Despite how it may sound, the Syrian government's official decision to ban Apple's iPhone is not intended to strike against the company and gain some Android foothold. Rather, the official decision has been made in an attempt to silence the protests and citizen journalists in the troubled country, as Haaretz reports.
According to a post on the Lebanese website Al Nashara, the Assad government within Syria are using the opportunity to tighten the leash on the activists and citizen journalists, who have been keeping the world updated with the events inside the country. Since protests in Syria began in March, many foreign media sources have been hidden from the public in an attempt to eventually break down the resistance. An activist in the country, speaking anonymously, had the following to say:
"It is enough for any tourist or guest visiting Syria to own an iPhone to be a spy suspect."
The speaker also remarked upon the irony of an Apple product being banned in the country Jobs' biological father was from. Citizen journalism within the country is one of the few ways that footage and information has slowly seeped out, showing the corruption of the government in power. Sources estimate that up to 4,000 Syrian people have been killed since protesting began in March.
With the government in Syria tightening their grip on the people who have been making their voices heard, and the economic sanctions being passed on Syria, could the banning of even a single smartphone have enough impact to further fuel the protests? Civil unrest in Syria is already a problem for the Assad government, and the attempt to suppress information distribution could lead to more activism in Syria.
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