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Saudi Arabia's 'Great Firewall'

Posted by michael on from the these-are-the-good-guys dept.

securitas writes: "We've all heard about The Great Firewall of China (see this Wired feature) but many don't know about Saudi Arabia's version of the same. The New York Times reports on the challenges and problems of filtering the Internet for an entire nation. San Jose's Secure Computing has the contract but may lose it when it comes up for renewal next year."

5 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. IN THE UAE too by vikool · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hey..this is not the only country where the net in blocked, in the UAE, the internet is completely blocked, ( or proxied is the term that is used) bcos, we have to go through a proxy server of the isp and the isp employs several people full time, just for blocking sites. and of course, there is a government monoipoly which means the isp is government owned, and there can be nothing done about it.

  2. Non-reg-req version of article is at Yahoo by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 3, Informative
    If you don't have a New York Times account, this article can be found at Yahoo, at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nyt/20011119/bs/com panies_compete_to_provide_saudi_internet_veil_1.ht ml

    Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

  3. It's perception, not reality... by iworm · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was the Engineering Manager of the third (two others beat us by a few days!) ISP to operate in the Kingdom.

    Yes, the filtering is more or less as described. They used to have, maybe still do, an option on the "blocking" page where you could ask that a blocked URL be unblocked, since it was actually something innocuous (of course whether your view that Cindy's Sin Palace etc was innocuous might be disputed by those in charge... :-))

    The article also points out that Saudi's can (and do) simply dial up ISPs in neighboring countries to get the access they desire. Equally, rich individuals (they've got a few...) and companies can also make use of satellite access (illegal, but very common).

    So, if a Saudi really wants to access porn or political stuff he/she can do so very easily. And therein lies the key to much about Saudi laws: it's not the reality that matters, but appearances.

    The Saudi government plays a precarious balancing act, and needs to keep the religious extremists content ("Look we've blocked all the porn") while trying to drag their society into the modern world (where, so I'm told, the Internet is mandatory). Of course balancing acts never work for ever, and one day you fall off, but that's going offtopic.

  4. Either it's bullshit, or it doesn't work... by NineNine · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... because Saudi Arabia is #5 in countries with the most number of visitors that visit NineNine . It's not a lot, but there definately is traffic from Saudi Arabia (surfers using .sa).

  5. Censorship - personal experience by kptBlaha · · Score: 5, Informative

    In this country (Czech Republic), communists censored everything. Many books were banned, all photocopiers were registered, Radio Free Europe was jammed etc. It did not work. People who wanted to get the books got the books. People who wanted to listen to RFE hacked sophisticated antenas and filters. We copied books using typewritters and Sinclair computers. During the WWII this country was occupied by Nazi Germany. Germans removed SW band from all receivers. People who were caught listening BBC or radio Moscow were executed. Nevertheless many people listened. You cannot stop one's desire of freedom.