I have been doing some searching around this afternoon, trying to discover why Blogger has blocked access to the Saudi weblog http://christforsaudi.blogspot.com which I referred to yesterday. If you click on the link, you get the following message...
I can understand why the Saudi government would try to block access to this weblog where a Saudi citizen tells of his conversion to Christianity from Islam. But I wonder why Blogger (which is run by Google) is blocking access to the site as well for the rest of the world, stating that it is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service? I would be curious to know what terms Google thinks this young Christian violated apart from running afoul of the Saudi government ? I cannot even get any cached versions of this site. It is totally locked down.
Google, of course, leaves its options open in Section 10 of its Terms of Service by stating, "Google may, in its sole discretion, at any time and for any reason, terminate the Service, terminate this Agreement, or suspend or terminate your account." Is this loophole that they can slip through when a totalitarian government leans on them for blogs that they would like to see shut down? Might be worth asking Google about. Why not log on to a discussion on the Blogger Help Group that is asking this very question?
Be civil, please. Let's see if Blogger/Google will give someone an answer. If you do get some sort of response, please be sure to post it here. Thanks
Thanks for bringing this to our attention and great to see a discussion on Google - now, let's hope Googles has some answers. Sad to think a Western media business who build their business on free and open speech might be bowing to pressure from a totalitarian gov't on the issue of freedom of speech/freedom of religion.
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