Tunisians Hop On?

In Tunisia, luxury coaches can be spotted going around even its most remote villages - no, The 5th Wheel has not relocated to Africa. The Association for Digital Solidarity, a government-run institution has come up with a mobile, digital, satellite-powered bus to which citizens can hop on to learn how to log on or surf the internet, and look for information online which they can use in their studies or in finding jobs. The enterprise aims to enable citizens to keep up with the digital revolution and to bridge the digital divide. It is however interesting to note that Tunisia has very strict internet censorship policies. The government has a central filtering system which regulates internet access and content. Internet cafe owners are obliged to report activities in their shops and also have the right to access information saved to disks by their customers. They may even ask for identification, making it easier to link online activities to a specific person. On the one hand, this practice may be efficient in helping combat cyber crime. It however raises serious questions on violation of one's right to privacy and freedom of speech, which apparently the Tunisian government is not too keen on preserving.

While the government's efforts to bring technology to remote areas should be lauded and even emulated, there is a lot that remains to be done (or not done for that matter). It is ironic that they bring internet education to the provinces and yet regulate the medium so unabashedly that access to it is limited to an extent violative of its citizens' civil liberties. I do agree that internet requires regulation but to what lengths do we go to ensure it? Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be Filipino but sometimes living in this country makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs (mostly on Friday pay days). Although I don't think I come up with anything that's so regulate-able, this is one of those rare instances when I'm glad I live in the Philippines.