{"id":679,"date":"2017-09-21T23:10:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T23:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=679"},"modified":"2017-09-21T23:10:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T23:10:16","slug":"saudi-arabia-to-lift-ban-on-internet-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/09\/21\/saudi-arabia-to-lift-ban-on-internet-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia to lift ban on internet calls"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-41332743<\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"story-body__h1\">Saudi Arabia to lift ban on internet calls<\/h1>\n<div class=\"with-extracted-share-icons\">\n<div class=\"story-body__mini-info-list-and-share\">\n<div class=\"story-body__mini-info-list-and-share-row\">\n<div class=\"mini-info-list-wrap\">\n<ul class=\"mini-info-list\">\n<ul class=\"mini-info-list\">\n<li class=\"mini-info-list__item\">\n<div class=\"date date--v2\">20 September 2017<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"share-tools--no-event-tag\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-body__inner\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/660\/cpsprodpb\/7079\/production\/_97939782_gettyimages-635647098.jpg\" alt=\"A Saudi woman uses her mobile in Jeddah on 16 February 2017\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><span class=\"story-image-copyright\">AFP<\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><span class=\"media-caption__text\">The Saudi authorities said they had blocked VoIP apps in 2013 in order to &#8220;protect society&#8221;<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Saudi Arabia is lifting a ban on voice and video calling apps such as Skype, in a move aimed at boosting productivity and economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry of communications said access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would be &#8220;widely available to users&#8221; from Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>It had previously blocked VoIP apps for failing to comply with &#8220;regulations&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes only days after Snapchat blocked Al Jazeera from its app in the conservative Gulf kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi officials accused the Qatar-based network of being a &#8220;harmful, propaganda-pushing channel that supports extremism&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera, which denies the charge, said Snapchat&#8217;s actions were a &#8220;clear attack on the rights of journalists and media professionals to report and cover stories freely from around the world&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia blocked access to Al Jazeera&#8217;s website at the end of May, shortly before the country severed all links with Qatar over the emirate&#8217;s alleged support for terrorism and ties with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>More than 20 prominent religious figures, writers, journalists, academics and activists were also reportedly detained earlier this month in a crackdown on dissent linked to the diplomatic dispute.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-41302852\">Snapchat blocks Al Jazeera in Saudi Arabia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-41260543\">Saudi Arabia &#8216;holds clerics in crackdown&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-41027177\">Saudi police release Macarena teenager<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Surveillance and censorship of the internet in Saudi Arabia intensified after the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, and the authorities have previously\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"http:\/\/12mars.rsf.org\/2014-en\/2014\/03\/11\/saudi-arabia\/\">claimed<\/a>to be using IP address-blocking to prevent citizens accessing 400,000 websites.<\/p>\n<p>Telecoms companies were\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link-external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/saudi-telecoms-ban\/saudi-orders-telcos-to-ensure-skype-whatsapp-meet-local-laws-idUSL5N0CN0DH20130331\">informed<\/a>\u00a0by the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) in 2013 that they needed to comply with regulations over VoIP.<\/p>\n<p>The commission did not say what was being flouted, but stressed it was acting to &#8220;protect society from any negative aspects that could harm the public interest&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry of communications said the decision to now give Saudis access to VoIP was &#8220;an important step in the kingdom&#8217;s internet regulation&#8221; that would &#8220;reduce operational costs and spur digital entrepreneurship&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Digital transformation is one of the key kick-starters for the Saudi economy, as it will incentivize the growth of internet-based businesses, especially in the media and entertainment industries,&#8221; it added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-41332743 Saudi Arabia to lift ban on internet calls 20 September 2017 &nbsp; Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe Saudi authorities said they had blocked VoIP apps in 2013 in order to &#8220;protect society&#8221; Saudi Arabia is lifting a ban on voice and video calling apps such as Skype, in a move aimed at boosting productivity and economic growth. The ministry of communications&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/09\/21\/saudi-arabia-to-lift-ban-on-internet-calls\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}