The Ilham Winter 2010

21THE ILHAM A Journal of Contemporary Digital Policy Middle East for more than 500 years, starting inYemen and spreading throughout the region. In fact, hundreds of years ago, the use of qahwa in Mecca was well known, and therefore, an accepted beverage according to strict Islamic law. Prohibitions on the use of qahwa have never been successful. In 1544, the Otto- man Sultan banned coffee and when word spread from Damascus, “The prohibi- tion was observed for all of one day and then use returned to normal.” The simple fact is, qahwa has, for cen- turies, been a part of the societal fabric of the Near and Middle East, and coffee houses have been popular gathering places, demonstrating that people will engage in activities they enjoy despite government and religious edicts.The fact that coffee houses in this region have flourished for centuries indicates that prohibitions have never been an effective means of control- ling human activity. When governments attempt to prohibit natural, human activity, people simply ig- nore laws and change the way they access these activities. POSITIVE OUTCOMES THROUGH CYBER CAFE HOT SPOTS The Chinese government’s policy of closing down cyber cafes and limiting access to the web won’t deliver the positive outcomes government officials hope for. Banning Internet hot spots simply won’t solve what the government views as a problem. History provides evidence that banning substances isn’t effective.One of the biggest controversies in the Islamic world from the 16th to the 18th century was the spread of coffee and coffee houses. To many Muslims and their religious leaders,coffee was considered a drug,its consumption a violation of Islamic law.Further,in the Middle East, coffee was rejected simply because it was an innovation - the Islamic concept of bid’a. The simple fact is this:A government is pow- erless to legislate social behavior.People will break laws to do the things that are important to them.People will engage in the activities they enjoy regardless of what laws are enacted by governments. Governments seeking positive outcomes among their people must recognize the hu- man need to engage others.We are,by our very nature,social beings.This is especially true among the younger members of a society – teens and people in their 20s reaching out to engage others from different cultures.In the Middle East,teens and people younger than 30 years of age form the majority. These men and women are web savvy.They desire to engage others through the use of social media,where ideas can be exchanged without fear of reprisal – without fear of being labeled“mentally ill” as many Chinese teens have been labeled.This innate,human desire to reach out is most efficiently and effectively implemented through the use of theWorld WideWeb (W3). When governments attempt to prohibit natural, human activity, people simply ignore laws and change the way they access these activities. Indeed,theW3 evolved in theWest with the advent of on-line bulletin boards that evolved into chat rooms.In fact,Web 2.0 technology, which includes increased interactivity among businesses and individuals,is developing at breath-taking speed in theWestern world. ConsiderTwitter,a powerful instant messaging service.While only a few years old,aTwitter account is almost a necessity in Europe and NorthAmerica.In fact,some companies and individuals have tens of thousands of followers onTwitter,which offers non-stop,real-time interaction between businesses (B2B) and consumers (B2C). The web was fully developed when it reached the Muslim world, providing governments less time to consider the implications of instant messaging, SMS,