ABSTRACT
Cybercrime has become an international phenomenon that is not sufficiently addressed and covered by national and regional laws, in particular in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. ICT thus carries mixed blessings for the MENA region that is marked with overspending on equipment that mainly served the elitist setting, though infrastructural elements remain inadequate in many countries in the region. Arab governments see cybercrime as a growing threat, which explains the heavy investment in security. The discontent publics in MENA have looked for new venues of freedom to replace the current oppression and heavy censorship on traditional media. In the shadow of deadly political fluidity that has dominated the scene since Egypt's 2011 revolution, authorities have given a low priority to the plight of children and complain of a lack of legislation. The research results indicate that profound political change in terms of allowing dissent in Egypt or the rest of MENA seems rather unlikely.
