Saudi mobile carriers ban SMS voting for Arab reality show

While wireless carriers in the United States battle to outdo one another by offering customers the most possible features, carriers in cameraphone-wary Saudi Arabia fight to gain market share by offering less services than the competition. Mobile operator Mobily recently joined industry powerhouse Saudi Telecommunications Co. in banning users from SMS voting for the popular Arab talent competition "Star Academy," where single men and scantily-clad women co-habitate Real World-style while they vie for the top spot. Although this year's winner in fact came from Saudi Arabia, the mobile carriers cite a religious fatwa that condemned the show as immoral as their rationale here, and Reuters is reporting that Saudi chatroom users have actually been praising the bans. Although we certainly couldn't deal with their 3G censorship nonsense, this voting ban is one encroachment on civil liberties that we wouldn't mind having right here in America, where it could portend an early demise for that shreakfest that Fox makes us watch three times a week.

[Via BoingBoing]