Blocked blog raises touchy issue of internet censorship

Etisalat yesterday denied that it had the authority to block websites. Internet censorship falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information, a senior Etisalat official said.

Internet censorship in the UAE is misunderstood, said Abdullah Hashim, Senior Manager Business Development and Marketing of E-company, Etisalat's business unit.

He was commenting on the issue of the blocking of a popular Dubai-based blog.

The blocking of Secret Dubai Diary, a female expat's ironic account of UAE life, disappointed some of the city's many bloggers. Some speculated that the site was blocked after visitors complained over a satirical poem.

But an Etisalat spokesman said that he could not yet give the specific reason for blocking the site.

"Etisalat is not authorised to decide what people should see," Hashim explained. "If callers complain, either to unblock or block a site, we refer them to the Ministry of Information. We have a formal process."

He denied that Etisalat blocks sites arbitrarily. "We block sites that contain offensive images," he said. "But we do not take decisions over issues of security and cultural sensitivity."

A blogger contributing to discussion site Hauteur Pill said there was never an exceedingly controversial post in Secret Dubai Diary. "The media and bloggers alike all know they can't do without self-censorship here," he wrote.

Internet access across most of Dubai is restricted by a proxy server. Using a list of sites provided by an American company this automatically blocks categories of site that are considered incompatible with the country's traditions or a security threat.

"A customer satisfaction survey in 2003 found that over 65 per cent of people felt the proxy helped bring the internet into the home," said Hashim.

Yet he admitted the complaint system could be improved. "It is not an institutionalised process," he said.

"We are in the middle between the hammer and the anvil," he said.