Blackberry services in UAE to be suspended

The TRA confirmed today that Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry E-mail and Blackberry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11th 2010.

Today’s decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE.

Commenting on the announcement TRA Director General Mohamed Al Ghanim said: “With no solution available and in the public interest, in order to affect resolution of this issue, as of October 11, 2010, Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Email and Blackberry Web-browsing services will be suspended until an acceptable solution can be developed and applied.”

“We informed both Etisalat and du that providing the option of alternative services to ensure the continuity of service from October 11 to its subscribers – both individuals and organisations - is the most important priority.” Al Ghanim added.

Said Al Ghanim, “The TRA notes that Blackberry appears to be compliant in similar regulatory environments of other countries, which makes non-compliance in the UAE both disappointing and of great concern.”

From TRA's website.

The build-up to this can be seen two posts down.

Sex and the City banned in the UAE

Best news of 2010: Sex and the City 2 banned in UAE

Google Earth blocked?

The Google Earth application appears to be blocked via Etisalat connections at the moment.

Anyone else experiencing this problem?


More here: http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/408823-google-earth-blocked.html

Thanks to anon for tip

Facebook... Big Brother again?

Can't access it. Not a computer issue or location issue. As far as I can tell Facebook access via Etisalat is down. Are they up to their block shenanigans again? Probably. I can confirm that it is possible to access Facebook in a roundabout way which I prefer not to elaborate on, so that suggests that there is no problem with Facebook itself.

Any New Dubai residents on the Du network care to comment? Are you guys still getting Facebook?

Doha Center for Media Freedom

The Doha Centre for Media Freedom, alarmed by recent talks between Dubai police and Google, has sent an open letter to the Internet giant warning it not to give in to calls for censorship.
Chief Inspector Dhahi Khalfan Tamim of Dubai police and Giselle Hescuk, Google's head of development for Europe and the Middle East, met in March to draw up a censorship plan which the UAE authorities said would maintain religious harmony and prevent any infringements of religious and ethnic integrity in the light of local culture and traditions.

The authorities officially asked Hescuk to "restrict content that is pornographic, mocks religions, strengthens atheism, promotes new religions, fosters a feeling of insecurity or is unsuitable for young children".

The Doha Centre said: "The measures put forward and the terms used are ambiguous enough to result in the strictest sort of censorship. The proposals are based on a list of 500 key words drawn up by the Dubai police which would block access to certain sites."

The Centre called on Google and its subsidiary YouTube to reject the proposals.
"A company with the slogan 'You can make money without doing evil' and which is the world Internet leader has a moral obligation to take a stand on freedom of speech and act accordingly", it said. "The greater the power, the greater the responsibilities."
The Centre added that it was particularly concerned because the list of banned words had not been made public.

"Blackmail by the Dubai authorities is unacceptable. The United Arab Emirates cannot make any form of censorship a condition of access to the Internet." Read more on their website.

Etisalat Gone Haywire!

Was it just me?? At around 11 a.m. this morning when I was trying to routinely go online and check a few websites, everything was coming up blocked, blocked, blocked... everything! After a while of closing and reopening my browser, trying a different browser and rebooting the router, everything was still coming up with the blocked message.

After several minutes the Abu Dhabi Police website link worked, then the Etisalat link and more and more started to come back online. Did anyone else have this bizarre experience?

Watchmen: The mysterious case of the missing blue penis

Moviegoers are advised to save 30 dhs that they might be planning to spend on watching "Watchmen" in the UAE as censorship has now reached a new height of absurdity.



The majority of the movie remains intact and without any obvious cutting of the following:
-A rape scene
-Gratuitous violence
-A man getting his arms cut off in plain view by an angle grinder

However in the last 20 minutes of the film someone has seen fit to cut the movie like a 4 year old on a sugar-rush-- The problem? A giant glowing blue penis of a certain character (who just happens to be a main character); this means that any full-body shots of him are cut (along with any narrative/audio) which in turn leads to a highly confusing last 20 minutes.

And the good question of the hour: Who is it that decides to bother importing and showing a movie in which the main character is going to repeatedly be cut from the final 20 minutes? It's probably the same person/people that decided getting Bruce Almighty was a good idea.

Book not banned?

"ABU DHABI // The National Media Council denied last night that it had banned a study of Dubai written by a former professor at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University and said approval for publication in the UAE had been granted.

There were claims in the British press that Dr Christopher Davidson’s book, Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success, had been banned due to its content.

But yesterday, the NMC confirmed it had already been approved for countrywide distribution, said Peter Hellyer, the council’s information adviser.

“The council felt the book should be taken seriously and so we’ve studied it carefully,” said Mr Hellyer. “The process takes time and Dr Davidson told the media the academic book had been banned before the National Media Council had even seen it.”

...

Mr Hellyer said that while there had never been a ban, the study contained “a plethora of errors”.

“There is a statement that there was no tarmac highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai until the mid-1990s, and no all-weather road between Dubai and Fujairah until 2006,” Mr Hellyer said. “These are clearly completely wrong and it makes one doubt the quality and depth of his research.”

He also took issue, he said, with a section regarding the discovery of Dubai’s oil fields.

Mr Davidson “writes that in the mid-1960s, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, the Ruler of Dubai, created a company to operate Dubai’s on-shore oil fields,” Mr Hellyer said. “The only on-shore oil fields were not discovered until 1982.”

more here

book banned

"A UK academic's analysis of Dubai's rise to prominence in the Gulf has been banned from being sold in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Christopher Davidson, author of Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success, said the ban was an own goal by a country that is at pains to present itself as an open society with aspirations for its higher education sector.

Dr Davidson, a lecturer at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs, has previously worked in the UAE at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. He has also acted as a consultant to the Dubai Government.

...

Dr Davidson said: "This is an academic book published by Columbia University Press, so it went through a rigorous peer-review process.

"Crucially, it is independent research, written by someone whose salary is not paid in the UAE, so there's none of the self-censorship that often prevents people who live there discussing anything beyond the bland and banal about the ruling families."

The result, he said, is that the National Media Council - which rules on censorship - had no leverage over the book's content and had made a "kneejerk" reaction.

"It's rare that a peer-reviewed academic book from an esteemed press is banned - it just makes them look as though they've got something to hide, and of course in the internet age with online booksellers it is also rather pointless."

more here

Iran: death for blogging

Via Aqoul, a chilling report from Iran on moves to toughen punishment for "harming mental security" which could see bloggers condemned to death:

The text lists a wide range of crimes such rape and armed robbery for which the death penalty is already applicable. The crime of apostasy (the act of leaving a religion, in this case Islam) is also already punishable by death.

However, the draft bill also includes "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy", which is a new addition to crimes punishable by death.

Those convicted of these crimes "should be punished as 'mohareb' (enemy of God) and 'corrupt on the earth'," the text says.

Quite apart from the ludicrousness of the death penalty as an appropriate punishment for political dissent or religious debate or even dissent, would anyone trust corrupt officials not to abuse this law? As soon as a blogger/citizen journalists criticises them or exposes their corruption, how easy to falsely accuse them of being an "enemy of God" or harming public order and get them killed and out of the way forever.

As Iran escalates backwards to the stone age, our thoughts and wishes for safety go to all Iranian bloggers.

business unaffected by du proxy?

According to Khaleej Times...

A du official said yesterday, “With immediate effect, all pornographic web sites will be blocked as per the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) requirements.”
[...]
"“du has blocked pornographic sites only, a move we are sure all parents will welcome. Content blocking guidelines are provided by the TRA and we abide by these,” he explained."
[...]
He also clarified that business will remain largely unaffected. “Normally business should not be affected because du has only blocked pornographic sites and sites that contain material that is offensive to the moral, cultural and social values of the UAE.

Despite claiming three times that only pornographic websites will be blocked (and also claiming only once that websites 'offensive' will be blocked) I find it interesting that on the 14th of April the following websites were blocked...

arabtimes.com = blocked
secretdubai.blogspot.com = blocked
wikipedia article on 'fitna' = blocked

First day of Du proxy

Today marks the first day of internet censorship on Du internet connections; they have issued a public statement as follows:

"It is our constant endeavour to maintain the perfect balance between ensuring that all our customers' requirements are met, and that we comply with all the guidelines of the TRA, including those on internet content filtering.

The World Wide Web offers us great opportunities to get and share information and to communicate. However, it is imperative that when making use of this technology for its enormous benefits, we respect the moral, social and cultural values of the United Arab Emirates.

du will be blocking all content that is not in line with these values, effective from 14 April 2008. Due to the nature of the content filtering process, some harmless sites may also inadvertently be blocked. We request our customers' assistance in informing us when a site that they consider harmless has been blocked, by writing to safesurf@du.ae so we can look into the matter."

more here

Du censorship first began on the 23rd of March with the blocking of the Secret Dubai Diary website

According to the following Khaleej Times article, the proxy on Du is a result of a new "Internet Penetration Policy" (which as far as I'm aware hasn't been published publicly by the TRA yet);

"In a Press statement yesterday, Mohammed Al Ghanim, Board Member and Director-General of TRA, said, “Since du is a new company that has just started to implement the concept of monitoring in the best possible way, it has to comply with the policy within a month from the date it is announced.”

However, a TRA spokesperson clarified, “The policy actually means proxy. It will regulate the web content allowed in the UAE. Since du is new, it has to wait for the policy before it can buy the software to regulate its web content. Etisalat is already following the policy. Both telecom operators have to abide by the TRA regulations.”

du has 'adult' content

Khaleej Times has a shocking report on adult content that is accessible via du internet connections.

""I have been an etisalat customer for long and recently happened to use the du Internet. I was surprised to find that a site which was inaccessible in the etisalat network was available in du," claimed a user.

Another user who did not wish to be identified questioned whether regulations for both operators were different. “I have also stumbled across web sites on the du Net that are inappropriate. As far as I know, such web sites are blocked automatically in the country. However, it means that we have to be extra careful when children are around as they might be able to access content that we do not want them to see,” he said. In a statement to Khaleej Times, du said, "As a licensed operator, du complies with all the regulations, directions and policies, including Net censorship imposed by the TRA. We receive direct instructions from them on blocking web sites and filtering Internet content, and implement them within 24 hours as we have already invested in the infrastructure that enables us to censor the content of the World Wide Web. If any consumer has any specific issues relating to a particular web site, they can communicate it directly to the TRA and we will take the necessary measures."

[...]

""Currently, TRA is in the process of putting together a law to govern Internet proxy in the country which may allow the service provider to point out sites that need not be blocked by TRA. However, any such web site that is not in accordance to the UAE's religious and cultural values or is outright pornographic material, will remain blocked," he said.

This law would also give the freedom to service providers and customers to choose web sites that may be educational, scientific or medical content and are currently being blocked in the country by the TRA due to their generic nature.

The TRA official also said that whoever comes across a web site that does not conform to UAE laws should report it to TRA so that immediate action can be taken."

more here

Du begins blocking

Du has gone and gotten itself a proxy page!


The page that has been blocked? Secret Dubai's blog! Congratulations!

Thanks to anonymous for tip and screenshot

(reportedly blogger/blogspot is now working on Du connections once again--except for Secret Dubai's blog)

Secret Dubai diary by email

Since the mirror appears to be blocked, and I don't want to move it to a new blogspot domain (eg secretdubai2.blogspot) for fear of getting the entire blogspot domain banned, if you want to read my blog and can't, feel free to sign up via email using the form below:

I will put the (still unblocked) comments links on all new posts from now.

You can also try Google Reader to read my blog or any other blog.

7days coverage of SD block

7days has some coverage of the secretdubai block including some choice quotes from the TRA...

"Secret Dubai Diary, one of the emirate's most popular blogs, has been shut down in a move that has upset the many thousands of its readers. The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has decided to block secretdubai.blogspot.com, calling it, “a web site for slander, defamation and vilification against Dubai”.


The same site was blocked in 2005 for similar reasons. However, since laws to block web sites were not concrete then, the site was eventually unblocked. This time, the TRA says the content was more offensive.

TRA spokesman Rasheed Joumblatt told 7DAYS: “Many people contacted the TRA complaining about the offensive language and the lies that had been spread on the site, 'mutilating' their beautiful city and twisting facts to dishonour the development and progress of the city…

“The TRA browsed the web site and found that it is a site for slander, defamation and vilification against the city of Dubai… and UAE individuals and personalities.”

more here

Keeping internet access safe from terror and danger

Gulf News has an interesting interview with an unnamed TRA spokesperson regarding the proxy; among the interesting information it has are the following paragraphs...

For starters the title of the article in Gulf News is in fact "Keeping internet access safe from terror and danger"

"Each of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Etisalat and du, are required by law to have a proxy programme where certain keywords are checked: sex, terrorism, dating, drugs, alcohol, pornography, and gambling, among others.

These keywords are mandatory by international laws in describing each and every single website."

Is anyone else aware of any international laws regarding keywords?

The final paragraph is quite interesting too...

"The big picture is to be developed and to be in the lead of this century. But knowledge and development doesn't mean ethic-free life or morale-free life. There are certain morals that the UAE government is obliged to protect."

"Picture perfect: How the story of Dubai’s other side can never be told"

An interesting read from Arab Media & Society...

"It’s inevitable, then, that I sometimes forget Emiratis may even read my articles. I resort to using British idioms and words I know they wouldn’t understand, but it isn’t something I’m conscious of; the sad reality is that I’m simply not conscious of them at all. Except, of course, when the government steps in to demand that we remove a chapter or an article from a guide or a magazine.

I am tempted to provide an example of this sort of censorship, but I have been asked not to. While the incident between the government and Time Out is common knowledge amongst journalists in both my company and in other publishing houses, Dubai isn’t ready to admit that it breaches the media’s right to freedom of speech. But I’ll allow myself this: the piece that offended the government was a guide to alcoholic beverages sold legally in Dubai; it is neither news nor a surprise that the emirate has licensed liquor outlets within its borders.

[...]

You can blame it on companies being unaccustomed and overly sensitive to criticism, or you can look at the reality of being an expatriate journalist in Dubai. One of the problems we face is that we rarely hear an Emirati voice. They haven’t had a chance to develop one that foreigners can understand or relate to just yet. They will in time, but until then, the expatriate community will have to continue guessing which subjects we can tackle without having to deal with censorship or corporate bullies.

Such incidents of sporadic censorship have made me, as well as other journalists hesitant to tackle the real stories. As mentioned, it isn’t that the stories aren’t there, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a journalist who’s willing to have their career shredded for a 300-word article.

The result is that Dubai’s stories are rarely told. The truth about the conditions within labor camps throughout the city, where the men who toil for hours in the region’s unforgiving sun live, isn’t exposed. And the women who suffer the injustices of a so-called traditional society, while their men indulge in the freedoms of a modern world, rarely have their say.

But like most journalists, I make mental notes of the laborers forced to defecate on street corners for lack of toilets, and the Emirati woman who calls me once every four or five months to remind me she’s willing to talk, but not today; I hoard these stories, knowing full well that if I pursue them I’ll get barred from the emirate. But I’m waiting for the day I leave and have the freedom to write with the sort of brutal honesty these stories deserve."

read more here (article is 2 seperate pages)

Censors tackle nudes

That's the headline of a (U.S.) National Public Radio report on censorship in Dubai. Here's a link to the blurb and the audio.

As usual for American public radio, there are great sound effects. They went to the censorship office to get sounds of offensive pages being ripped out, sensitive stories being cut, and touchy images being retouched with a fat black marker.

Rights group decries jailing of UAE Web site owner

Rights group decries jailing of UAE Web site owner
AFP

August 22, 2007


DUBAI -- An Arab human rights group called Wednesday for the quashing of a one-year jail sentence against a Web site owner in the United Arab Emirates, who was also fined $19,000 on defamation charges.

The sentence against Mohammad Rashed Al Shehhi "deals a harsh blow to freedom of expression" in a country that took the lead in spreading Internet usage, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo) said on its Web site.

According to the group and local press reports, Shehhi was sentenced to one year in prison, and his Web site was closed, earlier this month, by a court in Ras Al Khaimah, one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, after a local official sued the Web site and its owner for defamation.

Cairo-based HRInfo, which posts information about human rights in the Arab world on its portal, said the alleged defamation by an unknown user on the Web site, which provided a forum for debate of local issues, did not amount to more than "political criticism" of a civil servant.

A hearing in the appeal against the sentence handed to Shehhi, who was ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 dirhams ($13,600) and Dh 20,000 in compensation to the official, is scheduled for August 26, the local press reported.

HRInfo said the harsh sentence was passed despite the fact that Shehhi should not be held accountable for the writings of users on his Web site (majan.net).

The group, which said it would approach UAE leaders over the case, reported that another writer on the same Web site, Khaled Al Asli, was arrested in Ras Al Khaimah August 19. It called for both his release and the quashing of the "unjust" sentence against Shehhi.

Scores of regional and international news organizations operate out of Dubai, another UAE member that hosts twin Internet and media "cities," but most local media in the oil-rich Gulf country is government-guided.

original article HERE

The website in question is majan.net;

more information on the case is available on the following links (use translate.google.com to help you)

http://www.hrinfo.net/press/2007/pr0821.php
http://www.alkhaleej.ae/articles/show_article.cfm?val=414798