Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Internet?

On 15 June 2010, the Lebanese online community heaved a collective sigh of relief as the Lebanese Parliament voted to indefinitely postpone discussions on a newly proposed e-transactions law. “The ESSA (Electronic Signatures and Services Authority) [would be] established under this law with discretionary, selective, subjective and very broad and unjustified powers”, said Gabriel Deek, secretary general of the Professional Computer Association of Lebanon, adding that “its prerogatives are almost repressive for all ‘service providers’ of electronic services and economic sectors at large” (Deek, 2010). The draft law, which purports to protect e-commerce from fraudulent activities, would actually lead to law enforcement without judicial oversight.