Gulf Today: Plans for ‘Arab Digital Union’ announced. “‘The Arab Digital Union is a dream that has long been in the making,’ said Dr Tarek Shawky. ‘It will offer a platform aggregating content from three Arab countries and forming the basis for a prominent pan-Arab content bank – a larger version of our Egyptian Knowledge Bank – disseminating knowledge to all Arabs.’ The Egyptian Knowledge Bank is one of the largest national education projects in Egypt. It houses the largest digital library and online knowledge hub, providing access to free education and scientific publications, in addition to contributing to the production and dissemination of knowledge to Egyptian universities, institutes, and research centres.”
Saudi Arabia
MIT Technology Review: Online censorship in Saudi Arabia soared after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder
MIT Technology Review: Online censorship in Saudi Arabia soared after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. “The number of websites being censored in Saudi Arabia doubled a couple of weeks after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the country’s consulate in Istanbul, according to an initiative that tracks internet censorship. While the increased censorship is not surprising, the results show how skillful automated tracking has become at sniffing out repression.”
AP News: In online ruse, fake journalists tried to hack Saudi critic
AP News: In online ruse, fake journalists tried to hack Saudi critic. “Hackers impersonating journalists tried to intercept the communications of a prominent Saudi opposition figure in Washington, The Associated Press has found. One attempt involved the fabrication of a fake BBC secretary and an elaborate television interview request; the other involved the impersonation of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi to deliver a malicious link.”
CNET: Twitter employee may have spied on users for Saudis, says report
CNET: Twitter employee may have spied on users for Saudis, says report. “Western intelligence officials notified Twitter that an employee had been co-opted by Saudi Arabia several years ago to spy on the accounts of users critical of the government, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Officials alerted Twitter to the alleged Saudi mole in late 2015, prompting the company to investigate, according to the Times report, which cited anonymous sources.”
Exclusive: Twitter pulls down bot network that pushed pro-Saudi talking points about disappeared journalist (NBC News)
NBC News: Exclusive: Twitter pulls down bot network that pushed pro-Saudi talking points about disappeared journalist. “Twitter suspended a network of suspected Twitter bots on Thursday that pushed pro-Saudi Arabia talking points about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the past week.”
Reuters: Google latest to withdraw from Saudi conference
Reuters: Google latest to withdraw from Saudi conference. “Pressure has mounted on Saudi Arabia since prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi policies, went missing. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23.”
Arab News: Saudi national library of film-shooting sites launched
Arab News: Saudi national library of film-shooting sites launched. “The General Authority for Culture, represented by the Saudi Film Council, has launched the first national library of film-shooting sites in the Kingdom.”
