Saudi Arabia Now Forcing News Bloggers to Obtain Licenses, Promote Islam

Well, of course they are. If our government had their way, US bloggers would have to be licensed, too (with a fee tax paid to the Government, to boot) and restricted in our criticism of Congress (and probably of Islam, too).

Via Fast Company (via a h/t from my colleague Colin):

The Middle Eastern kingdom has just enacted one of the world’s most stringent sets of blogging regulations: Non-citizens can’t write about news, chat room users are encouraged to register with the government, and everyone needs to be very careful about religion.

Saudi Arabia has enacted stringent new regulations forcing some bloggers to obtain government licenses and to strongarm others into registering. In addition, all Saudi news blogs and electronic news sites will now be strictly licensed, required to “include the call to the religion of Islam” and to strictly abide by Islamic sharia law. The registration and religion requirements are also being coupled with strict restrictions on what topics Saudi bloggers can write on–a development which will essentially give Saudi authorities the right to shut down blogs at their discretion.