Seven per cent of Middle East bloggers surveyed for a Harvard University study say they have been arrested or detained during the last 12 months. Thirty per cent say they have been personally threatened, while 18% say their website or online account was hacked or attacked.

The study, by Harvard's Berkman Center, in collaboration with 
Global Voices Online and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, looks at bloggers' perceptions of online risk and the steps they take to protect their security.

Out of 580 invited, 98 completed the survey. They were overwhelmingly well-educated, with more than a third having a postgraduate degree. They were also predominantly young – almost half of them aged between 20 and 30.

About half of them described their writing as critical of their government and only one blogger claimed to be supportive of the government. Many appear to be politically active, so the reported arrests and threats may not be entirely due to their blogging activities.

Although the study was mainly concerned with gaps in bloggers' expertise relating to online security, it also uncovered some interesting attitudes.

Almost half of the sample blog under their real name and more than 40% include other information – such as a photo of their face – which makes them clearly identifiable.

Some of them indicated "that they openly and willingly faced the risks associated with their actions as they felt that oppositional views should be openly voiced with real names behind those 
views," the report says. 

However, despite all the talk of unlimited freedom on the internet, many of them do feel constrained in what they write because of the possible "negative consequences". The report continues:

"Half of respondents reported self-censoring themselves, and many cited the fear of repercussions from their government as the reason for limiting their online writing. 

"Several respondents indicated in free text answers that they are careful to avoid identifying the people included in their coverage by changing names and locations and obscuring photographs that include faces. A subset of the respondents reported writing in ambiguous or vague terms that effectively communicate their points while avoiding more overt challenges to the government. 

"Many of the respondents indicated that they believed that by writing in English they were less susceptible to government reactions to their online writing as their words are more likely to reach international than domestic audiences."

At the other end of the spectrum, 16% of those surveyed avoid giving information that would make them identifiable:

"Blogging anonymously or under a persistent pseudonym has become common in some countries, particularly those where the perceived threats associated with online speech are high."

While this provides a degree of protection, it can also undermine the credibility of their work as far as the outside world is concerned. "This practice can prove confusing for international audiences," the report says, "particularly when exploited as a way of creating deceptive 'sockpuppet' identities, as American researcher Tom MacMaster evidently did with his construction of putatively Syrian blogger 'Amina'."