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Saudi Arabia Set To Ban WhatsApp, Skype

Posted by timothy on from the and-clear-envelopes-only-please dept.

Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia's government, after banning Viber within the kingdom, is poised to prohibit at least two other such communication apps: Skype and WhatsApp. Says the article: "Conventional international calls and texts are a lucrative earner for telecom operators in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around nine million expatriates. These foreign workers are increasingly using Internet-based applications such as Viber to communicate with relatives in other countries, analysts say." With fewer legal options, a wide-scale Internet censorship regime would be easier to implement, too.

9 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Surveillance state by vikingpower · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When a regime begins using such methods as these in order to keep sitting in the saddle, its days are counted. After the demise of Saudi Arabia's current regime, within a foreseeable time now, the ensuing chaos will be unimaginable.

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:Surveillance state by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Don't underestimate the Saudi regime. It's not it is new to oppression. They are experienced. These steps make organising by the mass harder.

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  2. Why.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't see you yanks spreading freedom in the saudi?

  3. Re:Not in the land of the Free by kaptink · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is this land you speak of?

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
  4. Re:Not in the land of the Free by davester666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Finland.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  5. It's all about thought control by Camael · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Q: Why would Saudi Arabia ban communication tools such as Viber, Whatsapp and Skype?

    A: Because they have no control or access to the messages passed with these apps.

    According to TFA, Viber was blocked for non-compliance, and that WhatsApp and Skype may be next on the list. What is most interesting is that the regulator issued a directive in March saying tools such as Viber, WhatsApp and Skype broke local laws, without specifying which laws.

    What we do know is that in 2010, Blackberry was also banned by Saudi Arabia. The reason behind the ban was because BBM did not allow their customers' exchanges to be monitored by government. The ban was lifted after BB made a deal with the government to share user data.

    Skype, Viber and WhatsApp AFAIK do not share their user data (for now).

    Why has Saudi Arabia become emboldened to act now? Because the disclosure of the PRISM program makes them immune from international criticism. They can rightly point out that the US government already has access to the data. It shouldn't take long for other countries to follow suit with similar demands.

    1. Re:It's all about thought control by gsslay · · Score: 4, Insightful

      QFT. Mod parent up.

      Why has Saudi Arabia become emboldened to act now? Because the disclosure of the PRISM program makes them immune from international criticism. They can rightly point out that the US government already has access to the data. It shouldn't take long for other countries to follow suit with similar demands.

      All countries involved with PRISM have waved goodbye to any moral high ground they ever had any claim to. They're monitoring private communications exactly like the worse of any repressive regime. And before anyone takes issue; I'm not saying they are as bad as a repressive regime, but that they have given all repressive regimes an easy and justifiable defence for their activities. Why should the US have access to data on their citizens that they don't?

      Whether the governments of countries involved in PRISM care that they've lost the moral high ground is another matter. But you'd think their citizens would. Perhaps all governments are fine with the monitoring actions of the others. Universal monitoring would make all their jobs easier.

  6. Re:Not in the land of the Free by hamvil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Privacy, by the way, is the right to keep a lawful secret between you and the government.

    No, it is not. Privacy is the right to decide what to expose and to whom to expose it. Governments should find proof of unlawful behavior without having to break into an individual privacy sphere. I'm sure that with 24/7 surveillance we could find a lot of illegal behaviors such as . This does not mean that a gov of a free country should do it.

  7. I am SHOCKED by dskoll · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am shocked that a country that forbids women to drive, kills young girls for fear they may be dressed immodestly, bans Barbie dolls and amputates the hands of thieves would stoop to such barbaric behaviour!