********* See also Reuters story on Saudi Net-censorship: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,35952,00.html And, just for amusement value: http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/saudi000425.html April 25 ^� At least 40 people were killed in violence that broke out along the Saudi-Yemen border after Saudi police arrested a man authorities there have denounced as a sorcerer. [...] In Saudi Arabia, convicted sorcerers are beheaded. ********* http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_742000/742798.stm May 10 By Frank Gardner in Riyadh The authorities in Saudi Arabia say they are winning the war against pornography on the internet. The director of the government organisation that monitors all Saudi internet traffic, Dr Fahad al-Hoymany, says he believes his unit is succeeding in blocking all the major pornographic sites. But he admits that it is hard to keep up when new sites are appearing almost every hour. The country's 30 ISPs, or Internet Service Providers, are all linked into a central node in the capital. For the estimated 130,000 users, access to the Saudi internet is controlled by this node. No censorship experts It is housed in a secure ground-floor room in the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST). There are no teams of censorship experts, just technicians. Some of them are from Finland, who operate filter programmes bought in from abroad. Dr Hoymany says the conservative and religious culture of the Saudi people means they want to be sure that if they log onto the net they will not be offended. As well as porn, the Saudi authorities block access to any sites they believe could stir up religious hatred. Websites giving advice on how to make your own bomb are also off-limits. [...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
