Thanks for the info, Osama.
Andreas
On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 6:29 AM, Osama Khalid osamak@gnu.org wrote:
I am from Saudi Arabia, so I guess I will be able to explain a few issues.
First of all, it's important to note that Saudi Arabia is a good example of a pretty much totalitarian state, with many governmental agencies and institutions, the core of which, say the interior and media ministries, play a key role in repressing unwanted expression. However, there are others that are far from the core and enjoy some kind of (unintended?) self-management.
It's also important to note that it is not possible to get anything on done in Saudi Arabia on large scale without getting a governmental institution partnership and approval.
And yes, hundreds of articles are censored, almost all of them are related to sexuality and there aren't any known censored political or historical articles.
The Saudi government is investing in increasing Arabic Wikipedia content? Are you sure?
Could you tell us more about this project – i.e. how the funding is distributed, and who does the editing?
Yes, it is, through King Abdullah Initiative for Arabic Content[0]. They have had their own version of the Education Program for the last two years. [[ar:User:Ali1]] and I have been helping them by training students. The initiative is public and documented under a Wikipedia namespace page on the Arabic Wikipedia. Instructors and students have the chance to choose the articles they see fit, without intervention from the initiative.
Well, this telecom company is the arm of the government to impose censorship in KSA.
Actually, censorship is imposed through a national proxy run by the Communication and Information Technology Commission[1]. ISPs do not get to pick and choose.
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