My girlfriend and her family are from Saudi Arabia. While the mother and father are too strict and old to have much to do with the internet besides reading Al-Jazirah... the daughters are quite addicted to the open atmosphere of the net. They tell me that the blocking of sites isn't complete, effective, or even in place at times... the only real effect it has on their access is to sloooooooooooooooow thigns dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. That is, the government controls the only real gateway to the outside world, and its machines are so overwhelmed that loading cnn.com sometimes works and always takes 10 minutes.
I'm going to Saudi soon, to finish Ramadan with my fiancee and her family, and to learn more Arabic. While I'm there, I'll do some research and exploration and bring back a detailed account from a western, freedom-loving perspective, and perhaps post it up here. The Saudi regime has to go - it violates Islamic law, specifically the 'there is no force in religion' item... a religiously-based government is ok, as long as the overwhelming majority are of that faith - and providing that it doesn't punish those who are not. But in Saudi, there is 3-days jail terms and/or public beatings for people who break fast before iftar during Ramadan, and 20-day jail times for boys caught with girls' phone numbers... sad.
(btw if you're wondering about me having a Saudi girlfriend.. her dad's my business partner, i'm almost like family to them, I already speak some arabic, and while atheist, I follow Islamic law/tradition to please her and to make her father accept me. such are the things we do for love:( )
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My girlfriend and her family are from Saudi Arabia. While the mother and father are too strict and old to have much to do with the internet besides reading Al-Jazirah... the daughters are quite addicted to the open atmosphere of the net. They tell me that the blocking of sites isn't complete, effective, or even in place at times... the only real effect it has on their access is to sloooooooooooooooow thigns dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. That is, the government controls the only real gateway to the outside world, and its machines are so overwhelmed that loading cnn.com sometimes works and always takes 10 minutes.
:( )
I'm going to Saudi soon, to finish Ramadan with my fiancee and her family, and to learn more Arabic. While I'm there, I'll do some research and exploration and bring back a detailed account from a western, freedom-loving perspective, and perhaps post it up here. The Saudi regime has to go - it violates Islamic law, specifically the 'there is no force in religion' item... a religiously-based government is ok, as long as the overwhelming majority are of that faith - and providing that it doesn't punish those who are not. But in Saudi, there is 3-days jail terms and/or public beatings for people who break fast before iftar during Ramadan, and 20-day jail times for boys caught with girls' phone numbers... sad.
(btw if you're wondering about me having a Saudi girlfriend.. her dad's my business partner, i'm almost like family to them, I already speak some arabic, and while atheist, I follow Islamic law/tradition to please her and to make her father accept me. such are the things we do for love