As I understand it, very few Iraqi's have access to anything other than the state sponsored "internet", i.e. not the global internet and that access is subject to state intervention.
This following article sums up what I have read in many different publications.
Until 1999, ordinary Iraqis did not have access to the Internet. That was not entirely the fault of the Iraqi government. UN-imposed trade sanctions made it impossible to import the necessary technical equipment. Now the government allows individuals to access the Net, albeit only via its own service provider (the State Company for Internet Services) which trades as uruklink.net. Only in quasi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan is the Web largely free of official censorship.
The Iraqi government sees the Internet as a form of getting information from abroad, and as a source of income through charging relatively high fees to use the Internet. Even so it's cheaper to send an e-mail than make a phone call in Iraq.
Internet cafes
The first state-run Internet cafe opened in July 2000, and there were around 60 by the start of 2003. Those who can afford it are allowed to have Internet connections at home. The cost is 50,000 Iraqi dinars (about US$25) for three months, with an additional charge for each e-mail message. A locally built computer costs around US$600. That's beyond the means of most ordinary Iraqis, who prefer to use the Internet cafes where typically they can surf the net for 500 Dinars (about 25 US cents) per session.
But at least some Iraqis now have direct access to information from outside the country, though there's no doubt that the authorities closely monitor their online activity. There's a degree of official censorship too. Iraqis cannot access Web sites whose contents are considered "contradictory to Islamic law." Any Iraqi clicking on a link to a site that contains sexual or pornographic material is receives an "Access Denied" message. Also banned are the sites of Iraqi opposition groups, and some US government sites. Iraqis are not allowed to open E-mail accounts with commercial providers outside Iraq, such as Hotmail and Yahoo! Unexplained disruptions to service still occur, probably more for political than technical reasons.
Iraqi Web sites
There are relatively few Web sites produced inside Iraq for the outside world, all of them by the Iraqi government and institutions. They are linked from the Home Page of Uruklink. Ironically, one of the sites is for the Iraq Tourism Board. Note from the screen shot below that they have pages in 'Dutche' (sic) which in fact turns out to be German.
The Web site of the Iraqi News Agency has a substantial section in English, though when we checked the latest headlines were three days old, suggesting that stories have to go through a rigorous checking procedure before they're published.
The Iraq Satellite Channel affair
The Iraqi Internet infrastructure has been set up with scant attention to efficiency and security. This is amply demonstrated by what happened to the Web site of the Iraq Satellite Channel, Iraq's international TV service. On 18 February 2003, a routine check by Media Network showed that the site appeared to have been hacked. During 2002, we had been able to watch the channel in streaming video at www.iraqtv.ws. But we were surprised to find that the content had been replaced by a Christian fundamentalist message (see screenshot on right).
Media Network's Lou Josephs and Sheila Lennon of the Providence Journal managed to track down the person responsible, American James Poole. It turns out that he had discovered the domain registration had expired, and a quick piece of thinking allowed him to reregister it.
Quick Thinking
"I don't know if they let it lapse or just never got it up off the ground," said Poole. "I was scanning their sites looking for some weakness or vulnerability, and discovered that they had a link to their satellite service that was not registered at that point, so I registered the link and put up my own site. I registered the site on Sunday, Feb 16 and the fact that my link is still imbedded on the site tells me that someone over there is helping me, either out of fear or agreement. I have received one threat by E-mail but many positive messages of encouragement, even one in French and one short letter of appreciation from an Arabic sounding name."
Poole was able to take advantage of the fact that the State Company for Internet Services (SCIS), uses just two foreign companies to handle nearly all its Internet access. One is American (Atlanta International Teleport of Douglasville, Ga.), and the other is British (SMS Internet of Rugby, Warwickshire). This arrangement came about when SCIS approached ARABSAT to obtain Internet access. ARABSAT contracts its Internet service from various commercial companies, which happen to include AIT and SMS. In theory, the US and Britain could shut down Iraq's internet access if they wanted to, simply by ordering AIT and SMS to switch off the connection.
Opposition Sites
Most Iraqi-related sites operating in the west are either independent or run by opposition groups supporting the goal of regime change in Iraq. Some of them have suffered denial of service attacks and other inconveniences. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has not ruled out the possibility that some of the denial of service attacks are the work of pro-Baghdad hackers. But this seems unlikely as the general level of Internet expertise in Iraq remains low. A more likely scenario is that US citizens, unable to grasp the complexities of Iraqi politics, were behind most of the attacks. It is, of course, politically expedient for the Bush administration to claim that cyber attacks by Iraq, Al Qaeda and other 'undesirable' elements, are a threat to US security. At the same time, the FBI has warned US hackers to desist from "patriotic hacking", as it is a crime and could even backfire.
Cyberwar
In January, the US Defense Department began sending thousands of e-mail messages to Leaders of the Iraqi military, warning them that that they would sustain heavy losses unless they defied Saddam Hussein. This is very much the same message as the psyop radio broadcasts. It's believed that the 193rd Special Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, which operates Information Radio, and the CIA were involved in the e-mail campaign. They used the services of Iraqi defectors to contact former colleagues and urge them to cooperate with US forces. These are extracts from some of the messages:
"If you provide information on weapons of mass destruction or you take steps to hamper their use, we will do what is necessary to protect you and protect your families. Failing to do that will lead to grave personal consequences."
"If you take part in the use of these ugly weapons, you'll be regarded as war criminals. If you can make these weapons ineffective, then do it. If you can identify the position of weapons of mass destruction by light signals, then do it. If all this is not possible, then at least refuse to take part in any activity or follow orders to use weapons of mass destruction."
"Iraqi chemical, biological and nuclear weapons violate Iraq's commitment to agreements and United Nations resolutions. Iraq has been isolated because of this behaviour. The United States and its allies want the Iraqi people to be liberated from Saddam's injustice and for Iraq to become a respected member of the international community. Iraq's future depends on you."
It's not clear if any of the messages reached their intended recipients, as all Internet traffic reaching Iraq is monitored and is filtered through uruklink.net.
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