It's not a flaw, it's a feature

Emirates Today reports:

“The solution to what our children see will not be by monitoring published material but by education that starts at home,” said Abdullatif Al Sayegh, Chief Executive of Arab Media Group. “The internet blockage rate [of unwanted material] in the UAE has reached 40 per cent. That is among the highest in the world.” Al Sayegh’s remarks came at a conference on Emirates Media Freedom at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.

Delegates debated what the Emirates should expect from its media – the employment of nationals, levels of censorship and freedom of expression – and educating the next generation about how to benefit from the media.

Jaber Obaid, manager of Emirates Media Radio, said: “There has not been one single study on the extent of freedom of speech in the UAE.”

Most of the blocked material is images and videos. Internet service is already slow due to due capacity. Just imagine what service would be like if there was great access to material? Censorship could be increasing the value of the service to users not interested in that material.

Blocking. It's not a flaw, it's a feature.