edged sword. It can be rewarding for those who want to benefit from it, but it can be very harmful for those misusing it. The same goes with the Internet. Like other technologies, the Internet too is not safe from misuse. Upholding Internet moral values has been a Herculean task for government agencies all over the world. The task is very daunting considering the fact that there are 4.2 million pornography websites (12% of total websites). Twenty percent of all Internet pornography involves children, and more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet every week, according to international surveys. Many countries have outlawed the distribution, purchase, or possession of Internet pornography. The Kingdom was among the first to block pornographic websites ever since the Internet was officially made available here in 1997. Mishal Al-Qadahi, head of Information Technology Services at the Telecommunications Board, cited some 75 percent of the blocked sites as sexually-oriented and said that many go beyond the purely visual. “These sites go beyond a visual experience and lead to more dangerous actual application seen in the crimes we read about concerning women and children in public places and other crimes against morality,” he said. The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) is tasked with filtering the illegal and harmful content and regulating the services that are provided by ISPs (Internet Services Providers). The Saudi government also enacted a new set of laws to criminalize the sexual exploitation through any kind of technology including the Internet. This is a fight which the authorities cannot win unless it has the support of every citizen and resident. __
