Saudi Arabia mulls banning Skype

Saudi Arabia is looking at a potential block of services including WhatsApp, Skype and Viber that allow VOiP, messaging and real-time chat according to the country’s official press agency (via CNET).


The potential service blockage is a response to these apps not adhering to regulatory requirements put in place by the Saudi Arabian government, and seems to mirror the trouble BlackBerry had with its own BBM offering back in 2010, Techcrunch.com reported.


While the Saudi authorities don’t come right out and say it, the reason behind this new ban, as with the previous BlackBerry ban, is that Skype, Viber and WhatsApp don’t allow their customers’ exchanges to be monitored by government agencies.


Saudi Arabian blogger Eman Al-Nafjan has told CNN that the move is not surprising, but that it will also ultimately be ineffective in achieving the Saudi government’s goals, even if these specific app-makers comply. As with BlackBerry before it, Al-Nafjan said that people who want to keep their communications private will simply recognize that WhatsApp, Skype and Viber are no long completely secure communication platforms, if they make changes to adhere to the Saudi Arabian regulations, and move on to other tools. So long as the Internet itself remains available and open, users with a political agenda will find a way to communicated securely.