High number of UAE websites 'inaccessible' - project

The UAE ranks high among countries that have reported the most 'inaccessible' websites, a recent report has revealed.

Internet users in the country reported the eleventh highest rate of inaccessible websites from among the countries in the world, according to the Herdict project.

Herdict is a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. It seeks to gain insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility.

As on June 12, 11am UAE time, UAE users reported that 509 different webpages were flagged as “inaccessible”, the Herdict Web project statistics revealed.

China is the most reported country when it comes to website inaccessibility, according to the report. From among the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia ranked at No.4. and Bahrain at No.6 in the top 10 slots.

A noteworthy aspect of the report is that websites in the Western countries also reported high 'inaccessibilty'. Germany was ranked at No.2, US at No.3, France at No.7, Australia at No.8 and the UK at No.9.

According to the www.herdict.org website, Herdict is a portmanteau of 'herd' and 'verdict' and seeks to show the verdict of the users (the herd).

What is herdict?



Speaking to the UAE’s The National newspaper, Jillian York, the social media manager for the project said that the websites that were found by UAE users to have been blocked ranged from pornography and dating websites to religious pages.

“But then, you also get some sites where you’ve got to wonder why they’re blocked – like Flickr.”

“When someone is reporting a site as ‘inaccessible’ that means they could be experiencing government censorship, or school or work, or it could just be a server error,” York added.

Some sites are blocked within an organisation, while with others access may vary depending on location, the Abu Dhabi-based daily noted.

Top 10 countries that reported the most-inaccessible sites within the past six months as on June 12, 11am, UAE time:

1. China   (4,969)
2. Germany (6,972)
3. United States (5,162)
4. Saudi Arabia (2,364)
5. Iran (990)
6. Bahrain (1,004)
7. France (1,530)
8. Australia (911)
9. United Kingdom (1,237)
10. Philippines (909)

The Herdict has also introduced an Arabic language version.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM