Information about internet censorship in Dubai and blocked websites in UAE. Etisalat and Du operate internet services in the UAE (Internet Service Provider - ISP) and block websites under instruction from the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) in the UAE. If an attempt is made to access a website that has content contrary to the moral, ethical, cultural, and/or religious values of the UAE, then a message appears saying “Access to this site is currently blocked. The site falls under the Prohibited Content Categories of the UAE’s Internet Access Management Policy.”
UAE internet website blocked message
The list of Prohibited Content Categories (as of August 2008) is:
- Internet Content for Bypassing Blocked Content
- Internet Content for Learning Criminal Skills
- Dating Internet Content
- Internet Content for Illegal Drugs
- Internet Content containing Pornography and Nudity
- Gambling Internet Content
- Internet Content for Hacking and Malicious Codes (Exceptions: Information security including ethical hacking)
- Internet Content that are offensive to Religions
- Phishing Internet Content
- Internet Content that downloads Spyware
- Internet Content providing Unlicensed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service
- Terrorism Internet Content
- Prohibited Top Level Domain (TLD)
The prohibited TLD probably included .il for Israel but as of sometime in 2009, access in Dubai and the UAE to .il domains and websites has been lifted (unless the site falls into one of the other categories).
Any websites that are blocked that don’t make sense (leave out the www when posting a reply)? For example
- uaeprison.com
- mafiwasta.com (accessible in 2009?)
- archive.org (access restrictions lifted in 2009?)
- google.com (when searching for terms like casino, gambling)
- wikipedia.org (some articles - the one about Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is a particularly odd example)