Saudi ISP Blocks Yahoo Portal Due to Obscenity
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities have blocked access to a site on U.S. Internet giant Yahoo Inc.’s Web portal that contains pornographic and other offensive material, a Saudi official said Sunday.
“The decision to block the clubs.yahoo.com site is irreversible. Matters have gone beyond what is acceptable, and pornographic and other offensive sites are mushrooming,” said Khalil al-Jadaan, an official with the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology, the kingdom’s sole Internet provider.
Blocking in Saudi Arabia began last week, al Jadaan said, adding that authorities monitored the site for three months before making the decision.
In conservative Saudi Arabia, there are no cinemas or theaters. Restaurants are segregated by gender, and men and women are not allowed to mingle in public.
There are more than 250 Saudi clubs on the site with more than 60,000 members.
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