The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has fined telephone companies approximately SR66 million for sending unsolicited bulk text messages - spam - to mobile telephones. Dhaifallah Al-Zahrani, Deputy Governor for Legal Affairs at the CITC, said that the Commission had enacted an organizational framework for communications service providers under which “they are not permitted to send out promotional messages to users without their permission”. “We have received a large number of complaints, and fines of over SR66 million have been given to companies found in breach,” Al-Zahrani said. Al-Zahrani cited the figure among others related to the work of the Commission, which is responsible for issuing licenses, monitoring performance and protecting the interests of users of public telecommunications and internet services. “The CITC receives per day requests to block 1,000 pornographic websites and 300 requests for sites to be unblocked, 94 percent of them pornographic,” Al-Zahrani said. “During last year's school examination period we received 5,000 requests a day, to block and unblock pornographic sites. Al-Zahrani said that targeting minors was a crime under the Information Technology Law. “I would ask parents to keep an eye on their children to protect them from going off the rails, and from people who exploit the weak,” he said. Of concern to many is the issue of bank information theft, and Al-Zahrani said that research had revealed some interesting facts. “From investigations into a large number of crimes related to bank information theft it transpired that most were committed by immediate relations of the victim from within the family home,” Al-Zahrani said. He appealed to account holders and bank users who conduct operations over the internet to refrain from accessing sites through previously saved links and to not save sensitive bank information on computers. On email theft, Al-Zahrani said that there was “not enough staff to cope with the number of requests for emails to be returned”. “We are going to set up a center to periodically provide government departments with information on persons who have penetrated them whenever that should occur,” he said. “The CITC regards electronic mail as official documents to which the same laws apply as traditional mail.” The CITC, he said, has also conducted undercover visits to service provider companies to ensure they are complying with regulations concerning the confidentiality of user information and privacy laws. On future plans of the Commission, Al-Zahrani said that it was looking to offer jobs to former website hackers who had gone back on their ways, in order to “use their skills to positive effect”. It has also started providing training on information security for government staff, with 20,000 having already taken courses. “The CITC also plans to work with security authorities to put an end to persons selling unregistered SIM cards, and service provider companies have been fined for infractions and over one million users have been cut off from services,” he said. A three-year media campaign is also planned to be launched towards the end of the year to promote awareness of the dangers of information technology-related crimes. “We will also be running awareness courses at universities,” Al
