In a move that smacks of impending censorship (no surprise here) there is now an “Official Community of Saudi bloggers” or OCSAB. This is a rather frightening move this new group is another attempt by the royal family to further control the media in the Saudi kingdom. From the OCSAB we find this,
“We want to let people know about blogging and develop the blogs that exist, if the blogs deserve it,” said Raed al-Saeed, one of the Ocsab bloggers. “We want to encourage people to blog and to blog better, so that there is some ethics of blogging.”
Read: Do as we say or you’ll disappear. The backlash has begun.
“You cannot regulate the Saudi blogosphere. You cannot ‘refine’ it nor ‘filter’ it or whatever else I read that you wish to do to it. Now get your filthy hands off blogging,” wrote Farooha, a female student who has one of the most popular sites in Arabic and English.
I have the greatest admiration for bloggers who stick to their guns even though it could possibly cost them their lives.
[tags]Saudi, OCSAB, Blog, Weblog, Censorship[/tags]