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johnslat

From a highly reputable source in the Kingdom. This would seem to rule out "a glitch."

The censors are getting more selective.

Regards,
John

floydrules · Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 45

Agree but I'm using Ultra Surf at present and able to access the site.... Sad

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Be sure to keep reporting what website you use to give them the chance to block it too... Rolling Eyes

VS

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:57 pm Post subject:

Interesting:

********* is a free software which enables users inside countries with heavy Internet censorship to visit any public web sites in the world safely and freely. Users in countries without internet censorship also use it to protect their internet privacy and security.

WARNING: The software allegedly connects to websites of financial and government institutions, and uses the PC for attacks against them. It disables SSL certificate checks and allows man-in-the-middle attacks to steal authentication credentials. It hooks into the browser and uses suspicious compression to hide parts of the program.

THE ACCUSATIONS ARE DISPUTED. As of August 2010 only two of the major anti-virus vendors (NOD32, McAfee) rate the application as malicious (source: VirusTotal).

The allegations were voiced by SteveTX on the Wilders Security forum and presented at the BlackHat 2009 USA conference.
Discussion: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=237184
(actual details are discussed starting with post #106 on page 5)
Blackhat Report: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-09/TOPLETZ/BHUSA09-Topletz-GlobalSpying-PAPER.pdf

Regards,
John

Grendal · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 5:23 pm Post subject:

sheiker has won his case and all back pay and expenses incurred have been ordered by the court to be payed IN FULL.

Maybe that has something to do with it

Grendal

trapezius · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:25 pm Post subject:

I can confirm that only the Saudi forum is blocked. The rest of them are not, including those of the other Gulf countries and the General Middle East one.

Hmmm... so no more glitches. So this section of this site has officially come under the ban hammer of the Kingdom of the Humanity.

I don't blame them; all you people do is post names of all the humane employers so that people can avoid them, post tips and tricks to navigate the humane tactics used by some employers on some foreigners, and post about the humane treatment that some of you and your friends have received at the hands of the local justice system.

So, if I were humane, I too would block those who tried to spread news about the breadth and depth of my humanity.

Later!

Grendal · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:32 pm Post subject:

Recourse. Recourse. What is our recourse?

Maybe go to Mid East General forum and take Trap's advice?

Grendal

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Grendal · Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:46 pm Post subject:

Hi VS,

Sheiker's trial outcome was on yahoo news but now I can't seem to find it.
Veeeeery interesting.

I am able to get on this Saudi page from Riyadh. If you decide to give this back door to other posters from within Saudi VS, please be discriminate. We who are able to squeak our voices from here might get blocked too.

Keep chin up everyone. We shall overcome.

Grendal

ps. if not in this life, then the other one

John Carpenter · Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 42 Location: Saudi Arabia

This from a friend in KSA:
Seen the latest

Arabia clamps down on bloggers, news sites, others
Publishing to the web now requires a licence
03 Jan 2011 14:46 | by Dean Wilson in Dublin | posted in Internet

Saudi Arabia is beginning a major internet clamp-down, starting with blogs, forums, news sites, personal websites, electronic archives, chat rooms and online ads.

New regulations were approved by Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Mohee Al-Dien Khoga, the Minister of Culture and Information, which will require licences for the operation of an e-publishing site within the country when the laws come into effect in a month's time,

Anyone who writes on a blog, online newspaper, or similar form of electronic publishing will be required to meet the following obligations: they must be a Saudi national, over 20, hold a high school or higher qualification, be of good conduct and behaviour, and hold an appropriate licence given by the Ministry.

Editors must also receive special approval by the Ministry in addition to obtaining a licence, while all licence holders must publicly display their licence information on their website. The licence will last for three years, by which time a renewal will need to be sought. Exceptions to these rules can be employed at the discretion of the Minister.

As part of the application process web users must supply information about their web hosting, data which will presumably be used to take non-complying sites offline.

Failure to comply with the new regulations can result in a number of penalties. The user will be ordered to �correct� the content of the website, or, in other words, remove the offending material. They will need to pay a fine, they may be required to pay compensation to an individual in addition to the fine. And finally their website may be partially or fully blocked, for either a period of time up to two months or indefinitely.

Saudi Arabia said that this does not constitute a breach of freedom of speech and said that it will act in a transparent manner in the conducting of the new laws, but the news is likely to upset a lot of bloggers and web users in the country.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

That is laugh-out-loud funny... I can't see how they could enforce it... in English hosted websites.

VS