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Strict Internet Regulation
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A strongly regulated Social Media
Being an Islamic country, Saudi Arabia has considerably strict control over its Social Media content. Sensitive contents related to religion and government are generally intolerable and unaccepted in Saudi Arabia.
The country has its own set of Social Media rules, or laws, to regulate the content that is being published in the internet. These rules are documented under the Council of Ministers Resolution. Unacceptable content or websites will be blocked or banned by the governing body of the internet realm, also known as Internet Services Unit.
A list of banned sites and URLs are shown below. As such, one can pretty much predict that the Social Media scene in Saudi Arabia is still very much regulated and "watched-over" as compared to one that is liberal enjoys total freedom of speech.
Council of Minister's Resolution
As mentioned above about the Council of Ministers Resolution, the blueprint of the published internet rules is as follows; all users in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shall refrain from publishing or accessing data containing some of the following;
http://www.al-bab.com/media/docs/saudi.htm
Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia
Not surprisingly, with its strict regimentation of internet content, Saudi Arabia has its very own Internet Services Unit (ISU). This ISU operates the high-speed data links that connect the country to the international Internet. After which, all Web traffic are believed to have to go through a central array of proxy servers at the ISU. The ISU implements internet content filtering roughly in line with parts of the Resolution.
Content such as pages related to drugs, bombs, alcohol, gambling and pages insulting the Islamic religion or the Saudi laws and regulations are all considered bannable under the ISU.
The website to the Internet Services Unit is linked by clicking on the above image. The website provides comprehensive news, latest developments in the online areana, survey/statistics such as most visited sites and also articles covering on the internet and information security. Overall, it is a website that provides comprehensive news coverage of the online scene as well as providing users with easy navigation tools.
Banned sites in Saudi Arabia
The below are samples of sites that have been found to be blocked in Saudi Arabia due to its content. Websites that most will expect to be banned such as due to drug references are present. Also, we find that there are many websites that are related to other religious views and Saudi Arabian government are banned as well.
Title: #1 Marijuana Seeds.com - marijuana seeds (cannabis seeds) shipped worldwide.
URL: www.1-marijuana-seeds.com
Title: Answering Islam, A Christian-Muslim Dialog and Apologetic
URL: www.answering-islam.org
Title: Arab American Roman Catholic Community
URL: www.al-bushra.org
Title: Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia campaign website
URL: www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/saudi
Title: Queer Muslims Home Page
URL: www.angelfire.com/ca2/queermuslims
Title: asshole magazine
URL: www.asshole.org
Title: GayToday
URL: gaytoday.badpuppy.com
For a display of the entire list, please refer to the below link.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia/SA-highlights.html
- A Strongly regulated Social Media
- Council of Ministers Resolution
- Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia
A strongly regulated Social Media
Being an Islamic country, Saudi Arabia has considerably strict control over its Social Media content. Sensitive contents related to religion and government are generally intolerable and unaccepted in Saudi Arabia.
The country has its own set of Social Media rules, or laws, to regulate the content that is being published in the internet. These rules are documented under the Council of Ministers Resolution. Unacceptable content or websites will be blocked or banned by the governing body of the internet realm, also known as Internet Services Unit.
A list of banned sites and URLs are shown below. As such, one can pretty much predict that the Social Media scene in Saudi Arabia is still very much regulated and "watched-over" as compared to one that is liberal enjoys total freedom of speech.
Council of Minister's Resolution
As mentioned above about the Council of Ministers Resolution, the blueprint of the published internet rules is as follows; all users in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shall refrain from publishing or accessing data containing some of the following;
- Anything contravening a fundamental principle or legislation, or infringing the sanctity of Islam and its benevolent Shari’ah, or breaching public decency.
- Anything contrary to the state or its system.
- Reports or news damaging to the Saudi Arabian armed forces, without the approval of the competent authorities.
- Publication of official state laws, agreements or statements before they are officially made public, unless approved by the competent authorities.
- Anything damaging to the dignity of heads of states or heads of credited diplomatic missions in the Kingdom, or harms relations with those countries.
- Any false information ascribed to state officials or those of private or public domestic institutions and bodies, liable to cause them or their offices harm, or damage their integrity.
- The propagation of subversive ideas or the disruption of public order or disputes among citizens.
- Anything liable to promote or incite crime, or advocate violence against others in any shape or form.
- Any slanderous or libellous material against individuals
- Not to carry out any activity through the internet, such as selling, advertising, or recruitment, except in accordance with the commercial licenses and registers in force.
- Not to carry out any financial investment activity or offer shares for subscription, except when in possession of the necessary licenses to do so.
- Not to promote or sell medicines or foodstuff carrying any medicinal claims, or cosmetics, except those registered and approved by the Ministry of Health.
- Not to advertise or promote or sell substances covered by other international agreements to which the Kingdom is a party, except for those with the necessary licenses.
- Not to advertise trade fairs or organise trade delegations visits or tourist tours or trade directories except with the necessary licences.
http://www.al-bab.com/media/docs/saudi.htm
Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia
Not surprisingly, with its strict regimentation of internet content, Saudi Arabia has its very own Internet Services Unit (ISU). This ISU operates the high-speed data links that connect the country to the international Internet. After which, all Web traffic are believed to have to go through a central array of proxy servers at the ISU. The ISU implements internet content filtering roughly in line with parts of the Resolution.
Content such as pages related to drugs, bombs, alcohol, gambling and pages insulting the Islamic religion or the Saudi laws and regulations are all considered bannable under the ISU.
The website to the Internet Services Unit is linked by clicking on the above image. The website provides comprehensive news, latest developments in the online areana, survey/statistics such as most visited sites and also articles covering on the internet and information security. Overall, it is a website that provides comprehensive news coverage of the online scene as well as providing users with easy navigation tools.
Banned sites in Saudi Arabia
The below are samples of sites that have been found to be blocked in Saudi Arabia due to its content. Websites that most will expect to be banned such as due to drug references are present. Also, we find that there are many websites that are related to other religious views and Saudi Arabian government are banned as well.
Title: #1 Marijuana Seeds.com - marijuana seeds (cannabis seeds) shipped worldwide.
URL: www.1-marijuana-seeds.com
Title: Answering Islam, A Christian-Muslim Dialog and Apologetic
URL: www.answering-islam.org
Title: Arab American Roman Catholic Community
URL: www.al-bushra.org
Title: Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia campaign website
URL: www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/saudi
Title: Queer Muslims Home Page
URL: www.angelfire.com/ca2/queermuslims
Title: asshole magazine
URL: www.asshole.org
Title: GayToday
URL: gaytoday.badpuppy.com
For a display of the entire list, please refer to the below link.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia/SA-highlights.html
jonathantsang |
Latest page update: made by jonathantsang
, Nov 15 2008, 4:33 AM EST
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