August 13, 2000 06:20am
Saudi Arabia blocks Internet users from Yahoo clubs
Source: Reuters
(DUBAI, SA) -- Saudi Arabia has blocked Internet users in the kingdom from accessing clubs on Yahoo Inc (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news) which allow them to bypass firewalls set up by the conservative Gulf Arab state.
Last year the kingdom also blocked some America Online Inc (NYSE:AOL - news) services which allowed users to bypass proxies set up to filter out pornography and other sites considered offensive by the Moslem state, an official at King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) said on Sunday.
KACST supervises the Internet in Saudi Arabia.
``Many (Yahoo) clubs have pornographic content. It was easier to block the whole club service,'' Eyad al-Hajery, head of the information security centre at KACST, told Reuters by telephone.
Saudi Arabia's al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said on Sunday there were 226 Saudi clubs on Yahoo with over 60,000 subscribers.
Internet users can join or create clubs on Yahoo which provide them with chat rooms, message boards and links to other sites.
``On AOL you can download a programme and access other sites. There was a lot of abuse of the system with people using the programme to bypass proxies,'' Hajery said.
He said users could still access other services on Yahoo and AOL and that KACST would help people access ``legitimate clubs'' which met Saudi standards.
An official at one private Internet service provider in the kingdom said his company was not happy with this situation.
``This blocking business won't help the Internet business in Saudi Arabia. It is causing a lot of frustration among users, especially those who cannot access their e-mail'', Mohammad Ansar, business development manager at privately-owned Saudi Online, told Reuters by telephone.
``From a social point of view we appreciate certain things being blocked. But young Saudis can use various methods to unlock blocks and enter improper sites,'' he added.
Saudi Arabia began providing Internet services to its 18 million inhabitants in early 1999 through KACST.
Previously, people living in Saudi Arabia could access the service only by making international calls to ISPs in neighbouring countries like Bahrain.
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