I am from Saudi Arabia, so I guess I will be able to explain a few issues. First of all, it's important to note that Saudi Arabia is a good example of a pretty much totalitarian state, with many governmental agencies and institutions, the core of which, say the interior and media ministries, play a key role in repressing unwanted expression. However, there are others that are far from the core and enjoy some kind of (unintended?) self-management.
It's also important to note that it is not possible to get anything on done in Saudi Arabia on large scale without getting a governmental institution partnership and approval. And yes, hundreds of articles are censored, almost all of them are related to sexuality and there aren't any known censored political or historical articles. > The Saudi government is investing in increasing Arabic Wikipedia > content? Are you sure? > > Could you tell us more about this project – i.e. how the funding is > distributed, and who does the editing? Yes, it is, through King Abdullah Initiative for Arabic Content[0]. They have had their own version of the Education Program for the last two years. [[ar:User:Ali1]] and I have been helping them by training students. The initiative is public and documented under a Wikipedia namespace page on the Arabic Wikipedia. Instructors and students have the chance to choose the articles they see fit, without intervention from the initiative. > Well, this telecom company is the arm of the government to impose > censorship in KSA. Actually, censorship is imposed through a national proxy run by the Communication and Information Technology Commission[1]. ISPs do not get to pick and choose. [0]: http://www.econtent.org.sa/ [1]: http://internet.sa/ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l