Category Archives: Lebanon

#ProtectPrivacy – The Lebanese ISF Should Get Controlled Access To Your Information

The ISF have issued a request for minister of telecommunication Nicolas Sehnaoui to hand out the much coveted and talked about data that has been sought for months and months now. He has refused their request.

The data in question contains the text messages you’ve sent, some of your email correspondences as well as BBM chats (didn’t know that was accessible) and social media information that’s available to them. As a result, the entire Twitter community is in an uproar over this as they tweet against ISF measures using the hashtag #ProtectPrivacy, after a request from minister Sehnaoui.

I don’t know how the ministry of telecommunication actually has my Facebook or Twitter passwords. I don’t know how they have access to my emails or how they can actually read my iMessages. Last time I checked, those happened over an encrypted connection that makes access to them very difficult. But I digress.

When it comes to all of this, my stance is that of the devil’s advocate. Why not let them have access?

Of course this access has to be controlled. I’m against open access for them to everything because that’s just absurd. If I’m not a person of interest, then my data should be off limit until a time when I become a person of interest and that’s proven via evidence that shows my possible connection with a crime. For the record, I am innocent! (Although that’s what a criminal would also say). But to say that data should be off limit in absolute terms and for everyone doesn’t really make me feel safe in a country where safety has become a fleeting sentiment that you get occasionally… when someone’s not getting blown up on a busy intersection at rush hour.

My privacy is important to me and I surely wouldn’t want everything I do be broadcast in some dark room somewhere in Lebanon’s Intelligence HQ. However, that’s the same thing criminals who are assassinating politicians and blowing up people would also say and are absolutely loving at the moment.

Eventually, the ISF doesn’t really care who you slept with or if you sexted someone other than your girlfriend/boyfriend. They don’t care where you went out for dinner yesterday or who you’re meeting up for lunch tomorrow. What they should care about is catching criminals and contributing to the safety of citizens in this country. An ulterior motive may exist. Perhaps all those Turkish soap operas are not enough. So that’s why we should have functioning courts that determine whether an ISF request for a person’s private data information is valid or not.

As a Lebanese citizen, I don’t care about someone getting controlled access to my privacy if it meant I don’t have to die for finishing work at 3 p.m on a Friday. #ProtectPrivacy? Honestly, I’d rather #ProtectSafety first and foremost.

Obba Saida Style… Causes Controversy in Saida

Leave it to some dim-witted Lebanese religious man to turn a parody into a controversy. Obba Saida Style, the ChiNN cover that many found funny, is being challenged by some men in Saida as offensive and demeaning and an insult to the values of the city.

As a result, they are calling on Saida’s MPs to take disciplinary actions against Abou Talal, the character that did the parody because the song calls for “rebellion on the values of the city of Saida and calls for immorality.” (link)

Te3tir? You bet.

We’re reaching a point in this country where people’s threshold for offenses has become way too low causing them to get worked up at the most useless of things. I’m not against anyone expressing their concerns but there comes a time when those concerns are so ridiculous they should just be bottled in and repressed in some deep part of that person’s subconscious.

Nurses, clergy, basically every section in our society is finding something – anything – for them to get worked up on. As a result, the leeway in dealing with any event is becoming so restricted that we might as well not do anything at all anymore. Clergy should take care of prayers to those who care and leave parodies out of their business. Same thing applies to all other sections in our becomingly narrow-minded society.

Until then, here’s Obba Saida Style for anyone who doesn’t get offended at the stupidest things:

Zaitunay Bay is NOT Closing Down

After posting news that Zaitunay Bay might be closing down because the shops and restaurants in it can’t pay their rent anymore, I was tweeted by Zaitunay Bay’s account to let me know the news is entirely false.

Moreover, it seems that Solidere is not allowed to make such statements as it’s not the owning company of Zaitunay Bay. The company in question is BWD, Beirut Waterfront Development.

Here are the tweets in question:

Zaitunay Bay Closing - 1

Zaitunay Bay Closing - 2However, I believe that the closing news may not be coming out of nowhere. As they say, there’s no smoke without fire. So perhaps Zaitunay Bay should really anticipate repercussions from the dismal state of the economy and lower the rent on its tenants, at least until these tough times blow through. Making less money transiently is better than not making money at all.

 

 

 

Klink Revolution: Myriam Klink’s New Song

M

She calls herself QMK which I guess translates to Queen Myriam Klink so I may be doing her a disservice by omitting the first word.. This is Myriam Klink’s new “song” about the current state of things in Lebanon. You know, el en2isam, el ta2ifiye w heik.

Unless Nemr Abou Nassar is so bored he wants to expand his fanbase again, I’m willing to bet no one will be having a field day with this.

Interestingly, it was “debuted” on Joe Maalouf’s radio show. It seems he doesn’t mind this type of “music” being played on his airwaves if it brings in audiences.

I thought she was just messing around with Antar. But this shows that she’s actually taking herself seriously. Lord have mercy.

Proceed with caution. The path ahead is extremely risky for your eardrums and there’s no accompanying dance video to please your eyes.

 

Beirut’s Zaitunay Bay Closing Down?

LebanonFiles is reporting (here) that Solidere is actively and seriously considering closing down Lebanon’s new “it” project Zaitunay Bay, which has been discussed in the New York Times earlier this year.

The reason for Zaitunay Bay potentially closing is the same reason Fuddruckers and Buddha Bar have closed down while Movenpick got offered up for sale: the terrible state of business.

The shops and restaurants in Zaitunay bay are witnessing such a big fiscal drought that they can’t pay their rent, which is about $500,000 per year for their property. Looks like such a well-visited location hasn’t been resilient to the economic woes of the country.

Meanwhile, as all major business in the country close down or consider closing down, our politicians are either making propaganda visits to Gaza, still on a “forced vacation” abroad, threatening everyone whenever they feel threatened (which is basically every waking moment of every day) or getting people to freak out about a potential “ekhwen rule” in Syria.

The 2013 elections are in a few months and the rhetoric that will be used in the coming days and weeks won’t be that of an economic plan to save the country’s miserable state but that of mentally terrorizing people into voting for one side over the other, whatever that side is.

Despite not being the biggest fan of Zaitunay Bay, I really hope the place pulls through these though times. Lebanon doesn’t need such a thing right now.