Sidebar: ? The Wired Arab Woman Women breaking barriers online. In 1997, King Fahd, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, promised that the Internet would be open to the country's public shortly. 'Shortly' came as late as January 1999 at very expensive rates and with restricted access.

Defending the delay, Saleh Abdulrahman al-'Adhel, head of the King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said that while the Internet has done much in 'relaying and distributing information,' it also 'has a negative side that conflicts with our faith and our Arab Muslim traditions.' [1]

The delay was to 'finalize the technology needed to bar access to information, which is contrary to our Islamic values and dangerous to our security,' said Walid Abal Khalil, head of a group studying Internet access at Riyadh's Chamber of Commerce and Industry. [2]

The Middle East has opened the Internet to its public after much deliberation on the social impact that online information and outside culture are likely to have on its thus-far insulated society.

That concern is responsible for delayed Internet connectivity, beginning as late as the mid-'90s in most of the Middle Eastern countries. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has had an Internet connection since 1994, but restricted its use to state, academic, medical, and research facilities until 1999.

One of the early entrants into the e-field was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has only one ISP -- the government telecommunications monopoly, Etisalat. Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Iran, Saudi Arabia and, very recently, Libya are among others that have cautiously followed suit.

Iraq is the only country in this region that still lacks an Internet connection, for which it blames UN sanctions. Others suspect the real reason is to keep political dissent in check; even possession of modems is illegal there. In Syria, on the other hand, Internet connection is available but restricted to state institutions.

Saudi Arabia makes its no-nonsense stance on the Internet issue very clear. Any site that 'violates the social, cultural, political, media, economic, and religious values of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia' is to be blocked. [3]

Such a broad guideline could just about encompass any site on the Web. Other countries in the Gulf, however, have gently side-stepped the issue of censorship with no written guidelines, although they have censored sites as well.

Writing on the issue of 'National Security and the Internet in the Persian Gulf Region,' noted research scholar Grey E. Bukhart cited pornography as a major cause of concern among the Arab countries.

Pornography is blocked by most ISPs in the region because it threatens the Islamic traditions of the Arab populace. To quote Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Secretary to the Guardian Council of Iran on the issue, 'They [the West] broadcast disgraceful, immoral pictures and threaten all humanity and morality and chastity.' [4]

The UAE's ISP, Etisalat, has one of the most sophisticated proxy servers to block all pornography sites, both textual and graphic. Gay and lesbian sites, erotic literature, 'passion horoscopes,' 'how to make love to a woman,' and so on, fall under the 'sexually-explicit' and are broadly categorized as pornography.

Anonymizer sites are blocked for obvious reasons. In some cases, hacker-related sites are also blocked to check abuse of such information. However, political information or dissenting ideas are not blocked, e-mails are not monitored and no warnings have been issued for misuse as yet in the UAE.

Bahrain has eased censorship of pornography and is encouraging citizens to exercise self-censorship and parental control instead of relying on the state to police the Web.

Other governments are not so tolerant. In Saudi Arabia, each time a person tries to enter a blocked site, he is warned that all requests are logged. None of these censorship rules, however, apply to clients who take lease lines or to multi-national companies that log into their own foreign server.

Apart from 'pornographic material,' each country sets its own unwritten rules of censorship that are based on several factors, chief of which is the political status quo of the country. Ruling families in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have had cause for concern with sites like The Bahrain Freedom Movement and expos?s cropping up on the Web, and have, therefore, blocked them in their respective countries.

Nevertheless, it has been observed that on the whole the Internet enjoys greater freedom than any other media in the Middle East. Dissenting political articles that would never have made it into mainstream media in regions like Egypt, Jordan and Palestine are available online.

The Middle East Times Egypt Edition, for instance, has a section titled 'Censored' that lists articles which were spiked by the Egyptian censor board.

The Arab Media Internet Network -- an online publication -- came under critical scrutiny from Jordanian authorities for its 'Eye on Amman' columns, news releases and opinions that were absent from the local media. But the site has not been blocked.

Likewise, pro-Israel or anti-Arab articles are blocked in the local media in the UAE. But Israel Truth, a site that claims to 'present the truth about the continued violence and terrorism perpetuated by the Palestinians ? and other Arab entities looking for the destruction of Israel' and the Arab Electronic Mail Journal remain available online.

A significant reason for not blocking political sites could be the fact that only a little over 1 million of the Middle East population (based on a survey conducted by the Internet Arab World (IAW) Magazine) is currently online.

One of the chief reasons for the sparse number of Arab e-users is the language barrier. A large slice of the native population is not conversant with the English language. A large percentage of the users are probably expatriates who do speak English, and they pose little threat to the government.

Secondly, while the Internet has been touted as one of the most inexpensive means of communication, taxes and expensive hourly charges in the Middle East have negated that basic advantage.

To date, users in the UAE do not have a flat rate for unlimited Internet access. It was not until a few months ago that Etisalat slashed its rates by half, from the original $1.60 per hour.

One site compares Internet rates in some parts of the region. Additionally, cheap means of online communication, like Internet telephoning or sending e-faxes, are banned. Ahmed Faisal Al Dosery, Manager of Public Relations for Etisalat, denied that cheap communication was banned because it would diminish revenue and defended it rather as 'not permissible in the UAE under the Federal Act No. 1 of 1991.' [5]

Although there has been an unwarranted delay in the entr?e of the Internet into the Middle East, its use has skyrocketed in the past couple of years. The e-boom in the region, primarily in the UAE and Bahrain, can be attributed to the fact that both these countries -- major centers of business commerce -- have discovered the potential of e-commerce to enhance their trade profile in the world market.

The UAE, the most dynamic and wired state in the Arab world, has surged forward to facilitate e-commerce thanks to General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE Minister of Defense. At the Dubai Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, GITEX '99, one of the top three IT exhibitions in the world, Shaikh Mohammed announced his vision to make Dubai the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. [6]

To make that dream come true, he announced that plans were underway to create the world's first e-trade zone -- Dubai Internet City -- which academics predict will be a major attraction with its 100 percent foreign investment and tax-free policy. The city will also house the world's first Internet University that will specialize in e-business and e-management.

Use of the Internet in the Middle East continues to accelerate in academic as well as business realms. Lack of well-equipped libraries with up-to-date research material and infrequent public transportation make it difficult for students to ferret out material for their projects. The Internet has reduced dependence on local libraries. Universities online, career and information sites, discussion forums and several other Web publications are gradually deinsulating this society. Women, for example, have discovered that they will eventually be able to do business unhindered by the veil. [Please see related sidebar, The Wired Arab Woman.]

This relatively new medium is causing a ruffle in the region. Although information is coming in small increments, it spells freedom for a society that so far has been shielded. Social impact is, therefore, inevitable. Censorship may delay that process; it cannot thwart it.

FOOTNOTES

1. Associated Press, May 12, 1997 2. 'Saudis Likely to Surf Web by Early '99,' Agence France-Presse, July 16, 1998 3. From a decree by the Council of Ministers to the ISPs in Saudi Arabia 4. 'Internet, TV a Threat,' Associated Press, January 23, 1999 5. 'Etisalat Will Not Allow Internet Telephony,' Khaleej Times, UAE, Oct. 30, 1998 6. GITEX '99 attracted more than 72,000 trade visitors, and Computer Shopper, its retail arm, recorded more than 80,000 visitors this year. For more details, visit http://www.gitex.com