Dubai Police confirm plan to block internet 'smut'

SEARCH BLOCK: A Google official has met a member of the Dubai Police to discuss the issue of blocking 500 terms, but no censorship plan has been drawn up. (Getty Images)

Dubai Police confirmed on Tuesday that it has asked the UAE telecoms regulator to censor 500 search terms it deems offensive in a bid to block access to certain internet sites.

The Chief of Police spoke out about the force's plans to block access to certain internet sites after it was reported that he had met with a Google official in Dubai last month to discuss barring the 500 terms.   

Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said the move was intended to protect the UAE's young people from "pornographic" and "anti-religious" content on Google owned video sharing site YouTube

“These (500) terms open the door into the smut in the cyberspace bringing in devastating effect on the young generation as the studies had shown,” Tamim said in a statement published by state news agency WAM.

He also clarified that it was his deputy, Major General Khamis Matar Al Mazeina, who had met with a Google official to discuss the list of search terms that had been compiled by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

The discussions have prompted a strong attack from media freedom group The Doha Centre for Media Freedom , which published a statement on Sunday calling on Google to re-think its cooperation with the censorship measures, which it calls “alarming”.  

Google came under international fire in 2006 for succumbing to China’s censorship demands, which it was forced to agree to in order to obtain a licence to set up its search engine there.

In response to the Doha Centre's criticism, which was released to the media, Tamim said: "The [Doha Centre for Media Freedom] interprets pornography as a legitimate right, which people are entitled to imbibe across the internet."

"But the Dubai Police do not agree with them in holding this view and so they have to recognise people who travel in the opposite direction," he added in the WAM statement.

Meanwhile, Google, the world's largest search engine, has denied it is in the process of drawing up a censorship plan for the UAE.

A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company had met with the Dubai Police along with several other organisations from the region’s government, business and public sectors.

“Contrary to false reports no censorship plan was drawn up,” she said.

“At Google we believe in engaging with users, businesses, non-profits, and governments in order to address whatever questions or concerns they may have about our products."

"It’s the best way for us to understand the local countries in which we operate, and for others to understand Google, YouTube, and the policies around our products,” she said.

However, the Google declined to comment on whether it would censor search results in the future if asked by one of the region’s governments.

The TRA was unavailable for comment.

Last month, media rights group Reporters Without Borders named Saudi Arabia as one of the world’s top 12 internet censors, along with China, Iran and Syria.

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READERS' COMMENTS

NOT THE RIGHT WAY
Posted by MUSTAFA, dubai, uae on Monday 27 April 2009 at 08:37 UAE time


through censorship one can block sights & articles from on eyes but not from their minds & hearts instead of blocking sights map out plans to open their senses so that child can differentiate between right & wrong and authority must understand that time of reinging the kids through force is long gone

KILL THE EVEILS INSTEAD OF HIDING IT
WITHOUT BAD,GOOD CAN NOT BE APPRECIATED AND UNDERSTOOD

How about this....
Posted by Geoffrey, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 26 April 2009 at 09:07 UAE time


How about instead of leaving your kids with strangers from other countries to take care of them, how about getting involved directly in their lives and monitoring their content and shaping them as good citizens who know right from wrong. I am against smut online but from a psychological view, the more you conceal, the more they want to see. Everyone knows that, unlike in the west, when the side of a bra is seen in the cinema, there are loud screams, hoots and yells that I have never witnessed before. I figure that it is because it is sooo concealed that the even "hint" of sexuality becomes chaos.

Too Bad..
Posted by JADed, Abu Dhabi, UAE on Thursday 23 April 2009 at 10:10 UAE time


Whatever you do.. it takes just 5 min with a VPN to break the censor. Every teen kid knows that. So what's the point? The Dubai Police needs to know that like everything else, the parents need to check on what their kids do on their own. That's giving responsiblity where responsibility is due. It is not upto the state to take over that responsibility. There are just about 4 countries in the world with stick censorship. Are all the other people in the world depraved and dangerous?

Undesirable consequences
Posted by g, dubai, UAE on Sunday 19 April 2009 at 06:04 UAE time


These censored terms also block 'good' sites bearing the same term. What about those who are not 'young', what about those who want to read the 'non-religious' stuff. And how is religiour defined? Wahabis? So shia is banned, sunni is banned? others? Enough! And don't you think you are directing your youth to the way of thinking of thinking of your choice. wont anyone in the UAe have the right to read about anything different, just to know how others think? The UAE is not an isolated island. And your youth travel a lot and know that people live differently abroad, you cant hide that from the. And didnt you notice how censorship has caused in neighboring countries? Youth going to extremes? I thought Dubai would be the pioneer in the region and 'bans' censorship.

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