UAE Censorship

DUBAI, Jan 25 (Reuter) - The United Arab Emirates's monopoly Internet provider launched a service on Saturday to censor sites in cyberspace that breached local moral values and traditions.

Officials from state telecommunications company Etisalat said the the new Proxy Service would be compulsory for the UAE's 9,669 subscribers, who will have to configure their web browsers that navigate the net by February 2.

``The service was launched today as part of our efforts to improve the Internet service to our subscribers after lengthy study and research,'' said one official at Etisalat.

``We were working on it before some official statements were made on the need to control access to some sites on the service,'' he told Reuters.

The move follows repeated calls to regulate access to the Internet in the conservative Gulf region, where most women are veiled, magazine pictures revealing cleavage or bare legs are blacked out and questioning the existence of god can be punishable by death.

Some are worried about the spread of pornography as well as religious and political material through the worldwide network of interlinked computers.

Last year, Dubai Police chief Major General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim created a rare public row in the UAE saying the information ministry and the police, rather that Etisalat, should be authorised to issue Internet licences as it was their job to monitor data coming into the UAE and maintain security.

Telecommunications experts say the Proxy Service will not be ``fully water-tight,'' but would help block access to known and unwanted sites -- a list of which could be constantly updated.

The proxy servive will be pre-fed with Internet addresses where access is blocked off, industry sources said. But the server will be unable to block access if addresses of prohibited sites are changed, as frequently happens.

Etisalat says it will disconnect any customer who abused its Internet services and violated ``order and clear laws.''

``Singapore has succeeded to a great extent in its drive to control harm done by the Internet,'' said another Etisalat official. ``Why cannot we?.''

Singapore government measures to regulate political and religious content on the Internet and keep it free of pornography became effective in July last year. They require all Internet service operators and local content providers to be registered with the Singapore Broadcasting Authority.