<div dir="ltr">Thanks Milton.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 7:01 AM, Milton L Mueller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mueller@syr.edu" target="_blank">mueller@syr.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">Fahd:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">Thanks for the response. Here is my response.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Two points here:<u></u><u></u></p>
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I would have preferred to say "Some Saudi Citizens" (or any other appropriate phrasing) since the comments made do not reflect the opinion of the Saudi government
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</div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">[Milton L Mueller] Yes, it is the official spokesperson of the KSA, or at least someone claiming to
be a spokesperson for the Kingdom.</span></i></b></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I can guarantee you that the person is claiming to be a spokesperson of the KSA government and is commenting at his personal capacity. I have read his comments, and I would never agree less that the style of commenting is unprofessional to be submitted in the name of a government.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">Once the many TLDs that they have commented on - and I have too - are delegated and active, it is a matter of a simple rule on the "Great Saudi Arabian Firewall" (mind you with the term since it is always used
for the Chinese Firewall) to block them all.<span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">[Milton L Mueller] Yes, I understand that KSA has a strict censorship regime. I just don’t understand how they can believe they ought
to impose it on the rest of the world.</span></i></b></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div>Well, they are good friends of the West, so they have the liberty to say and try to enforce what they believe to be right. I have to KSA several times, and I can assure you that their censorship rules can easily be bypassed by proxy servers and VPNs, and the government does not crack down on those who do so.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">The Saudi's - and for that matter many Muslims around the world - see these kind of TLDs as violating to the basics of the Islamic religion. Islam rejects pornography, trans-sexuality, gay/lesbianism... and
any other form of sexual act that almost every religion in this planet opposes to.<span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">[Milton L Mueller] It is fine for followers of the Islamic religion to urge its adherents to reject these things. It is not acceptable
for either side to attempt to use the force of the state to ban discussion or symbolic recognition of those practices on a global basis.</span></i></b></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div>True. But there is always no harm in speaking out. Some find strength when speaking out at a personal capacity, while others find strength when speaking at a governmental level. In some parts of the Arab world - unfortunately, people feel empowered when claiming to speak on behalf of their respective governments (they think they claims will be met by doing so) while in fact their respective governments do not know about the whole issue.</div>
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<div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">Muslims need to learn the wisdom of tolerance – just as do the Christians in my country who try to prevent peaceful Muslims
from building mosques in their community. Remember, some people reject Islam – so would they be justified in trying to object to or ban any mention of Islam in a TLD? Remember too that some people reject religion, i.e. are atheists.</span></i></b></p>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div>When we oppose to something, Islam teaches us to try change it physically (not through violence - mind you), and if not possible, via speaking out, and if not possible, by keeping ones silence. One might not understand this statement as it is applied in the Islamic world until one experiences it personally.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I do agree though that Muslims must learn the wisdom of tolerating and focusing more on the bigger picture. I have had these discussions several times with high caliber figures, but they are never convinced. This is why I believe the West have excelled in progressing forward while we are following behind.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">P.S. I am not trying to get into any religious debates here, but I am trying to explain the views and concerns of the comments comming out of Saudi Arabia and many other Arab/Muslim countries. I myself being
a father would strongly oppose to my kids being exposed to such TLDs at their tender young age.<span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#1f497d">[Milton L Mueller] First, it is not the TLDs you are concerned about it is the content they harbor. Second, as a father it is your
responsibility to watch out for what your kids are exposed to. Third, this material is already on the internet. Blocking TLDs will not change that.<u></u><u></u></span></i></b></p>
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</blockquote></div>I agree, but this is part of the story. In order to ensure safer surfing to our kids, we have to slice-and-dice them all. For example, I can control my kids when they surf the Internet at home, but can I control them when they are off to their friends house? This is where ensuring a clean Internet ecosystem comes to place. Finding pornographic content under a .xxx (or any other porn content) is easier than finding them under any other non-porno TLDs.<div>
<br></div><div>BTW, I am against censoring the Internet by any means. It is us as humans that must decide what acts we conduct.<br><div><br></div><div>Fahd</div></div></div>