Evoliuvo

Almost a month ago, a New ICT e-transaction law was sent for approval by the Lebanese Parliament.
This law, which apparently has many flaws and inadequacies was drafted from a much complete version carefully crafted by professionals in policy making and law earlier in 2005. This law also contradicts with several other laws.
The law creates a body called the «Electronic Signatures and Services Authority» and grants this body unlimited powers which overpower related ministers, other official/public institutions and even Judicial system:

“Employees are entrusted inspection functions as a specialized judicial police within the scope of the Authority’s work.” (Article 82)

That is of course without consulting any Judge at any point of the inspection’s process.

Without going more into further details, many helpful articles are present at the bottom of this document including some other blog posts of friends and/or bloggers. You can also notice the initiative that directly and indirectly affected the postponement of the the approval of the law, without forgetting the twitter hashtag #StopThisLaw

The reason all this happened is the lack of multistakeholder approach within the policy making procedures in Lebanon. This multistakeholder approach means the inclusion of government (public sector) , business entities (private sector), civil society, academic and technical communities in the policy making processes of the country, region and/or globally. Several entities have adopted multistakeholderism during the last decade including countries(e.g: the recent Draft Bill Proposition on Civil Rights Framework for Internet in Brazil ), organizations (e.g: ISOC), corporations (e.g: ICANN) and unions (e.g:European Union); however, one of the primary multistakeholder innovators was the direct result of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with regard to convening a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue – the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
During next September, the 5th Internet Governance Forum will be held in Lithuania. During these 5 years, the Lebanese participation in this major multistakeholder forum was slim and only limited to few individuals. No Government, private sector or civil society participation whatsoever. Such participation, its consequences and takings could make a revolution in a country where policy making is of great urgency.

The good news is that more and more awareness is spreading within the Lebanese community especially after the recent activities related to the new ICT Law and the awareness it has created towards ICT policy making and its importance. I would like to mention 2 very important elements which hold lots of promises in this context:

• The newly incorporated ISOC Lebanon Chapter
  

  CONGRATULATIONS LEBANON! The Lebanese ISOC Chapter has been incorporated. To join ISOC Lebanon Chapter, please complete and submit the online membership form or (http://www.isoc.org.lb/member.htm) or send an e-mail to membership@isoc.org.lb

• The National Democratic Institute’s Public Policy Initiative (NDI PPI):
  

  NDI is working with the Youth Shadow Government (YSG) of Nahar al-Shabab to assist them in drafting and presenting evidence-based policy reform plans to relevant Cabinet Ministers. The Policy Development Program draws on NDI’s extensive local and international practitioner network, as well as in-house expertise, to train and support participants in developing policy papers and communicating them strategically and effectively to decision-makers. Through an intensive and focused training and consultancy process, the program aims to increase civil society’s participation in the policy-making process.

  Here is a link (in Arabic) to a followup on this: متابعة قانون تكنولوجيا المعلومات

At the end, I would like to address all Lebanese stakeholders to get more and more engaged in Internet Governance Processes especially policy making.
All the best,
Bernard.

Resources and helpful articles:

• Very helpful translation of some articles of the law: https://docs.google.com/View?id=ddjmntbp_110dcr8tmds
• Arabic Report on OTV Lebanese TV Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVIbRVmvPRc
• BBC Arabic جدل في لبنان بشأن تنظيم تكنولوجيا المعلومات

List of related blogposts(you can add your post):

• ACT NOW: Postpone the Vote on the E-Transactions Law – SMEXBeirut
• Major Pain points in the e-Transaction Law – Gabriel Deek
• Missed Call Nation – Qifa Nabki
• مجنون يحكي وعاقل يفهم… – عماد بزي
• Internet joke – Maya Zankoul
• قانون تكنولوجيا المعلوم مات – خربشات بيروتية
• Lebanese E-transactions Law Dilemma – The Identity Chef
• Stop the new Lebanese Internet Law – Independence05
• Lebanese Bloggers Are Furious Over Proposed Internet Bill – Beirut Spring
• Stop this law, and start working on something else – Sarah Hilal
• Lebanon’s Internet to Get Worse Unless You Stop It –Jad Aoun
• Lebanese E-Transaction Law - Riham Berjaoui
• ESSA proposed costume – STOP THIS LAW-   ARCHANGELUS
• A stand againt ESSA and the new Lebanese E-Transaction law-   PLUS961
• Stop This Law – Lebanese NightS
• علم وخبر – Dany Awad
• قانون يعزف ألحان، قانون يقمع أفكار – سليم اللوزي
• Gino’s Blog
• Lebanon: Outrage over Blocking of VoIP – Global Voices
• Lets make the Streets our Public TimeLine – Abir Ghattas
• قانون تنظيم الإنترنت في لبنان: نحو نظام بوليسي Hanibaael
• Stop this law! This is Beirut!
• المعركة على قانون الانترنت في لبنان: حصيلة الجولة الأولى مدونة نينار
• Corruption spreads as Government blames People Blogging Beirut

There was a recent debate among Lebanese on what hashtag to use to greet-The Lebanese way- in the morning.
Some people chose #sabaho while others chose #saba7o
what is your choice?
vote now!

In an early discussion on facebook, following my retweet of @AskLEBGov tweet:

“Don’t ask what ur country can do for u, but what u can do for ur country “JFK tweet with #AskLEBGov, we will channel it to the Gov!

found here, my friend Rihab El Hélou drew my attention that this quotation was in fact created by Khalil Gibran our famous Lebanese Writer and philosopher 36 years before JFK!

Quoting Rihab:

Actually, Khalil Gibran published the above saying in his 1925 work titled “The New Frontier”, Thirty-six years before President Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Address.

“Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.” Khalil Gibran

I’m not pretty sure how can we correct this, what we can do is to circulate it!

We are great Lebanese! And I’m proud of that! Who will be the next Gibran? The Next JFK?