The Cyprus EMEA Observatory is a legal entity that brings together individuals and organisations interested, in the first instance, in the research, investigation and analysis of current and emergent phenomena in network geopolitcs, digital culture and rights, and information freedom and control, with a focus on European, Middle Eastern, and African perspectives.

Activities

• Conduct research and develop investigative and publication projects
• Report and respond to current events and policy developments and debates
• Disseminate information and findings
• Connect strong collaborators and develop a culture of synergy and exchange across fields and disciplines
• Join research institutions and academic projects
• Develop technologies and tools related to our goals
• Participate and organise conferences, exhibitions, workshops, educational projects, and other events
• Facilitate the conduct of research, manage funds, hire people and services, reimburse travel, accommodation and other costs, pay rent to a physical space, and support our activities in other ways
• Educate
• Observe, assist, mobilise, and raise discussion with regard to policy making
• Investigate censorship, surveillance and traffic manipulation on the internet, open data, transparency, access to publicly funded outcomes
• Reflect on technology and our societies
• Connect and invite, think tank/panel

This is a humble attempt to set-up or to begin thinking about setting-up an independent Cyprus-based Europe, Middle East and Africa Web / Internet Observatory. The purpose is to collect and analyze data, and routes of data through EMEA, and to work with initiatives like OONI (Observatory of Internet Interference: A free global observation network for detecting censorship, surveillance and traffic manipulation on the internet) to promote evidence based policy making.

http://pad.hack66.info/p/observatory

23/3/2016 logs:

Update: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/ooni-explorer-censorship-and-other-network-anomalies-around-world

This is a humble attempt to set-up or to begin thinking about setting-up an independent Cyprus-based Europe, Middle East and Africa Web / Internet Observatory. The purpose is to collect and analyze data on routes of data through EMEA, and to work with initiatives like OONI (Observatory of Internet Interference: A free global observation network for detecting censorship, surveillance and traffic manipulation on the internet) to promote evidence based policy making. ___

1. OONI Report for Cyprus (draft)

Country: Cyprus Probed ISPs: Cytanet Measurement period: June - July 2015

What is ooni https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/foci12/foci12-final12.pdf

We’re running OONIprobe developed by the Tor project to investigate packet interception through Cypriot ISPs. Ooniprobe collects data about local interference with internet access, and detects surveillance, active bandwidth limitations, and other kinds of network interference. In the past (find more recent information) it was used to reveal that software such as T-Mobile's parental control WebGuard tool also blocked a number of websites including Newgrounds, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and the Tor Project itself as well as to confirm the take-down of news-websites in Palestine (Zhang, 2012).

Ooni collects data on individual computers about local interference with Internet access. The probe, developed by Tor engineers Arturo Filasto and Jacob Appelbaum, detects surveillance, active bandwidth limitations, and other types of network interference. According to OONI's mission statement, “This is a human rights observation project for the Internet. OONI seeks to observe levels of surveillance, censorship, and networked discrimination by networked authoritarian power structures.”

We've so far run Ooni probe on Cytanet. Report link:

Our game is to additionally generate reports for:

  Cablenet
  DragonNET
  Logosnet
  Netway
  PrimeTel
  OTEnet Telecom
  ThunderWorx

Refs http://pad.hack66.info/p/observatory https://ooni.torproject.org/post/eeep-greek-censorship/

Results Cyprus online censorship refs [INSERT LINK]

Preliminary Bibliography

Legal grounds for State Surveilance refs ΑΣΤΥΝΟΜΙΑ ΚΥΠΡΟΥ - Τμήμα Ανιχνεύσεως Εγκλημάτων (Γ’). (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.police.gov.cy/police/police.nsf/All/ACD1089AAF7A228FC22579170025CB0B?OpenDocument

91(I)/2014 - http://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/arith/2014_1_91.pdf

92(I)/96 - http://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/indexes/1996_1_92.html http://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/arith/1996_1_092.pdf

Cyprus Internet Refs Telecommunications in Cyprus. (2015, June 13). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telecommunications_in_Cyprus&oldid=666756093

Cyprus Internet Exchange. (2015, April 27). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyprus_Internet_Exchange&oldid=659487125

Cyprus : Internet Usage in Cyprus. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.cyprusbroadband.net/internet-usage-cyprus.html

Cyprus Safer Internet Hotline. (2012, February 20). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyprus_Safer_Internet_Hotline&oldid=477851764

Cyberethics. (n.d.). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.cyberethics.info/cyethics1/

Vassiliadou, M. (2007). European Media Governance: National and Regional Dimensions. In G. Terzis (Ed.), The Cypriot Media Landscape (pp. 201–212). Intellect Books.

Cyprus and Censorship Refs (other) Kassem, H. (2002). How the Cairo Times Came to be Published out of Cyprus. In R. Islam (Ed.), The Right to Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development. World Bank Publications.

Kaplanian Landscmeeer, A. (2010, August). Clandestine Mail - The Cyprus Route Postscript. The Israel Philatelist - August 2010, 128 – 131.

Theofilou, S. (n.d.). Cyprus Civil Censorship (1914-1959). Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.philokypros.net/page19/

Papadakis, Y., Welz, G., & Peristianis, N. (2006). Disclosure and censorship in divided Cyprus: toward an anthropology of ethnic autism. Divided cyprus: Modernity, history, and an island in conflict, 66-83.

Censorship Refs Meserve, S. A., & Pemstein, D. (2012). Google politics: the political determinants of internet censorship.

Commission of the European Communities. (2000). Communication from the Commission to the Council, The European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Towards a European Research Area. Retrieved from http://www.earth-prints.org/handle/2122/1826

Filastò, A., & Appelbaum, J. (2012). Ooni: Open observatory of network interference. USENIX FOCI. Retrieved from https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/foci12/foci12-final12.pdf

OONI refs Zhang, Q. (2012). Tor Project’s New OONI-Probe Reveals Two Instances of Filtering | OpenNet Initiative. Retrieved from https://opennet.net/blog/2012/05/tor-projects-ooni-tool-receives-positive-feedback