JOSA: Getting to Know Their Work on Open Technology and Privacy in Jordan
The Community Series features stories of the people and projects behind the digital rights community.
The Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA) works toward a better Jordan through openness in technology, believing the Internet should remain open and accessible to everyone, with no technical, legal, or physical barriers to devices, networks, or content.
We spoke with their Senior Program Officer in Digital Security and Internet Freedom, Haitham Dahboor, and their Program Officer in Digital Social Innovation and Research, Yara Alrafie, to learn more about their projects, such as Aman Raqami and Nuha, as well as the most important digital rights challenges in Jordan.
How JOSA Started
JOSA staff with JOSA community.
JOSA has been active since 2009 bringing together students from different universities across various cities in Jordan. It was first started as an open-source initiative for IT students who wanted to contribute to the field, but soon began addressing issues like access to the Internet and promoting open-source technology as a safer and more secure option for users.
However, one of their main challenges at that time was the lack of a central space where the community could meet and work together. This led them to officially register JOSA in 2019 as a not for profit national organization in Amman and open up a physical and virtual space where everyone could gather and collaborate more effectively.
Internet Blockings, Surveillance, and Lack of Cybersecurity Knowledge
JOSA algo organized cyber camps and workshops about open source hardware, like this one for youth/teenagers in Jordan.
Haitham and Yara share that digital rights challenges in Jordan include the blocking of websites and applications, the surveillance of people’s digital devices, and digital violence against women (especially journalists or politicians during elections). They also point out that freedom of speech is restricted in the country.
“We experience a lot of blocking of websites and applications, such as TikTok and some VPN platforms, which is a problem for digital rights,” says Yara, JOSA’s Program Officer in Digital Social Innovation and Research.
Haitham, JOSA’s Senior Program Officer in Digital Security and Internet Freedom, states, “We have several concerns related to our freedom of speech, both offline and online. They can put you in prison for what you say in person or post online. We also have a lot of misinformation and disinformation in our country. In addition, there is a lack of cybersecurity knowledge in the population, as well as negative social engineering cases, such as phishing and digital threats.”
Cybercrimes Law in Jordan and its Impact in Freedom of Speech
In August 2023, Jordan amended its Cybercrimes Law, introducing significant changes to the original 2015 version. These amendments broadened the scope of offenses and expanded the powers of the public prosecutor. Both local and global organizations have raised concerns about the law, citing its imposition of harsh penalties for vaguely defined offenses such as “spreading fake news,” “provoking strife,” “threatening societal peace,” and “contempt for religions.”
Between August 2023 and August 2024, Jordanian authorities charged hundreds of individuals under the Cybercrimes Law for social media posts.
"The Cybercrime Law was modified in 2023, making it more restrictive. It should be reviewed from a social perspective, not just from the standpoint of big tech corporations," says Haitham.
Projects that Empower Digital Safety: Aman Raqami and JOSA’s Help Desk
The JOSA staff gathered with the JOSA’s community
Among JOSA’s main projects is Aman Raqami (Digital Security in Arabic) a platform which provides resources and information in Arabic and English to help individuals, organizations, and communities understand and navigate the digital world more securely. It includes information about how to protect online privacy, secure communications, and avoid cyber threats such as hacking, misinformation, and online surveillance. It also has popular guides to learn about and download recommended tools such the Tor Browser and Proton mail.
JOSA also has a help desk and technical team specialized in rapidly intervening in digital safety issues, providing technical assistance and responding to cyber attacks in Jordan. Their working hours are from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM in the local time zone. If people from the region face any digital security issues, they can contact them, and the team will try to resolve the problem, in addition to providing guidance on the most important information security practices.
Their platform also provides a list of other helpdesks located throughout the world that can support users with different issues. We are including them in this article, as all are respected entities in the global digital rights community:
SMEX, a helpline initiative to elevate the digital safety capabilities of users in Lebanon and other Arabic-speaking countries.
Front Line Defenders, the emergency call number gives human rights defenders an option to be forwarded to someone speaking Arabic, English, French, Russian or Spanish and who will help determine how to best support in the urgent situation.
Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline, which works with individuals and organizations around the world to keep them safe online.
7amleh’s "7or" platform, which is a Palestinian platform through which people can report digital rights violations.
Nuha: AI Tool for Detecting Arabic Gender-Based Hate Speech
Workshop conducted by JOSA to JOSA community.
Another JOSA project is Nuha, an open-source, AI-powered tool designed to assist researchers in detecting and analyzing online gender-based hate speech in Arabic, specifically targeting issues faced by women on digital platforms. The name "Nuha" in Arabic means "brain" or "intelligence" and is also a common female name.
To monitor and address hate speech in social media, Nuha uses a dataset that has trending hashtags and the handles of influential women in Jordan, among other data. It uses advanced language processing models to classify and summarize text with high accuracy.
“We started it in Jordan for the Jordanian dialect, and extended it to other countries, such as Iraq and Egypt. We will also extend it to North Africa,” explains Haitham.
Open-Source Collaboration and AI Ethics
Yara highlights that they work on open-source software with their community and other partners who focus on the open internet, privacy, digital security, open knowledge, and open government. Additionally, she shares that they have collaborated with the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Digital Economy in Jordan, “providing consultations on how they can better execute certain projects in developing AI, as well as guidelines and ethics for AI in Jordan.”
Digital Rights Future in Jordan
JOSA’s mission is to promote openness in technology and defend the rights of technology users in Jordan.
“Surveillance technologies and censorship of websites and platforms are some of the biggest issues we are facing in Jordan. Additionally, funding for civil society and public institutions projects is uncertain. This uncertainty is shrinking civil society spaces in countries with already authoritarian governments,” shares Yara.
Haitham envisions a future in Jordan “where freedom of expression and digital privacy are fully protected and upheld; a future where people can speak freely without fear, where online spaces are safe, and where privacy is a right, not a privilege. Hope and resilience come from pushing for policies that safeguard these rights and from communities standing together to defend them.”
If you would like to support JOSA or learn more about their services, you can reach out to them through the contact form on their website.