Clinton School assistant professor Dr. Warigia Bowman has co-authored a timely article about the use of the Internet during conflicts among activists and authoritarian regimes in Northern Africa and the Middle East.
The article analyzes the role of the Internet and disruptions to Internet networks by authoritarian regimes in recent uprisings and conflicts in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Uganda and northern Sudan.
The article comes on the heels of Syria’s recent Internet blackout, which the state-controlled service provider instituted for 52-hours last week. Forbes.com discussed the Syria shutdown and other countries that are at risk of Internet disruptions in a recent article.
In their article, “Protecting the Internet from Dictators: Technical and Policy Solutions to Ensure Online Freedoms,” Bowman and co-author Dr. L. Jean Camp of the School of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington discuss the conditions that can lead authoritarian regimes to disrupt Internet service during uprisings and how to prevent such disruptions.
The article will appear in a special issue of “The Public Sector Innovation Journal,” which will focus on the Middle East. Click here for a description of the article, including a link to download it.
Bowman was a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in 2011. She joined the Clinton School faculty in January and spent this summer in Cairo where she studied the emerging political parties following the recent Egyptian Revolution.
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