Saudi Edict Bans Mobile Phone Cameras
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has issued an edict barring the use of cell phones with built-in cameras, blaming them for "spreading obscenity" - a final resort after a ban on their sale and import to the kingdom failed to dent their popularity.    Camera cell phones have caught on fast throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East, particularly in oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, prompting concerns about privacy in places where people undress, "theft" of reading materials at book stores and newsstands, and corporate espionage by employees...
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Cambodia's leading mobile phone network has launched 3G services but dropped a videophone feature that Prime Minister Hun Sen banned to stop the spread of pornography.
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Greece's education ministry has banned mobile phones in schools in response to a flurry of cases where pupils used their cells to film sexual activity and violent behaviour.
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(InfoWorld) - The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday. The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday in the night of March 3, 1991. The officers' acquittal at the end on April 29, 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles. If Holliday were to film a similar scene of violence in France today, he could end up in prison as a result of the new law, said Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi. And anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of â¬75,000 ($98,537), potentially a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act. Senators and members of the National Assembly had asked the council to rule on the constitutionality of six articles of the Law relating to the prevention of delinquency. The articles dealt with information sharing by social workers, and reduced sentences for minors. The council recommended one minor change, to reconcile conflicting amendments voted in parliament. The law, proposed by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, is intended to clamp down on a wide range of public order offenses. During parliamentary debate of the law, government representatives said the offense of filming or distributing films of acts of violence targets the practice of "happy slapping," in which a violent attack is filmed by an accomplice, typically with a camera phone, for the amusement of the attacker's friends. The broad drafting of the law so as to criminalize the activities of citizen journalists unrelated to the perpetrators of violent acts is no accident, but rather a deliberate decision by the authorities, said Cohet. He is concerned that the law, and others still being debated, will lead to the creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet. The government has also proposed a certification system for Web sites, blog hosters, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers, identifying them as government-approved sources of information if they adhere to certain rules. The journalists' organization Reporters Without Borders, which campaigns for a free press, has warned that such a system could lead to excessive self censorship as organizations worried about losing their certification suppress certain stories.
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Illegal stunts in cars, joyriding,  bullying and political dissent -- video-sharing Web site  YouTube has taken off in Saudi Arabia.
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JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 30 -- Buoyed by recent advances in women's rights, advocates for the right of women to drive in Saudi Arabia -- the only country in the world that prohibits female drivers -- say they believe the ban will be lifted this year.
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Saudi authorities decide to end a ban on unaccompanied women staying in hotels.
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The United Nations imposed sanctions Thursday on two Saudi activists accused of ties to al-Qaida and the leader of a Muslim extremist group in the Philippines. It also dropped the punitive measures against a Jordanian who claims he was Osama bin Laden's bodyguard.
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Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a male guardian according to decision by the Ministry of Trade, reported the local press Monday.
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The Indonesian government has quietly imposed a ban on foreign journalists traveling to provinces it fears could be at risk of breaking away, as well as to several other areas that have been conflict zones in the past, officials said.
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The Pakistani government has barred journalists from certain areas of its Parliament House, as part of a move to limit the media.
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A United Nations human rights body called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to immediately end its system of male guardianship which it said severely limits the basic freedoms of women in the kingdom.
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French officials are banned from using BlackBerry smartphones for national security reasons.
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Driving while using hand-held mobile phones is outlawed with motorists facing fines and penalty points.
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Mobile phone makers need to protect people from peeping toms and blackmailers who use built-in cameras to take secret pictures, campaigners said today.
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Saudi security forces thwarted planned  protest marches in the kingdom's two main cities on Thursday,  deploying in force in the capital Riyadh and arresting at least  a dozen people in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.
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Sale of red roses and red gifts has been banned by Saudi Arabia's religious police in the run-up to Valentine's Day, reports a local newspaper