slogan being "No to internet quota!", others are creating a demonstration tent on 3rd November, the first day of the Expotech exhibition - The largest Technology event in Palestine.

As for me, I thought since Hadara (Paltel) is going to announce the quota limitation on internet during the Expotech event (as an advantage for the users!), it would be nice to show up wearing a custom printed TShirt for saying no for internet quota to show them how much people are really refusing this limitation!

I've mocked up couple of designs for the TShirt. I will be printing 10 TShirts for me and some friends, I don't have the budget to print it for more people (I wish I had), however, I will make the designs available for you to download and print out. If you want to support this campaign and want some TShirts, please use this form to request some TShirts. One TShirt price is approximated for 20 Shekel (~6$).

The plan is to go to the Expotech opening day (and following days if possible) wearing this TShirt.

I'll leave you with the sketches (these are "very" low quality, I will be preparing the high quality designs and upload them so you can get a copy).

Have some more ideas? You think you can help me with this campaign? Do you know where best to print the TShirts? Do you own a printing company and you think you can give us a good deal on printing the TShirts? You Can't live with the Internet limitation? Leave me a comment, PM me, or get the designs and print some TShirts and distribute them to your family and friends.

Internet in Palestine - It just keep getting worse!

It turned out that the rumors are true! Hadara (Paltel) the Palestinian main Internet Service Provider (ISP) is trying their best to make their internet suck more and more. It's already expensive, slow and now the biggest surprise it is limited!
Yes you now will have a monthly limit on your Downloads! If you have 512KB ADSL connection, you will have 10GB download limitation per month. Once you've exceeded the 10GB, your connection will turn into a 64KB connection till the end of the month! The user then can buy extra up to 6 GB (by a package 2, 4 or 6 GB) for 12NIS (about 3.5$) for each 2GB!

This campaign has been applied in Egypt as well, however, rapidly people started complaining about this new limitation and threaten not to pay their internet bills! They've used Facebook and other tools on internet to create groups for refusing such decision. Moreover, more than 500 went into a demonstration to show their objections on the limited internet.

As I understood, what Hadara (And the other ISPs) are trying to do is to give users a better internet quality. Since the old unlimited internet connection was a shared internet connection and users might not get what they've really subscribed to (1MB is not always 1MB) . So by this limitation on the quota Hadara should promise the 1MB always 1MB! This is what I think they mean by "Fair Usage Policy". Hence introducing limitation on downloading!

However, since we're all used to the unlimited download quota the first impression is to refuse such limitation. This is basically because a 10GB is what people download in a week these days!

I can't stop wondering whether this will work out for Hadara! Will people just sit back and accept this!

What do you think? Will you switch your Provider if they introduced these limitations? Or do you think this is fair?

Update: Faiz A.H has already created a group on Facebook "No to Internet Quota in Palestine !". If you're a supporter, join it.

Check out the following scanned fax! (Click to maximize)

ImHalal.com - Are Girls More Haram than Boys!?

CAUTION: Please do  NOT try the keywords provided for statistics, unless you're sure you are safe! Some results might be offensive!

While there's no reasoning behind writing such a post, however, I found it fun trying couple of search queries and see how the new ImHalal.com Search Engine categories them. And The results were... Let's say "a bit discriminating".

So basically, ImHalal.com should allow Muslims to search the web safely and Halal. Which means any search query that might have Haram results would give a warning before displaying the results and some results won't display it at all.

These decisions are based on 3 levels that classify how Haram the results would be. Level 1 is the lowest Haram level, and level 3 is the highest one. If the result contains a content of Level 3, you won't be able to see the results. While level 1 and 2 give you the option to risk it and show the results!

I find this idea is kind of nice, and might also helps to be used with even non-Muslim Kids since the children safety issue on the internet is increasingly having people attention.

I gave the Engine a test drive. I used it as a measuring tool for how Haram something could be, and I found some funny results, here are some statistics (CAUTION: please do  NOT use these keywords to search, unless you're sure you are safe! Some results might be offensive!)

• Are Girls more Haram than Boys?!

Searching for Girls give Level 1, while Searching for Boys didn't give any warning (not Haram).

• Does Language affect the Haram Level of "Something"? 
• Searching for Pork in English gave level 1, while the Arabic translation give no Haram indication. 
• Searching for "Kill" gives Level 2, while "قتل" didn't give any Haram level.
• Also, Searching for "Porn" give level 3, while "أفلام إباحية" (The Arabic Translation of Porn) gave Level 2.
• Another query, "Sex" gave Level 2, while "جنس" gave Level 3.

• Does Homosexuality Haram Level differs based on sex?

Searching for "Lesbians" gives Level 2, while "Gays" gave Level 3.

• Do stars mean bad now?

We are used to give a Star for "good" things. When bookmarking a nice page, we click the star. When rating a video, we give it as much stars as it deserves. We call someone a star if he is doing great job (or not?). We draw stars on kids faces/hands when they do something good. However, the website used the Star to refer for a Bad thing (Haram)! 3 Stars means the worst result! Bad Visualization!

Opinions

• Great Idea
• Liked how they give the final decision for the user. After all if the user didn't use it for Halal searching then there's no reasoning for not allowing them!
  
• Needs lots of  enhancing!
• Queries should be checked as a combination of words and levels should be accumulated.
• Some queries shouldn't be flagged as Haram, e.g. "Girls". I see no reason for marking this as Haram.
• Language Syncing.
• Use meaningful and in place Visual items! (an X instead of a Star)
  

• Liked the distinguish between The Arabic queries that might mean different things. Example: Searching for "جنس" which usually refer to the act of having sex, returns a level of 3. While searching for "الجنس" which usually used to mean Gender or other meanings.   

I know what you're thinking, this Engine was made for people that don't want to see Haram stuff, so most probably they won't try to search for most of the stuff I just tried. But as they always teach us in Development "It's the worst case that counts...".

As always, welcoming any comments or inputs from you.

Update: I've just added this post as an idea on the website, vote for it if you see it will help the engine get better. Here's the URL:
http://getsatisfaction.com/imhalalcom/topics/http_3x_w_blogspot_com_2009_09_imhalalcom_are_girls_more_haram_than_html

Disclaimer: I am not very experienced in religious stuff. This is only my own opinion.