Archive | August, 2004

3rd session of parliament shaping up very nicely…

MPs seek clamp on phone pornography

By MOHAMMED AL A’ALI

MPs are calling for a new law to combat untraceable pornographic broadcasts between mobile phones.

Girls are reportedly being harassed by youths misusing the Bluetooth technology now available in some mobiles.

Bluetooth can trace any similar receiver phone within 10 metres and transmit to it without dialling up the number.

These means pictures can be broadcast without leaving any trace of who sent them, said parliament’s foreign affairs, defence and national economy committee vice-chairman Abdulla Al Dossari.

He is proposing a new law to combat the misuse of such facilities, which can also operate from personal computers.

Mr Al Dossari is planning to submit the proposal next week to parliament chairman Khalifa Al Dhahrani.

Mr Al Dossari, who is also Independent Bloc spokesman, told the GDN yesterday that the wording of the proposal was being carefully studied by the bloc’s legal adviser and would be hopefully ready by tomorrow.

“I have come up with the idea after receiving several complaints from families saying that their daughters were being harassed by young men who send them pornographic material using Bluetooth,” he said.

“Others have also complained about pictures and clips of their daughters being spread through mobile phones, without any trace of their origin.

“It is hard to know who sends these picture and clip messages, since dialling up the receiver isn’t needed.

“Most cases have been reported to have happened in malls, restaurants and event at Bahrain University.” Mr Al Dossari said that he was not proposing banning Bluetooth, just regulating its use.

“Everyone acknowledges the vital role technology plays in people’s lives today, but it needs to be monitored to ensure people don’t misuse it,” he said.

“Batelco has thankfully helped trace many people who were misusing the Internet, by identifying the location of the transmission, since it is being done through a phone number.”

But he said it was hard to catch those who misuse Bluetooth, since no one knows who is sending the information, or from where.

“Bluetooth is now available amongst half of Bahrain’s population and its use has become so common,” said Mr Al Dossari.

He said he hoped the proposed law would help protect people’s privacy and combat indecency.

“A similar law has been introduced last week in Kuwait and we hope that our government will do the same,” said Mr Al Dossari.

GDN Aug 31st, 2004

Ah what fun… trying to control technology, trying to control the untraceable, and adding a veneer of religiousity to it as well. Very nice. Can we expect anything from these carpetbaggers other than what has happened in the last two sessions?

I for one can’t wait for the next elections.

The death of Al-Wefaq?

Not everyone is happy [arabic] with the totalitarian board of Al-Wefaq, so much so that some of their leading lights are deserting and wanting to start another political society. One of these is Dr. Nizar Al-Baharna who is so far insisting on starting a political society to be called “Justice and Progress.”

Dr. Nizar resigned from the board of directors of Al-Wefaq Islamic Action Society recently after struggling for 3 years to get them to accept “opposing views” yet his trials came to naught, hence, he resigned and is starting another society, which reportedly will include a number of ex-Wefaqis.

Dr. Nizar was the Dean of Engineering at the University of Bahrain for some time, he now owns and chairs a computer consultancy company and has a string of academic achievements behind him. He is well respected in the society, especially that his father was an MP in the 1975-dissolved parliament and his uncle is also politically active. Al-Baharna family are well known here and are merchants and landlords.

I wish him all the luck in this new adventure, and hope that the society he is in the process of forming will be first and foremost concerned with Bahraini matters, be non-sectarian, and very importantly less confrontational than Al-Wefaq, and concentrates on really developing and raising the political scene in Bahrain, rather than throw more fuel on various sectarian fires.

This could be the first nail in Al-Wefaq’s coffin. I sure hope that more will follow!

Ali’s QuixotiQ Writings

The web journal of the first ever Bahraini writer of English fiction and author of the novel QuixotiQ. In the journal Ali speaks of his journey in literature and towards becoming a published Arab author, one of the very few to write fiction directly in English.

Ali Salman on the march…

Bahrainâ€™s top Shi’i leaders said yesterday that they would march to Najaf and protect it if Iraqâ€™s highest Shi’i leader, Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, called upon Muslims to join efforts to end the fighting and bring peace back to the city.

Sheikh Ali Salman, an opposition leader and spokesman for the organizers, said Shi’i leaders were prepared to march in a peaceful protest to Najaf to end the bloodbath that continued for more than three weeks if Ayatollah Al-Sistani called upon them to join him. â€œWhat is taking place in the holy city and Iraq in general is a provocation to the Muslimsâ€™ feelings around the world,â€? he said.

Al-Jazeera

Is this guy a Bahraini, Iraqi, or what? Where does his loyalties lie? What business is it of his to interfere in another country? So if the revered Al-Sistani suddenly orders the Shi’a to topple their governments will this guy lead the “Jihad” and try to topple ours?

While I realise and accept that the holy Shi’a or any other Muslim religious site is sacrosanct and belongs to all Muslims, this guy is taking it too far.

This demonstrates WHY the ruling families in this area cannot trust the Shi’as, this situation and this guy demonstrate that his – and probably most of his followers’ – loyalty lie somewhere else. Under the guise of protecting sacred sites of course.