Communications and Information Technology Commission (Saudi Arabia)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Communications and Information Technology Commission
(CITC)
هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات
Agency overview
Headquarters Riyadh Saudi Arabia
Coordinates: 24°44′56″N 46°41′18″E / 24.74889°N 46.68833°E / 24.74889; 46.68833
Agency executive
  • DAbdulaziz Bin Salem Al Ruwais, Governor
Website http://www.citc.gov.sa

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) (Arabic: هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات‎, Hai'at al-Ittisalat wa Tiqniyyat al-Ma`lumat) is the Saudi communications authority. It was first established under the name of Saudi Communications Commission in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers. The name was changed after the Commission was assigned new tasks related to information technology. Since October 2006, CITC has been handling the DNS structure and filtering in Saudi Arabia in the place of KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology).[1]

Censorship

The Communications and Information Technology Commission is responsible for regulating the Internet and for hosting a firewall which blocks access to thousands of websites, mainly due to sexual and political content. Access to Megaupload has been intermittently blocked by the Internet authorities in Saudi Arabia. Censoring of many Arabic and English Wikipedia articles has also been repeatedly reported.

References

  1. ↑ "Communication and Information Technology Commission, Saudi Arabia, Annual Report 2005" (PDF) (Press release). Communication and Information Technology Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
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