Piece of What?

Saudi Censorship of Web Ranges Far Beyond Tenets of Islam, Study Finds

By JENNIFER 8. LEE

THE Saudi government is censoring public Internet access to a degree that goes significantly but haphazardly beyond its stated central goal of blocking sexually explicit content that violates the values of Islam, according to a recent study by Harvard Law School researchers.

The study`s detailed list of blocked sites offers a glimpse into the areas that the Saudi government has deemed most troubling. Among them are sites related to pornography, women`s rights, gays and lesbians, non-Islamic religions and criticism of political restrictions. Many humor and entertainment sites have also been blocked.

The report, by the law school`s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, was completed with the cooperation of the Saudi government. It is the first in a series by the center on Internet filtering by governments around the world.

``When the cost of the censoring is just flipping a switch, it`s a lot easier to enforce,`` said Jonathan Zittrain, a director of the Berkman Center and an author of the report. ``That makes it more appealing to a number of regimes.``

Saudi Arabia, with China, is widely considered to have one of the most restrictive Internet-access policies. Before granting the public access to the Internet in 1999, the Saudi government spent two years building a controlled infrastructure so that all Internet traffic would pass through government-controlled servers.

The Internet Service Unit, which controls Saudi Arabia`s Web access, says that blocking pornography is its main focus, accounting for 95 percent of the pages it blocks. But its Web site says Web pages subject to blocking include those ``related to drugs, bombs, alcohol, gambling and pages insulting the Islamic religion or the Saudi laws`` — a policy that is largely an extension of the country`s censorship regulations for the news media and entertainment.

The government does not provide a public list of offending sites. But the Internet Service Unit gave Harvard researchers access to the computer servers for several days in May. They requested 64,557 distinct Web pages and found 2,038 blocked.

Saudi citizens with a bit of knowledge about the Internet have found some ways to get around the government firewall. Some dial up to Internet service providers in other countries. Others get around the firewall at no extra cost by using intermediary computers on the Internet, known as proxies, to disguise the source of the traffic.

The Harvard report tries to piece together the criteria under which Web sites are censored. ``Ordinarily, when censors declare something to be bad, they have to file it,`` said Benjamin Edelman, the other author of the report. ``Here the software allows blacklists to be secret.``

The Saudi government uses software called SmartFilter, created by Secure Computing in San Jose, Calif., to block most of the pornographic, gambling and drug-related sites. But the SmartFilter software is also customized with blacklists provided by Saudi security agencies, the Saudi Internet administrators said. Among the pages selected by security agencies are some that are critical of Saudi Arabia`s political situation, like the Web sites of Amnesty International and the Saudi Institute, another human rights watchdog group.

The Saudi government, which does not allow women to drive, has also restricted access to information about women`s advances elsewhere. The ``Women in American History`` section of Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (www.women.eb.com), which summarizes the women`s rights movement from 1600 to the present, is blocked. IVillage (ivillage.com), a popular American advice and support site for women, is also blacklisted.

``Clearly there are sensitivities about women`s rights,`` Professor Zittrain said.

The report also ticks off a broad range of blocked religion-oriented sites, from Christian to Jewish to Buddhist to Hindu ones. Yet even sites that are not overtly political or sexual in nature are filtered, like the magazine site rollingstone.com; Warner Brothers Records, at wbr.com; and www .ifrance.com, a French-language entertainment and information site.

The Harvard report is available at cyber .law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia

aicha: u betcha! =o)

Harpeet: is her new novel any good?? *bias creeping in * =p

tc,

Samina

excuse me tahmed -- but what i was also trying to imply was that since im a journalist myself i might have a more informed opinion than an outsider --

re: stuka

{You seem to be agreeing with Ali#1 on this. What`s going on??? The hilarious part was watching Hamid Gul getting AR`s book signed...lol}

...don`t get me started on AR again...anyway, are you still at that desi party?....

omar qureshi #84 you write ``-- i might be a bit biased perhaps since i am a journalist myself in an english newspaper in pakistan ``

you got that right. Now please sit quietly while I do my tragic act, viz.

Scene 1

Stage design: rocky coastal area, with flashes of lightening and occasional thunder. tahmed321 enters the stage.

tahmed (raising arms to the heavens): Oh Father of All that Is, that Was, that Will Be. Why do these chowk posters speak in generalities??

Lord (to accompaniment of a particularly loud thunder): Silence, thou ignorant knave! Dost thou not know better than to ask such obvious questions!

tahmed: But Lord! Here is the journalist qureshi, of great respectability from the reknowned newspaper Dawn. And he just said ``Indian journalists toe the government line. Pakistani journalists, at least of English newspapers (or which, ahem!, I am one), do not``. What manner of talk is this, Oh Lord?

Lord (in gentler tone): I see what you mean. Here is a secret: I gave up on all you damn South Asians a long time ago. You guys just cant talk straight!

Shandana, it`s been a long time...where have you been?

Well written as always. Of late, Arundhati Roy seems to be the one sane person (at least the one heard sane person) in a world gone mad. I am jealous. I need some crazed inspiration myself.

24 head

Dude, what are you talking about?

THERE ARE 4 MILLION CLINICALLY EVIDENT PATIENTS & 10 MILLION UNDIAGNOSED SUCH FUTURE PATENTS.

Imagine 4 million people human being after whom democracy human rights & bill of Rights were made suffering alone neglected,uncared for rotting penniless .....& now imagine the country having Nuclear bomb belonging to super Class of Super Power Wannabe .....Isnt the word inconsistency come to mind when you put them to gether

Wait till i tell you anpther 10 million exposed patients cant afford few Rupees from this `` RICH``I.T.T. revolutionary luminous from 7 beacons of I.I.T. towers showering economic boom & $$ raining cats & dogs according to Arjun_M

http://www.deccan.com/headlines/lead5.shtml

HIV patient kills daughter



Eluru, Aug 28: In a tragic incident, a terminally ill HIV positive patient, worried over the uncertain future of her only daughter, slit her throat with a knife and attempted suicide at Prakasaraopalem in Nallajerla mandal in West Godavari district on Wednesday.

According to police, the victim Sravani Sandhya (13) is the daughter of Krishnakumari. Her father died three years ago after contracting Aids. Later, her mother also started showing symptoms of the dreaded AIDS disease.

On Tuesday, Krishnakumari slashed the throat of her sleeping daughter and then overcome with grief, tried to stab herself to death. However, Krishnakumari was prevented from taking her own life by her father, R Koteswara Rao. The body of the girl was sent to hospital for post-mortem. Tadepalligudem police is investigating the case.

re: saminashah

{Have you read the book? No? Then take a big swig of SHADDUP JUICE and SIT DOWN!}

..hahahaha...that`s right, lay the smack down the on that monkey...

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view this users filtered interacts

heyy Tidbit - tge bk I was talking about was - Transfer something - sorry : ) I def will try to get hold of On Air. Traffic was an eye opener for me too. Loved the endign - good justice!! Any others pls keep us posted.

fawad99 - yes I did catch the tail ending of the show. One of my friends calle dup and said `I am feeling very disturbed - can you pls come`. I ran down thinkign this is it - the shoe s on the other foot - my chance to do some major comforting, dole out advice, good cheer etc etc - the nut was watching this on TV. Some people take things to heart - what can I say. As for the show - couldnt tell how much was sensationalism and how much was reality!! Oflate I have noticed parents really do know what is best for their children and it is best to listen to them !!

24 Buttinsky Sahib,

re: ``...The Muslim Protestent wannabe...``

I beg your pardon? Would you care to explain that comment if it doesnt mean that you are ASSUMING (remember: ``ass of you when you assume?``) that Mr. S is a Prot and not Catholic or even Muslim, for that matter? Some assumptions even bigger than progressive`s behind, dont you think?

But yes, I like lots of people would want to be Muslim if only half wits like yourself would stop giving it the odor of jahiliya....

re: ``...AND YOU BELIEVED IT ...``

Have you read the book? No? Then take a big swig of SHADDUP JUICE and SIT DOWN!

:)

re:``...I chalenge you to rear a child to make him opposite sex just by treating your ways & be able to lactate & parturate from the male ...``

Actually 24 head Buttinsky Sahib, according to the last decree of Jawaharism, YOU were supposed to conceive and birth a child....we are WAITING.....so until you do, you`d better step lightly-any more stupid comments to semi precious will get you in a world of kaka. So, lets have that baby....

ok after i came home from work ....i saw this thing on nbc dateline about that sikh girl in canada did anyone see that ????

it was about honor killings .........

poor girl ........

Some good and/or famous authors of Pakistani origin (after doing research for TKG):

Mohsin Hamid (Moth Smoke is the best South Asian book I have read so far), Kamila Shamsie (Indians may not like her, once they get to know her. She is a speaker/writer on human rights violations in Kashmir. My kind of girl....), Hanif Qureshi (My Beautiful Laundrette fame), Tariq Ali (A self-proclaimed athiest. Reading his Islamic quintet, at the moment. Not a great writer, but he is a reservoir of information. And he is the best debator I have ever heard anywhere). Bapsi Sidhwa (of 1947 movie fame). Muneeza Shamsie (Kamila`s mother). Imran Khan (Odd choice for this group. But I think his autobiography is the only book by a Pakistani to be a no. 1 Best Seller in England. He actually writes reasonably well).

romair -- your spot on about your observation on the english press in pakistan and that in india -- without trying to sound jingoistic the indian press usually follows the line of the establishment in india, esp when it comes to matters related to national security and/or kashmir, something that the english press here in pakistan doesnt do so much at all -- i might be a bit biased perhaps since i am a journalist myself in an english newspaper in pakistan but it seems a pretty fair assessment

v nice piece.

tft is brilliant.

aakar