RIYADH - Citizens should do more to help the government monitor use of the Internet to help fight militancy, intelligence chief Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz said on Saturday. "We want to teach citizens how to monitor things on the Internet ... mum and dad must pay attention to their kids," he told reporters, ahead of a conference on information technology and national security next week.
Prince Muqrin said the intelligence agency would also set up a web site where citizens can, anonymously, share their suspicions about militant activity.
Next week's conference marks the first time the intelligence services have joined in the government's public campaign against extremism.
In March, the Cabinet approved the Cyber Crime Act.
Convicted cyber criminals can face fines in the millions of riyals under the new law, although individual fines vary with the severity of the cyber-crime.
The Act includes several laws against hacking, which includes "gaining unauthorized access to a web site, changing its look or design, shutting it down, or sabotaging, modifying or stealing the address of that web site." The law also prohibits intruding on other peoples' privacy through misusing or abusing camera phones "with intent of libel or malice through the use of various information technologies."
The worst penalty stipulates a punishment of a maximum jail term of 10 years and/or a maximum fine of SR5 million against anyone who builds or publishes a web site for a terrorist group "to facilitate communicating their ideas or making explosives."
By Shahid Ali Khan
© The Saudi Gazette 2007
