U.S. Company Helps Saudi Arabia Censor The Net

John writes: "Saudi Arabia blocks its citizens' internet access to some sites on pornography, religious information (including some on the state religion: Islam) humor, music, movies, and homosexuality, and programs that translate web pages into Arabic, according to this Boston Globe article. (Secure Computing Corp.) provides the Saudis with Smartfilter to block network of proxy servers. The article does not describe the criteria used to block various cites. I wonder if Slashdot is one of them?" Update: 07/17 15:02 GMT by T : A brief mention ran yesterday at the Censorware Project as well, linking to the referenced report itself.

Comments

Oh, yes, this is news

[Bouncings]

Let's see. The American government helps other nations:

• Put down opposition parties
• Solidify military control
• Exploit their workforces through low-wage jobs
• Censor virtually everything else

And now we're all terrible shocked that American firms are being used in the development of censorware for a foreign government? I'm surprised the DOD isn't bankrolling the ENTIRE project.