Online communities versus offline communities in the Arab/Muslim world

The Internet was introduced in Saudi Arabia1 in late January 1999 after a long period of discussion and consultation within the Saudi authorities. These resulted in a tailored version being made available to the Saudi public. To enable this, a huge filter system was set up in Riyadh in conjunction with an American company. The reason for having such a filter system was that the Saudi authorities had serious concerns about the arrival of undesirable material (including pornography) on home computer screens. Other cultural, religious and political reasons also lay behind the decision. Currently there are 1.9 million Internet users in the country (Alriyadh, 2003), which is about 10% of the total population. According to a recent study, of this 1.9 million, 51% participate in asynchronous online communities (JeddahNews.net, 2004). The use of online communities, in a country where Islam acts as a primary force in determining social norms, values and practices, is disrupting long-established traditions, enabling the mixing of the genders, and making people aware of different ways of living. Info, Comm & Ethics in Society (2004) 2: 41–54 © 2004 Troubador Publishing Ltd.