{"id":188482,"date":"2018-02-02T15:38:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T15:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\/"},"modified":"2018-02-02T15:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T15:38:36","slug":"azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan\u2019s authoritarianism goes digital"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/98911\/\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-98911\"\/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\n  <i><br \/>\n    This article was originally published by<br \/>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/od-russia\/arzu-geybulla-hebib-muntezir\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n      Open Democracy<br \/>\n    <\/a><br \/>\n  <\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Last week, somebody broke into Meydan TV\u2019s Facebook. By Monday, the Berlin-based online news platform finally restored its access to the page \u2014 but had lost years of posts and nearly 100,000 subscribers (the publication had experienced a series of DDoS attacks on its site earlier in January). Anybody who knows the parlous state of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan knows of Meydan TV. The site\u2019s independent journalism has won it no friends in the South Caucasus state, where its journalists are routinely harassed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In recent weeks, reports have abounded of DDoS attacks and hacking of Facebook and email accounts of Azerbaijani dissidents and their supporters. Both of us can attest from personal experience that the attackers have upped their game \u2014 using surveillance technologies such as Deep Packet Inspection (DIP) and<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2015\/04\/hacker-lexicon-spear-phishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    spearphishing attempts<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  . As we enter 2018 and a presidential (re)election in October, these moves attest to a digital crackdown in Azerbaijan \u2013 policing the internet and deterring online activism.\n<\/p>\n<h5>\n  The block doctrine<br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p>\n  One development at the end of last year showed a new stage of regime mobilisation against online dissent. A legal amendment last year<br \/>\n  <a href=\"\/en\/article\/azerbaijani-court-blocks-access-to-5-sites-including-meydan-tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    allowed<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  Azerbaijan\u2019s state institutions to block websites on the grounds of national security \u2014 and MeydanTV\u2019s was among them.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Furious, five blocked media outlets contested the ruling. During an appeals hearing on 19 December 2017, a representative from the Ministry of Communication (the government body that carried out the blocking) said the websites were blocked not at his ministry\u2019s orders, but by the prosecutor\u2019s office.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Bakhtiyar Mammadov, who testified on behalf of the ministry, declared Meydan TV, Radio Azadliq (RFE\/RL\u2019s Azerbaijani service), and the independent Azadliq newspaper (unrelated to Azadliq Radio), Turan TV, and Azerbaijan Hour were to be the first on the list of websites to be blocked following the amendments. \u201cWe received a letter from the prosecutor\u2019s office telling us to take immediate measures against these websites,\u201d<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azadliq.org\/a\/azadliq-sayt-blok-qadaga\/28927052.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    said<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  Mammadov.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  While Mammadov urged the judge to dismiss the lawyers\u2019 appeal to unblock the websites, he argued that blocking only boosted their readership, and that dedicated users can still find ways to access them. At the end of the day, the court in Baku ruled against unblocking the online news outlets.\n<\/p>\n<h5>\n  Hacking away at the opposition<br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p>\n  With the right know-how, getting around a block isn\u2019t too difficult \u2014 you can use a VPN or a mirrored website. Too bad that the authorities are eager to target those who\u2019d want to do so.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In a recent interview, a dissident activist from Azerbaijan told us of two types of politically-motivated hacking that the regime uses today. Firstly, there\u2019s hacking of Armenian websites (Azerbaijan technically remains at war with its western neighbour over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh), secondly, there\u2019s the hacking of civil society activists\u2019 email and social media accounts. In the case of civil society activists, a hacker picks his target, acquires access to just one account and once in, has access to emails and contacts of everyone else in the contact list.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Hacking Facebook accounts isn\u2019t too difficult, as most accounts are linked to a phone number and therefore a mobile network operator. In a country where these firms are under the watchful eye of the authorities, requesting a password via mobile device to reset the password is simple. With one SMS, the hacker gets hold of the account and the damage is done.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Recent examples include the hacking of Facebook profiles and pages of political figures Ali Karimli and Jamil Hasanli. As former presidential candidate Hasanli put it, the damage inflicted<br \/>\n  <a href=\"\/en\/article\/opposition-leader-jamil-hasanlis-facebook-account-hacked\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    was extensive<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  . He lost 75,000 of his 108,350 subscribers, as well as all the posts, photos, videos, and articles he\u2019d shared since 2013.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  This wasn\u2019t the first time Hasanli has been hacked, but he believes the hackers have now raised the stakes. \u201cMy accounts were hacked one year ago, around the time of a [opposition] political rally, but I was able to quickly regain access to my account,\u201d he recalls. This time, says Hasanli, the hacker got back into his pages several times before finally being shut out. He believes this was more than an ordinary hacker attack, and suspects that updated technology was used.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The possibility of new technology is something for forensic specialists to establish. But to any observer, it seems clear that the authorities have stepped up their internet policing measures ahead of elections in October, and are ready to deploy all kinds of tricks to keep dissident voices muted offline and online.\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/az\/visitors-to-meydan-tv-saw-an-error-message-during-the-attack\/\" alt=\"Visitors to Meydan TV saw an error message during the attack\" class=\"wp-image-98899\"\/><figcaption>\n    Visitors to Meydan TV saw an error message during the attack<br \/>\n  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h5>\n  Denial of service, denial of dissent<br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p>\n  In this<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qurium.org\/news-media-websites-attacked-from-governmental-infrastructure-in-azerbaijan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    March 2017 report<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  , the secure hosting service VirtualRoad analysed the types and frequency of DDoS attacks in Azerbaijan. A DDoS or Distributed Denial of Service attack is an attempt to make an online service (often a bank or news website) unavailable, by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  VirtualRoad states that all DDoS attacks observed between October 2016 and March 2017 originated from dedicated servers operated by Azerbaijani system administrators, which made VirtualRoad conclude that the attackers were close to the country\u2019s cybersecurity community. VirtualRoad also discovered botnet attacks against the small independent news website abzas.net and azadliq.info before these websites were blocked.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The DDoS attacks Meydan TV experienced in January of this year, however, point to new revelations. MeydanTV\u2019s website managers tracked the sources of the DDoS attacks and discovered that this time they were carried out from from India, Vietnam, Romania, Brazil, and Indonesia. And this time, defending the website was much harder.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  As a result, Meydan TV\u2019s mirror website was disabled in the first DDoS attack of this style. Not even the site\u2019s Cloudflare service (which provides DDoS protection and firewall) were enough to keep the website secure. As the attacks continued over several days, it was difficult for the news outlet to continue the work as usual.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In addition to DDoS attacks, Azerbaijani activists have been subject to other forms of intimidation and surveillance including<br \/>\n  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.co.uk\/article\/how-deep-packet-inspection-works\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  \u2014 also known as information extraction, which in normal circumstances is used for innocuous reasons, but in the wrong hands can be used for surveillance, and snooping over personal content, spear phishing, and the creation of impersonating accounts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In 2014, Citizen Lab revealed Azerbaijan was among the customers of Hacking Team, from which the country\u2019s Ministry of Internal Affairs<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/citizenlab.ca\/2014\/02\/mapping-hacking-teams-untraceable-spyware\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    had bought<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  Remote Control Spyware (RCS) technology. In<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/amnesty-insights\/false-friends-how-fake-accounts-and-crude-malware-targeted-dissidents-in-azerbaijan-9b6594cafe60\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    research<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  published last March, Amnesty International concluded that spearphishing and other forms of attacks against Azerbaijani dissidents began in November 2015, the year when Azerbaijan had its parliamentary elections \u2014 and when the regime woke up to what was happening online.\n<\/p>\n<h5>\n  The calm before the fraud?<br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p>\n  With presidential elections scheduled for 17 October, Azerbaijan\u2019s political arena is going to be on lockdown. The elected president will stay in power for the next<br \/>\n  <a href=\"\/en\/article\/azerbaijani-referendum-opens-politics-to-presidents-teenage-son-heydar-aliyev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    seven years<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  based on the 29 amendments voted through via a country-wide referendum two years ago.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The new president will also have a range of powers, including dismissing parliament and calling for early presidential elections. The current head of state, president Ilham Aliyev, took power in 2003, secured a second presidential term in 2008 and in 2009 scrapped presidential term limits all together \u2014 this allowed him to run and successfully win the presidential elections in 2013. Following the 2016 referendum, Aliyev appointed his wife Mehriban Aliyeva to the position of the country\u2019s First Vice President, a seat in the government also made possible by the 2016 referendum.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The country\u2019s electoral history is marred by vote rigging and ballot stuffing, to name a few. Elections are held in an unequal environment where activists, dissidents and civil society representatives were and are harassed, intimidated and silenced. Aliyev has won every single presidential election with an over 80% majority since taking the seat from his father, the late Heydar Aliyev, and Yeni Azerbaijan, the ruling party, has managed to win majority in all parliamentary elections since the Aliyev family took over the presidency.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  According to Jamil Hasanli, the political, social and economic environment established in Azerbaijan is an unequal playing field. The opposition does not have access to television (which remains a key point of news access among wider population); civil society has been silenced; independent media is blocked and so is the opposition media; while critical voices have been either arrested or forced out of the country. \u201cIn this environment, the only place remaining for influencing public opinion is Facebook,\u201d notes Hasanli. And so it is not surprising that the authorities are using various methods against online dissidence to take the remaining free space. Scores of Azerbaijani citizens have been questioned for posting critical commentary on Facebook, or simply liking a social media status, or clicking \u201cattend\u201d for political rallies. There are currently four bloggers who are serving a prison term. Even diplomats<br \/>\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/azerbaijan-diplomat-corruption-charges-facebook-criticism\/27185331.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    have paid a heavy price<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  for voicing their concerns on social media.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A number of political figures and experts interviewed for this story commented that attacks on the internet usually take place during certain political events, elections, rallies and protests. And given this year is too an election year it is not totally surprising to see more online activity taking place and new targets selected. Now that much of Azerbaijan\u2019s civil society is out of the picture, the goal is to render the opposition totally harmless. This includes hacking of political leaders\u2019 Facebook pages and their accounts, as well as pressure against prominent dissident bloggers, using their families as baits.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Two prominent cases involve video bloggers Ordukhan Teymurkhan and Mammad Mirza, both of whom live abroad. In February 2017, some 12 members of Ordukhan\u2019s family members were<br \/>\n  <a href=\"\/en\/article\/government-pressures-blogger-in-exile-with-arrest-of-family-members\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    detained<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  , questioned and asked to demand the Netherlands-based Teymurkhan stop his activism in an exchange for their freedom. While in January this year, Mirza\u2019s father was briefly<br \/>\n  <a href=\"\/az\/article\/fransada-yasayan-blogerin-atasini-buraxiblar-amma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n    detained<br \/>\n  <\/a><br \/>\n  and then released in an exchange for his brother-in-law. The family has denounced Mirza while the blogger is refusing to stop any of his work. Mirza in an interview with Meydan TV said he has no intention of stopping and plans to attend a rally in Strasbourg in February to speak of the threats against his family.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  While Mirza and Ordukhan are committed to their cause, so are Azerbaijani trolls who are committed to the jobs they have been given. Anecdotal evidence suggests some of these fierce online commentators are civil servants, pro-government journalists and members of the ruling party branch. Often their comments are copy paste or excerpts from statements made by the President and other government officials. Their ability to engage in a healthy debate online is weak say political activists often subject to their harassment. There are users with assigned user accounts, but there are also users that operate more than one account disguised under different names.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  While Azerbaijan is certainly far from Russia\u2019s troll factories, it is catching up.\n<\/p>\n<h5>\n  About the authors<br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p>\n  <i><br \/>\n    <b><br \/>\n      Arzu Geybulla<br \/>\n    <\/b><br \/>\n    is a freelance writer originally from Azerbaijan currently based in Istanbul. She reports on human rights violations in Azerbaijan.<br \/>\n  <\/i>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <i><br \/>\n    <b><br \/>\n      Hebib Muntezir<br \/>\n    <\/b><br \/>\n    is an Azerbaijani blogger and social media manager of Meydan TV. He is the author of the popular Azeri-language satirical blog Tin S\u00f6hb\u0259ti.<br \/>\n  <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2018 is an election year in Azerbaijan. The authorities may have the streets on lockdown, but the fight against dissent in cyberspace is just beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":98911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Azerbaijan\u2019s authoritarianism goes digital - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azerbaijan\u2019s authoritarianism goes digital - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2018 is an election year in Azerbaijan. The authorities may have the streets on lockdown, but the fight against dissent in cyberspace is just beginning.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-02T15:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/39133-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"user-manager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"user-manager\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a\"},\"headline\":\"Azerbaijan\u2019s authoritarianism goes digital\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-02T15:38:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1871,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/39133-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/\",\"name\":\"Azerbaijan\u2019s authoritarianism goes digital - MEYDAN.TV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/39133-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-02T15:38:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/azerbaijans-authoritarianism-goes-digital\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/39133-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/39133-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1608,\"caption\":\"A hand is silhouetted in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. The Financial Times' website and Twitter feeds were hacked May 17, 2013, renewing questions about whether the popular social media service has done enough to tighten security as cyber-attacks on the news media intensify. The attack is the latest in which hackers commandeered the Twitter account of a prominent news organization to push their agenda. Twitter's 200 million users worldwide send out more than 400 million tweets a day, making it a potent distributor of news. 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The Financial Times' website and Twitter feeds were hacked May 17, 2013, renewing questions about whether the popular social media service has done enough to tighten security as cyber-attacks on the news media intensify. The attack is the latest in which hackers commandeered the Twitter account of a prominent news organization to push their agenda. Twitter's 200 million users worldwide send out more than 400 million tweets a day, making it a potent distributor of news. 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