IT Opportunities in Syria

1
IT Opportunities in Syria

• Jeff Mirek
• Jennifer Kozik
• Tad Blankenburg

2
Brief History

• Seat of several powerful empires dating before
  2000 BC
• Center of the Christian religion until 7th
  century when the area
• succumbed to Muslim Arab rule
• French colony from 1922 1946
• Independence gained by UN resolution ordering
  French
• troops to evacuate

3
Geography
4
Geography

• Total Area 185,180 sq km
• (Slightly larger than North Dakota)
• Climate Humid Mediterranean coast, semi-arid
• steppe zone and hot, dry desert
• Long considered a crossroad between Europe and
  the Middle East as well as Europe and Asia

5
People

• Population 18.8 Million
• Religions 74 Sunni Muslim
• 12 Shia Muslim
• 10 Christian
• Languages 90 Arabic
• English and French
  widely understood and required
• for study in the education system
• Ethnic Groups 90 Arab
• 9 Kurds
• 1 Armenians,
  Circassians, and Turkomans

6
People

• Education
• Literacy 60 Men 50 Women
• Syria has a good basic education system. The
  Baath Party strongly
• promotes education and accounts for 8.6 of the
  state budget.
• Engineering and medicine are emphasized in
  Syrias four universities.
• In 2002 the President founded a virtual
  university which allows Syrian
• students to obtain degrees from US institutions.
• Computer literacy is mandatory at the high school
  level.

7
Economy

• GDP US71.42 Billion (2005 Est.)
• Per Capita US3900
• Agriculture 28.5 of GDP
• Industry and Manufacturing 29.4
• Services 42.1
• Inflation Rate 5.1
• Main Industries petroleum, textiles, food
  processing, beverages, tobacco, phosphate rock
  mining

8
Economy

• Electricity Consumption 28.26 billion kWh (2003
  est.)
• Oil consumption 240,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

9
Economy

• US Sanctions
• The sanctions include
• Prohibition on the export to Syria of any items
  that appear on the United States Munitions List
  (arms and defense weapons, ammunition, etc.) or
  Commerce Control List (dual-use items such as
  chemicals, nuclear technology, propulsion
  equipment, lasers, etc.)
• Prohibition on the export to Syria of products of
  the United States, other than food and medicine
  and
• Prohibition on aircraft of any air carrier owned
  or controlled by the Syrian government to take
  off from or land in the United States.

10
Government

• Type Republic , in name only, that is dominated
  
• by an authoritarian, military regime
• Consists of
• Executive The President is the supreme
  authority
• Legislative
• Can only modify laws from executive branch,
  cannot
• make law.
• The constitution established the Baath party as
  the
• ruling party
• Judicial President appoints judges

11
Government

• Administrative Divisions 14 Provinces
• Legal System Based on French and
• Ottoman civil law

12
Infrastructure - Communications

• Telephones
• Hard Lines 2.9 Million
• Cell 2.95 Million
• 14 TV Stations
• 16 Radio Stations
• System
• - Controlled by Government
• - general assessment fair system
  currently undergoing significant
  improvement and digital
• upgrades, including fiber-optic
  technology

13
Infrastructure - Transportation

• Airports 26 with paved runways
• Railways 2722 km
• Generally adequate for
  passenger and
• freight
• Paved Roadways 18,451 km
  Extensive and reasonably well
• maintained

14
Infrastructure - Transportation

• Ports Baniyas, Jablah, Latakia, and Tartus
• Tartus and Latakia 2800 Vessels per year
• - 1.5 Million tons loaded
• - 6.9 Million tons unloaded

15
Investment Risks

• Nationalization The Baath Party is a socialist
  movement that
• advocates state ownership of industry. The
  Syrian government is
• slowly implementing private ownership.
• Civil Unrest Unrest in the Kurdish and Shia
  Muslim community
• occurs regularly and is brutally suppressed. The
  regime has one of
• the worst human rights records in the world.
• War Syria considers itself at war with Israel
  who currently occupies a
• small portion of Syrian land, the Golan Heights
• Human Rights Syria has a very poor human rights
  record.
• Torture, executions, and government persecution
  are common
• practice.

16
Perspective on Syria

• Following the succession in 2000 of President
  Hafez al-Assad by his son, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad,
  progress has been slow in delivering the openings
  and reforms hoped for by many.
• Economic reforms have started in some areas,
  primarily banking, but the economy remains
  dominated by regulations and sustained by the
  petroleum and gas sector.

17
Perspective on Syria

• Syria was an ally in the first gulf war and a
  member of
• the UN Security Council during 2002-2003,
  strongly
• opposing the invasion of Iraq.
• Syria has been accused by the US of not doing
  enough to stop
• the influx of fighters into Iraq across its
  border.
• The US introduced sanctions against Syria in May
• 2004, calling for
• Better Syrian cooperation on Iraq
• An end to Syrian support for select Palestinian
• organizations and Hezbollah,
• An end to the Syrian program for chemical weapons
  
• Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon

18
Censorship in Syria

• The Internet is the only way for intellectuals
  to meet and share ideas in Syria today.Aktham
  Naissa, President of the Committees for the
  Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights
  in Syria

19
Censorship in Syria

• What I want to say to you, my friendis that you
  and your friends are being watched constantly.
  Theyre watching you as you walk in the street
  and in your daily life. Theyre watching you as
  you talk on your home phone, on your mobile, and
  on the Internet. Dont be too surprised if
  theyre watching you in your sleep, in your
  dreams, and in your silence. Dont be surprised
  if theyve come into your bed at night.E-mail
  from one Syrian human rights activist to another,
  2005

20
Technology in Syria

• In order for Syria to condone a particular
  technology, it
• must meet the following criteria
• It should benefit the majority of the Syrian
  people. Technology geared toward the elite is not
  favored because such people have the resources
  and means to get what they want without
  government assistance
• It should not disrupt the social structure or
  adversely affect the middle class, and should be
  within the means of the masses
• It should have a direct impact on Syrias overall
  social and economic development
• It should not jeopardize Syrian independence or
  security concerns

21
Syrias Emergency Law

• Syrias Emergency Law is at the center of all
  legislation criminalizing peaceful opposition to
  the government
• Syria has been under a state of emergency since a
  military coup in 1962 and because of the constant
  real threat of war by Israel the Emergency law
  persists
• The law designates the Prime Minister as the
  Martial Law Governor
• Among its sweeping provisions are the placing of
  restrictions on freedoms of individuals with
  respect to meetings, residence, travel and
  passage in specific places or at particular
  times preventive arrest of anyone suspected of
  endangering public security and order
  authorization to investigate persons and places
  delegation of any person to perform any of these
  tasks

22
Syrias Emergency Law

• The Emergency Law allows for the censorship of
  letters, internet, publications, broadcasts and
  other forms of communication
• Certain types of Web sites are blocked in Syria
  by all ISPs pornography, fanatic religious
  sites, and extremist Zionist sites
• Some ISPs have their own policy for blocking Web
  sites that are not applied by other ISPs (e.g.
  the Syrian Telecom ISP blocks access to Yahoo!
  mail and MS mail services, while the SCS ISP does
  not block access to these services)

23
Government Censorship

• Syrian Internet users report that they can access
  the Internet from cafés without showing ID.
• Plainclothes security officials monitor cafés
  logging who goes in and out and their activities
  online. These activities may be subject to
  criminal penalties and the government does not
  need customer logs to monitor the cafés
• Activists and bloggers tell Human Rights Watch
  that security officials can compel café owners to
  spy on their customers and threaten to close the
  business on administrative grounds.

24
Government Censorship

• There are three ISPs that offer service to the
  general public
• The government-owned Syria Telecommunication
  Establishment (STE)
• The government-funded SCS Network
• Aya the first fully private ISP in Syria owned
  by a Syrian entrepreneur known for his close ties
  with the President
• Other private ISPs are in the process of setting
  up operations or obtaining licenses.
• The government intends to maintain its control
  over data communications within the country via
  its control of the international gateway and the
  public data network

25
Anonymity Software

• Sites that offered free, anonymous browsing could
  overcome the Syrian monitoring and censorship
  programs a few years ago but these sites have
  been closed within Syria
• We feel that there is a strong market for
  anonymity software such as
• Triangle Boy
• HTTP tunnel
• Socks2HTTP
• CCProxy
• Peek-A-Booty

26
Anonymity Software

• Anonymity Software makes it harder to trace
  visits to web sites,
• online posts, instant messages and other
  communication forms
• back to their authors or users
• Some use "onion routes" creating layers of
  servers that separate computer users from the Web
  sites they visit to hide a user's location. The
  software is easy, cheap, it is installed and
  operates in the background by adding icons in
  Windows
• Some replaces the URL bar with a JavaScript and
  establishes an encrypted connection from the
  user's desktop using 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer
  with cookies automatically disabled
• Newer anonymity software goes a step further,
  allowing users to get to an anonymizer through a
  third party, the code is open source, allowing
  anyone to set up third-party access to the
  anonymizer

27
Anonymity Software

• Current demand for existing rudimentary anonymity
  software is so high that entrepreneurial Syrians
  have been able to turn software installation
  (available free or trial basis) into a job
  charging up to 5000 Syrian pounds (100 USD) for
  installation

28
Opportunity to Profit from IT in Syria

• Host an open source third party anonymizer
  program
• allowing anyone in Syria to set up third-party
  access to
• the licensed anonymizer server which will be run
• outside of geographic boundaries of Syria
• Provide Licensed Anonymity Software to the people
  of
• Syria via a shared secure server
• Charge people to encrypt and log on to an
  untraceable
• account providing the ability access the internet
  using
• licensed anonymity software

29
Investment Opportunities

• IT Services
• As oil reserves are drying up Syria is in a
  desperate situation to
• develop its industry.
• One method for IT investment in Syria is through
  a joint venture with the government to develop IT
  services
• Design and Implementation
• Network Management
• Security Management

30
Investment Opportunities

• IT Services
• This proposal will
• Utilize the local, inexpensive, and educated
  labor market
• Take advantage of established, although small,
  local industry as well as government and
  educational institutions
• Will require minimal investment in assets and
  thus protect from loss due to nationalization or
  military incursions

31
Investment Opportunities

• Expected Results
• These services will result in more efficient
  industries and institutions that will better
  utilize the low level of capital investment
  available.

32
Sources

• Anthony Shadid, Syrias Voices of Change,
  Washington Post, May 25, 2005, http//www.washingt
  onpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005
  052401431_pf.html
• Joe Pace interview with Ayman Abd al-Nour, July
  25, 2005, http//faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.L
  andis-1/syriablog/2005/07/interview-with-ayman-abd
  elnour-by-joe.htm
• Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Ayman
  Abd al-Nur, October 2, 2005.
• Megan K. Stack, Arabs Take Bytes at Regimes,
  The Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2005,
  http//www.latimes.com/technology/la-fg-technology
  12sep12,1,3706022,full.story?ctrack1csettrue
• Maha Taki, Weblogs, Bloggers and the Blogosphere
  in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan An Exploration,
  dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the
  requirements for the M.A. Degree in
  Communications, University of Westminster,
  London, 2005

33
Sources

• CIA World Factbook www.cia.gov
• Country Profile Syria, April 2005 Library of
  Congress, Federal Research Division
  http//lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Syria.pdf