The Citizen Lab
Research Brief Number 40 – June 2014
Monitoring Information Controls in Iraq in Reaction to ISIS Insurgency
Read the Arabic Version / ﺍاﻝلﻉعﺭرﺏبﻱيﺓة ﺍاﻝلﻥنﺱسﺥخﺓةtranslated by Cyber Arabs In this report, we document the results of network measurement tests we ran to determine how the Internet is being filtered in Iraq in reaction to ongoing insurgency in the country. The results identify 20 unique URLs that are blocked on three Iraq-based Internet Service Providers. These websites include social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter), proxy / circumvention tools (such as Psiphon), and the websites of mobile messaging apps (such as WhatsApp and Viber). Notably, none of the 7 websites we tested that are affiliated with, or supportive of, the jihadist insurgent group the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) were found to be blocked.
BACKGROUND The ongoing insurgency within Iraq continues to escalate. In recent weeks, the jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) seized control of the northern provincial capitals Mosul and Tikrit and Iraq’s largest oil refinery. The conflict has led Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to formally request the U.S. military to engage in air strikes to limit the ISIS advances. Following the seizure of Mosul and Tikrit, the government of Iraq implemented restrictions on Internet accessibility as means of limiting the ability of ISIS to mobilize and communicate their message. On June 13, 2014, reports emerged that numerous social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, had been blocked. By June 16, reports suggested that Ministry of Communications officials had ordered a complete Internet shutdown in certain regions. These reports are confirmed by BGP data from Renesys:
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