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Internet Censorship In Morocco

The policy of Morocco in access to the Internet has until recently been rather liberal, as the government encouraged the development of this medium. Nevertheless, for over two years the trend has reversed and the cases of censorship are becoming increasingly frequent.

Cases of censorship are mostly the result of the telephone and the Internet dominating Morocco Telecom (a subsidiary of Vivendi ), it is practiced in a totally arbitrary and opaque, Morocco Telecom citing technical problems for claims. It is also characterized by the absence of recourse to a court decision, although Morocco proclaims himself a " rule of law. "

Morocco Telecom has blocked several blogging sites like LiveJournal. Reporters Without Borders says that Morocco censorship of political websites often claiming the independence of Western Sahara. Google Earth was also blocked by Morocco Telecom at a time for reasons that remain obscure, some hypotheses suggest that the goal would be to make the difficult location of the royal palaces, others say it is to hide the locations of secret prisons. This block is completely arbitrary and is done outside of any legal proceedings, which may generate the most outlandish assumptions about his motives.

Today, only the site remains anonymiser.com censored, given that Google Earth, YouTube and sites claiming the independence of Western Sahara have become accessible.

Sites reported as censored

Primary Sites of the Polisario

On 21 November 2005 , Morocco is the main block sites Polisario , namely arso.org, spsrasd.info, and cahiersdusahara.com wsahara.net. Then, shortly after he did the same with the site anonymiser.com when he learns that it is recommended to avert the blockade ^{Google Earth}

Total censorship of Google Earth in Morocco is unique in the world, while some countries have asked Google not to display or blur certain areas or sensitive buildings, Morocco Telecom has chosen for mysterious reasons to ban the two sites entirety.

Morocco Telecom opposes a plea in bar to any request for clarification on this block, saying sometimes in awkward wave technical problems, problems completely contradicted by Google.

This decision is made even more incomprehensible by the fact that other sites supply of satellite images such as Yahoo and Microsoft are always accessible.

This censorship could quickly become untenable for the popularity of both sites in question, and the increasing number of sites and software that make reference or use, sites often professional nature. Morocco intends to develop tourism as a strategic activity for the country, and many tourist attractions use blocked sites. The country has also embarked on an ambitious policy of promoting the offshoring of IT and call center and this attitude could tarnish the country's image as a reliable technology hub transparent and consistent in its decisions.

Youtube

On May 25, 2007, the incumbent Telecom Morocco (51% owned by Vivendi Universal) has blocked all access to YouTube. No reason for the blockage has been given but some ^{See also}