Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network --------------------------------------------------------------------- Saudi Arabia approves Internet services Tuesday November 3 12:17 PM EDT DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has approved a list of Internet service providers ahead of plans to open up the web to the general public in the kingdom for the first time, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. It quoted a senior official in charge of the Internet saying he had ``completed authorisation for 40 companies to provide the Internet service in the kingdom, in addition to Saudi Telecommunications Co (STC)''. He did not name the firms. Saleh bin Abdel-Rahman al-Athel, president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, was also quoted as saying ``the Internet service will be provided to the general public during the coming month of Ramadan, God permitting''. The Moslem fasting month of Ramadan starts around December 19, based on the sighting of the moon. Athel said STC would link the ISPs to a main server in the technology city, giving them access to the worldwide web. It was not immediately clear whether the 40 firms were shortlisted or approved as the final ISPs. A Saudi-based marketing manager for one of the companies bidding said he expected some 20 firms to be picked as ISPs. ``It won't be a very open Internet. It will be a censored one,'' he told Reuters. The main server at the technology city would have so-called ''firewalls'' blocking certain sites deemed inappropriate by authorities in the conservative Moslem kingdom, he said. At present, most people inside the kingdom wishing to access the Internet have to dial up to ISPs in neighbouring Gulf Arab states, which also bar access to some websites. A few official bodies in Saudi Arabia already have some access to the Internet. (Reuters/Wired) ---------------------------------- Send mail for the 'huridocs-tech' list to 'huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Mail administrative request to 'majordomo@hrea.org'. For additional assistance, send mail to: 'owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Archives of previous messages posted to the list can be found at: http://www.human-rights.net/huridocs-tech.
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