The Dark Side of the Arab Spring

There has been much celebrating this year about how social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook, energized a groundswell of protest in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, that brought tyrannical regimes to their knees, but now the tables are being turned in Syria. Where social media once provided delicious anonymity and agility, it now serves as a vehicle for governments to identify opposition workers through installing malware on their computers.

In a recent CNN Tech article, "Computer spyware is newest weapon in Syrian conflict," correspondent Ben Brumfield tells us that the regime's supporters have created a virus that robs information from computers and passes it on to a server at a government-owned telecommunications company in Syria.

• 

Syrians demonstrate against the regime after Friday prayers

in the northern Syrian city of Idlib on February 17. Activists

working against the regime now have to worry about

malware that can expose their activities. 

Supporters of Syria's leader Bashar al-Assad first steal the identities of opposition activists, then impersonate them in online chats. They gain the trust of other users, pass out Trojan horse viruses, and encourage people to open them. Once on the victim's computer, the malware sends information out to third parties.

One of these viruses is capable of logging key strokes, taking screen shots, and rummaging through folders. It then hides the IP address to which it is sending this information.

This is a very scary set of circumstances for opponents of al-Assad's regime, because they never know when a mistake will implicate them or others. Furthermore, they don't know who to trust, since one of the ways the virus is spread is through regime proponents pretending to be opposition members. This is the dark side of anonymity.

We like to think that espionage like this is only happening in the Middle East, but recent articles have shown that our government is engaged in social media monitoring, as well. A February 18, 2012, AP article entitled "NYPD monitored Muslim students all over Northeast," tells us that "NYPD's Cyber Intelligence unit visited the websites, blogs and forums of Muslim student associations as a 'daily routine.' "

    Many of the academic institutions whose Muslim student associations (MSAs) were under surveillance have protested what they regard as a violation of essential freedoms and "a reasonable expectation of privacy," but NYC's Mayor Bloomberg defends the actions of his police force, saying "We have to keep this country safe." 

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is facing off

with Yale University over efforts by the NYPD

to monitor Muslim student groups. He says there

is nothing wrong with officers keeping an

eye on websites available to the general public.



NYPD spokesperson, Paul J. Browne, has pointed out that the information they have collected through surveillance of MSAs has come from "open sources" on the Internet. Mr. Browne further stated through an email: “Some of the most dangerous Western Al Qaeda-linked/inspired terrorists since 9/11 were radicalized and/or recruited at universities in MSAs. We were focused on radicalization and/or recruitment, specifically by groups like Al Muhajiroun, Islamic Thinkers Society, Revolution Muslim and others.”

Asked about the monitoring, Mr. Browne provided a list of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States and abroad, who had once been members of Muslim student associations, as evidence that this type of surveillance is worthwhile. 

I have to admit that I'm conflicted. Having been a NYC resident at the time of 9/11, I am certainly with the Mayor in wanting to keep the city safe, but I wish there were some other way to do it. Even though monitoring "open sources" on the Internet is not the same as covertly launching malware on opposition activists' computers with the goal of stealing their personal information to implicate them and others, it is still a form of surveillance. Whereas Mayor Bloomberg feels that the NYPD's work monitoring MSAs is necessary to protect NYC, proponents of al-Assad's regime might feel that their work is equally important in protecting their government. Given the mores of their society, Syria's government supporters might see this as a perfectly acceptable way to protect themselves and their world.