Saudi
Arabia has warned that “suitable measures” would be taken if providers
of internet messenger applications such as WhatsApp fail to comply with
its rules, days after the industry said authorities wanted to control
such traffic.
“Some telecom applications over the internet protocol currently do
not meet the regulatory conditions” in the kingdom, said the
Communications and Information Technology Commission in a statement
carried by the official SPA state news agency on Sunday.
These applications include WhatsApp, Skype and Viber, and allow text and audio communication over the internet.
The commission has advised the service providers in Saudi Arabia to
work with the developers of such applications to “quickly meet the
regulatory conditions”, but it did not specify how they violate the
rules in the ultra-conservative country.
“The commission will take suitable measures regarding these
applications and services if those conditions are not met,” it said in a
veiled threat to ban the programmes.
Industry sources said this week that the authorities had asked
telecom operators to furnish a means of control that would allow
censorship in the absolute monarchy. One source said the providers had
been given a week to comply.
An industry source said telecom operators were behind the move,
accusing the Saudi Telecommunications Co (STC), along with Mobily and
Zain, of asking the commission to impose censorship because of the
“damage” caused by free applications.
In the neighbouring UAE, most Skype applications and Viber calls are blocked, but WhatsApp messenger remains accessible.
The two Gulf neighbours in 2010 threatened to ban BlackBerry instant
messaging and demanded that the company install local servers to censor
the service.
Instant messaging services on BlackBerry remain uninterrupted, but it
is not clear how far the Canadian smartphone manufacturer went to
comply.
sources by naijabliss.com
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