American web hosting firms have been shutting down official Syrian websites after a human rights organization warned them [3] they were in breach of U.S. sanctions on the country. Citizen Lab [4], a research laboratory in Toronto, identified three sites belonging to the Syrian authorities being hosted by firms in Texas, Florida, and Denver. According to a researcher at Citizen Lab, there are also official government sites hosted by British and Canadian firms.

Yesterday, the Assad regime pulled the plug [5] on the country's Internet, leaving just 8% of networks accessible to the Syrian people. It's a mark of how nervous the regime has become (and, perhaps, a portent of which side will eventually win) that it is actively seeking to keep rebel propaganda [6] and bad news [7] off the information grid. The U.S. State Department, however, has been offering [8] rebels advice on how to circumnavigate the shutdown, as well as giving them mobile communication equipment. And Google this morning reminded [9] the world that its Speak2Tweet voicemail service was available for people without Internet access.

[Image by Flickr user ssoosay [10]]