Kuwaiti mobile operator's advert criticised and praised

BBC News, Kuwaiti mobile operator's advert criticised and praised "Kuwait-based Zain released the advert entitled "We Will Sing With Love" to mark the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. It shows a man wearing an explosive belt walking through staged scenes reminiscent to bombings that took place in several countries and has been viewed more than three million times."

Fatwa Issued Against 3G Internet Operator in Iran

Al-Monitor, Fatwa Issued Against 3G Internet Operator in Iran - 19 Feb 2013: ""The decadence and corruption associated with [Rightel’s] use outweighs its benefits,” decreed Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi. “It will cause new deviances in our society, which is unfortunately already plagued with deviances.” Ayatollah Alavi Gorghani said that the video-call service would “jeopardize the public chastity” and “inflicts numerous damages” on Iran’s religion and political system."

Dubai: ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications

RFE/RL, Dubai Meeting On Internet Governance "Internet freedom advocates say they fear the debates will be closed to all but government representatives, and that the ITU will merely present its conclusions at the end of the conference without input from the private sector, technical experts, or civil society." Also see ITU, World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12)

Pakistan cuts phones in hope of stopping attacks on Shi'ites

Pakistan cuts phones in hope of stopping attacks on Shi'ites | NBC News:  "Pakistan is suspending phone coverage in many cities this weekend, an important one in the Shi'ite Muslim calendar, after a series of bomb attacks on Shi'ites triggered by mobile phones."

Saudi’s Mobily posts 502 percent data growth during Hajj

bikyamasr.com, Saudi’s Mobily posts 502 percent data growth during Hajj "The company said its network recorded a 502 percent growth in data volumes at holy sites during the 2012 Hajj season and 101 percent growth in data in the Central Area of the Grand Mosque, compared to the 2011 Hajj."

KSA phone subs up

arabnews.com, Cell phone subscriptions cross 54.8m, 14 Sep 2011 "The number of mobile phone subscriptions in the Kingdom reached about 54.8 million by the first half of this year, according to an electronic bulletin published by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)."

globalarabnetwork.com, Kuwait to create a communication and internet authority, 20 Jul 2011

"Why is Indonesia so in love with the Blackberry?"

BBC News - Direct, Why is Indonesia so in love with the Blackberry?, 15 Jun 2011 "Internet guru Onno Purbo believes Indonesian fans see the Blackberry as the trendier, flashier gadget."

Activists Using Video to Bear Witness in Syria

Liam Stack, NYT, Activists Using Video to Bear Witness in Syria, 18 Jun 2011 "or many, their cameras started to roll at the dawn of the protest movement in mid-March. Mr. Saeb used to record protests and uploaded the video using a dial-up modem. That was until he lost Internet service several weeks ago when the government cut it off in Jisr al-Shoughour and the surrounding countryside, he said.

"He and the others then moved to the border zone. Here, people are as likely to speak Turkish as Arabic, and cellphones are as likely to pick up a signal from Turkcell as from Syriatel, a telecom giant owned until recently by a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, which cut off mobile Internet 3G service here weeks ago."

Vodafone Egypt controversy

Lina El-Wardani , Ahram Online, Vodafone loses face after taking credit for Egyptian revolution, 2 Jun 2011 "Vodafone Egypt denies it has any link with the advert, emphasising on its official Twitter account that it is only responsible for the videos on its official YouTube page. This official denial was to no avail as the advert was presented on the Vodafone-JWT.com website

"Yesterday a website and a Twitter account were launched in the name “I hate Vodafone Egypt.” The website, using the same logo and colour scheme as Vodafone, asks visitors why they hate the telecommunications company and to describe their experiences with it.

"The website also includes blogs, of which is called “Vodafone’s biggest mistake yet.”"

Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times, Anger over Vodafone Egypt link to revolt "A promotional video featuring Vodafone Egypt made by JWT, a WPP advertising agency, has sparked outrage online among Egyptians who took offence at what they believed was an attempt to connect a mobile phone marketing campaign with the country’s recent revolution."

See dailymotion.com, Vodafone Egypt JWT Ad Taking Credit For #Jan25 Revolution

'Broadcasting Martyrdom' op-ed

Brooke Goldstein and Elisa Rojas, frontpagemag.com, Broadcasting Martyrdom, 23 May 2011 op-ed discussion on broadcasting of Tuyur al-Janna and Lama Nestashed

Hajj tech impact

Arab News/zawya.com, Technology revolutionizes communication in Haj, 18 Nov 2010

""How can you focus on circling the Kaaba or concentrate on prayers when the guy in front of you is talking to his wife on his cell phone?" said pilgrim Imran Zahid.

""There can definitely be a disturbance. This is a spiritual journey, a journey to develop ourselves from within. All that Internet stuff can wait.""

Maroc Telecom

Bikya Masr, Maroc Telecom reports $470 mil earnings, 17 Nov 2010 "Morocco’s largest telecommunications company Maroc Telecom reported consolidated earnings during the third quarter this year to over $740 million, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year."

'Vodafone drops Muslim scientist ad'

AFP, Vodafone drops Muslim scientist ad after complaints, 16 Nov 2010: "The Egyptian unit of telecom giant Vodafone has dropped an advertisement depicting an early Muslim scientist, Abbas Ibn Firnas, as a dim man who fell off a cliff when trying to fly with feathered wings.

"The Britain-based company made the decision after receiving complaints from viewers, who took to the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to complain about what they said was an insult to the historic Islamic figure."

KSA fatwas

AP/Asharq Alawsat, Saudi Telecom Shuts Websites Violating Fatwa Edict, 5 Sep 2010 "Saudi Arabia's telecom regulator has shut down three websites that were violating a government decree limiting the issuance of religious edicts to the country's most senior group of clerics, authorities said Saturday."

Also see Brian Whitaker, al-Bab, 'Fatwa' websites closed, 7 Sep 2010

The issue also features elsewhere, including al-Arabiya, which refers to the closure of Islam Q&A (Shaikh Munajjid) - one of the sites I discuss in my writings:

بسبب كثرة فتاواه رغم قرار حصرها على أعضاء هيئة كبار العلماء
السعودية تحجب موقع "الإسلام سؤال وجواب" للشيخ المنجد

The TV channel al-Osra' has also been closed (although its website is still up):

Muslim Nation, Saudi Arabia MCI to close Islamic channel ‘Al-Osra’, 7 Sep 2010

4Shbab

Negar Azimi , NYTimes.com, Islam’s Answer to MTV, 13 Aug 2010 "“The media is changing everything,” Abu Haiba told me. “Television, the Internet, Facebook. We have to think faster, move faster. Time flies! 4Shbab is part of that change. It’s more than music. We have 25,000 members in the 4Shbab Forum. We get 3,000 S.M.S. a day from viewers. I have fans in Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Iraq — you name it. We think of it as a new kind of preaching for the ‘rebound generation.’ ”"

Also see 4shbab.com

Footnote: On their site I happened upon an article from 2009 on internet 'addiction', which is worth a look (especially for the pictures).

Imam Muda

Barney Henderson, Telegraph Malaysia's got talent: imams take their chants at victory, 25 June 2010 "The Young Imam competitors are becoming idols to teenage viewers. The show's Facebook page has more than 25,000 fans, including prospective mothers-in-law looking to marry off their daughters."

Useful article - headline writers on different news sources are having some fun with X-factor type banners.  

Some selected clips are here (plenty more on YouTube):







It makes for interesting viewing; the show could be a useful resource for students of Islam.

The official Facebook page is here: Facebook, Imam Muda

Research on TV

Two useful new pieces of research:

Yasmin Moll, Arab Media & Society, Islamic Televangelism: Religion, Media and Visuality in Contemporary Egypt with references to Mustafa Hosni, Amr Khaled and Moez Masoud.

Secondly, Maurice Chammah, , Arab Media & Society, Cosmopolitan Islamism and its Critics: Ahmed Abu Haiba, 4Shbab TV, and Western Reception

I haven't fully read these pieces yet.

ICT in Arab world

David Morgan, globalarabnetwork.com, Towards Information Society - National e-Strategies in the Arab World, 5 June 2010

"The report, National e-Strategies for Development Global Status and Perspectives 2010, highlights the varying stages of development in the adoption of ICT across the Arab World."

See ITU, E-Strategies/ICT Strategies which links to the pdf: "The report National e-Strategies for Development, Global Status and Perspectives, 2010 is a publication in the framework of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the WSIS’s Tunis phase and the adoption of the Tunis Agenda for Information Society. The Report reviews the progress in the elaboration of comprehensive, forward-looking and sustainable national e-strategies, and makes recommendations on policies and measures. This includes ICT strategies and sectoral e-strategies as an integral part of national development plans and poverty reduction strategies, as was called for by the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society."

Net coverage to east Arabia and Afghanistan

arabcrunch.com, ArabSat to Deliver Internet Via Satellite to East Arabia and Afghanistan, 9 June 2010 "Arabsat coverage design utilizes Ka-band technology will cover the Arab peninsula, Levant and Afghanestan in face of this project, Hesham said they will have 3 gatways to cover several spots most propably in Amman, Jordan, serving Levant, Damam and Judha in Suadi Arabia."