Monday, June 19, 2006

On blogging in Saudi Arabia

Saudi women unveil opinions online | csmonitor.com

As you might expect, the internet (and blogging) are tightly controlled in Saudi Arabia:

Deeply conservative, Saudi Arabia is among the most restrictive countries in regard to Internet access in the world, with most traffic going through a central hub at KACST in Riyadh. The biggest number of sites blocked are pornographic sites, followed by sites that discuss drugs, religion, and terrorism...

One female blogger (http://www.classic-diva.blogspot.com/) said that she was stopped from using the Internet at home for several months after her conservative brothers grew suspicious about why she was spending so much time online.

"I've been blogging since April 2005. It's a way to vent out my frustrations and to write," said Jo, who asked only that her first name be used. "My family knows that I have a site, but they don't have a concept of what blogging is."

Saudi families care so much about the welfare of their daughters, it's touching. (Sarcastic tone required for that sentence.)

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