US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1882

UNCLAS AMMAN 001882 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
USDOC FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/COBERG 
TREASURY FOR MILLS, CHANG 
TDA FOR SIGLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, ECPS, PREL, KPAO, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: TFIZ01: VENTING ON THE WEB: JORDAN INTERNET USE 
SURGES 
 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The two major Internet providers in Jordan 
report a sharp upsurge in Internet use, particularly email 
traffic, over the past week.  Technical support managers said 
that sophisticated software is allowing users to access and 
download inflammatory TV news reports, which are then given 
broad circulation via email.  Despite an increase in traffic 
that has at times reached 95% of capacity, providers report 
no problems providing uninterrupted service.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (SBU)  Hamed Ghamam, Technical Support Director for 
Cyberia, Jordan's largest internet provider, told us March 27 
that Internet use had surged since the conflict with Iraq 
began one week ago.  He said that while most users accessed 
the Web to check on the news throughout the day, there has 
been an unusually high increase in email traffic.  Ghamam 
said that he was now receiving 50 emails per day, up from 20 
as recently as last week.  Judging by the content of emails 
he has received lately from contacts around the region, 
senders have become more sophisticated in their ability to 
download television news programs and "rebroadcast" them to 
friends and family.  He said the messages he has received 
feature footage from Al Jazeera or Iraqi TV, showing 
particularly incendiary clips.  Ghamam said that the tone of 
the mail has been "extremely angry and growing moreso day by 
day."  He added that he has also seen an increase in 
individual calls for a boycott of American and British goods, 
but stressed that "there is no organized character to it as 
of yet." 
 
3.  (SBU) Likewise, Adel Uzaizi, Technical Support Manager 
for Batelco (the other leading ISP), said that his company 
has also seen a recent increase in traffic.  He said that 
many subscribers take advantage of Internet access at work to 
read the news and send emails in reaction.  He broadly echoed 
Ghamam's comments, and said that there was "lots of anger out 
there and this is the only way some people can vent."  Uzaizi 
said that it was relatively easy, if one had the right 
software, which is easily obtainable, to pull newscasts right 
of the Internet and send them around.  Uzaizi said, too, that 
mobile text messaging was being utilized the same way. 
 
4.  (SBU) Both managers said their networks can easily handle 
the traffic, although Ghamam said that at peak times, from 
8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. during the week, Cyberia had reached 
95% of its capacity, up from 80% one week ago, with no 
problems.  He said that levels of use are lowest on Friday 
and rise a bit on Saturday.  Uzaizi said that Hashem One, the 
main link for the Internet in Jordan, is maintained by Jordan 
Telecom, and "has been pretty dependable" throughout busy 
times, such as the Eid holiday and Ramadam. 
 
5.  (SBU) COMMENT: As long as the war goes on, and probably 
after, Jordanians will use the Internet to vent their 
feelings and share news and opinions.  Unless it is used to 
organize and incite violence, this medium is probably 
perceived by the Government of Jordan as a tolerable, and 
preferable, way for people to let off steam.  We know of only 
one U.S.-based, Arabic website, www.arabnews.com, that 
appears to be blocked by the GOJ for political content. 
GNEHM