Saudi Arabia joins league of BoingBoing-deprived nations

BoingBoing is blocked in the UAE, Qatar, and elsewhere. The presumed cause: in an update to its SmartFilter and Bess censorware products last week, Secure Computing blacklisted BoingBoing.net in a category populated by porn sites.

But today, we learn that another happy-fun-democracy joined the league of BoingBoing-deprived nations: so long, Saudi Arabia! We're blocked in your fair land, too. Above, a screenshot of what you'd see if you try to access our url by way of a Saudi ISP. Link to more info (Thanks FL).

- Internet filtering isn't just for mideast regimes. Since February 28, we've received many emails from readers in the United States who work at companies including Dell, Prudential, American Express, Fidelity Investments, and Halliburton, as well as libraries, academic institutions, and US government sites -- each reporting that Secure Computing's new "nudity" categorization has rendered this blog inaccessible.

- Stuck behind an internet filter? We've been updating our "HOWTO defeat censorware" resource page daily with tips. We welcome help with mirroring the information so folks who can't access the page because of 'net filters can still get to the info. It's not a wiki (yet), but "defeat censorware" is a living document, so expect many updates over time.

- While we don't know which internet filtering product/s is/are to blame in other cases, we're hearing that several other blogs with large audiences, including Wonkette, have just become inaccessible for many fans (including active duty US Marines overseas, hooray freedom!). Censorware is a blunt tool that renders harmless information inaccessible, and fails to prevent "bad stuff" from leaking in. The economic and social impact of internet filtering is a much bigger story than the fact that BoingBoing or Wonkette are blocked -- but if products like SmartFilter dump blogs that post Michelangelo's "David" in the same sandbox as porn sites, just how smart can these products really be? (Thanks, Dan Dadmun)

- Filter this! Censorware scofflaws who've posted an image of David on their blogs -- an offense Secure Computing tells us merits blacklisting as a "nudity" site -- include Wil Wheaton, Mark Pesce, Emmanuelle Richard, AtomicElroy, and Jason Turgeon. If you join that reader-suggested campaign, do tell us. We'll update this post with a list.

Previously:

- BoingBoing banned in UAE, Qatar, elsewhere. Our response to net-censors: Get bent!
- ISPs in Iran, Tunisia also use SmartFilter (which blocks BoingBoing as "nudity"
- Stick Michelangelo's "David" on your blog to protest censorware
- BoingBoing now censored in the UAE (and elsewhere)
- Argonne National Laboratory is blocking Boing Boing