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Hacking Team is back
When you call yourself "Hacking Team," you're borrowing a legacy of persecution and suffering at the hands of legal authorities. The same kind that drove Aaron Swartz to become the most famous hacker suicide of our era. You're effectively wrapping yourself in a mantle bled into by the skins of coders and crackers who are considered criminals by wider society -- regardless of innocence. You've grafted your brandished title -- "Hacking Team" -- onto the backs of those living under the oppressive fear of being rounded up, stripped of rights, and imprisoned for vague, state-defined crimes.
SoftBank and Saudi Arabia tout the world's largest tech fund
It's normally not a big deal if a tech investment fund scores a lot of money (unless you're a startup CEO eager for cash), but the latest windfall is definitely an exception to the rule. After no shortage of hype, Sprint owner SoftBank and the Saudi Arabian government have secured their first major round for the Vision Fund, a tech investment group hoping to back "transformative technologies" ranging from biotech to communications. How major? About $93 billion dollars -- while that's not quite the $100 billion the creators are aiming for, that easily makes it the world's largest tech investment fund, not to mention the largest private equity fund. The remaining $7 billion should come by the time the Vision Fund finishes its money-raising efforts in about 6 months.
Uber snags a massive $3.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia
As a part of its latest round of funding, Uber has received what the Financial Times says is the "largest single investment ever made in a public company." That investment is a $3.5 billion chunk laid down by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, at Uber's current valuation of $62.5 billion. Uber has operated in the country since 2014, and in a statement the managing director of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al Rumayyan, noted how this is a part of the country's Vision 2030 plan to reduce dependence on oil-related industries. Rumayyan will be taking a seat on Uber's board as a part of the deal, but Uber doesn't have any specific expansion plan there right now. Also notable is the fact that women are prohibited from driving in Saudi Arabia, and Uber says they make up 80 percent of its riders there -- interesting light of of CEO Travis Kalanick's statement that "Our experience in Saudi Arabia is a great example of how Uber can benefit riders, drivers and cities and we look forward to partnering to support their economic and social reforms."
WikiLeaks follows up its Sony post with Saudi cables
Now that WikiLeaks is back to sharing secrets, it's released another cache of information. This dump comes in the form of 70,000 documents from the Saudi Foreign Ministry, which it attributes to a hack by a group calling itself the Yemeni Cyber Army (Saudi Arabia has been involved in a civil war there recently). WikiLeaks says it went through thousands of pages of scanned images released by the group and put them into its searchable database, revealing Saudi government activity to co-opt and control media worldwide with bribes and confrontations. The release also comes three years after its leader Julian Assange sought refuge in an Ecuadorian embassy, avoiding extradition to Sweden on accusations of sexual assault.
Saudi Arabia cracking down on local YouTube producers
Saudi Arabia's youngish population isn't crazy about local TV, so they've naturally turned to a substitute: YouTube. As a matter of fact, the country features three times the per-capita viewing as the US, to the point that Google reps conducted a roadshow teaching local producers how to make money. But according to the WSJ, authorities there aren't crazy about all that since they have no control over what gets posted on the "broadcast yourself" site. As a result, the kingdom is planning to regulate content produced in the country, with guidelines on alcohol, nudity and of course, wanton "drifting" videos (as shown below). It likely boils down to "security," though, as the nation has previously detained producers critical of the royal family. And that, unfortunately, is a movie we've seen before.
Flame malware snoops on PCs across the Middle East, makes Stuxnet look small-time
Much ado was made when security experts found Stuxnet wreaking havoc, but it's looking as though the malware was just a prelude to a much more elaborate attack that's plaguing the Middle East. Flame, a backdoor Windows trojan, doesn't just sniff and steal nearby network traffic info -- it uses your computer's hardware against you. The rogue code nabs phone data over Bluetooth, spreads over USB drives and records conversations from the PC's microphone. If that isn't enough to set even the slightly paranoid on edge, it's also so complex that it has to infect a PC in stages; Flame may have been attacking computers since 2010 without being spotted, and researchers at Kaspersky think it may be a decade before they know just how much damage the code can wreak. No culprit has been pinpointed yet, but a link to the same printer spool vulnerability used by Stuxnet has led researchers to suspect that it may be another instance of a targeted cyberwar attack given that Iran, Syria and a handful of other countries in the region are almost exclusively marked as targets. Even if you live in a 'safe' region, we'd keep an eye out for any suspicious activity knowing that even a fully updated Windows 7 PC can be compromised.
Web Marketplace for Windows Phone gets 22 more stamps in its passport
If you've been holed up in Thailand, waiting to browse the latest and greatest apps for your Windows Phone in your browser instead of on the device directly, then things are looking up. Microsoft has just announced that 22 new countries are being graces with their own web Marketplace. The full list covers Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. The same blog post advises that work is also underway to improve the search results delivered by the site. So you might not have to play Hungry Birds for much longer.
FaceTime goes missing in Saudi Arabia, much of Middle East
Update 9/24: It looks like the early indications may be correct. One of the UAE's carriers tweeted that FaceTime will not be available there. Update 8am Tues: Several commenters have raised points about this story, most of which fall into two categories: "I already have an iPhone in Country X and FaceTime works fine" & "I work for the cell carrier in Country Y and we're not blocking FaceTime." We appreciate the feedback, but neither of these data points is directly connected to the story. For users who already have iPhones in the affected countries, you didn't buy them there -- at least not officially -- and gray-market or unlocked phones from other regions would naturally have FaceTime. From the cell carrier perspective, 'not blocking FaceTime' is irrelevant, since FaceTime is Wi-Fi only and does not transmit over 3G. One point that may be relevant: restrictions on VoIP technology in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which could create a regulatory block for FaceTime. --- Looking forward to that new iPhone 4 in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Yemen? If the preview pages on the various international editions of Apple.com are any guide, you may be missing a key new feature. A Facebook thread from SaudiMac points out that the website graphics for all those countries, plus several others in the Middle East, have lost their FaceTime graphic. You can see the before & after versions of the Saudi site above. This adjustment to the product sites -- just ahead of the anticipated late September launch of the phone in these countries -- may represent merely a cosmetic tweak, keeping the cultural sensitivities of these largely Islamic countries in mind. Or it might mean the feature itself is going to be blocked for iPhone users there; note that it's not just the image that's changed, the current versions of the iPhone pages omit the description of FaceTime as well. We don't know yet, and although we have an email in to Apple's media relations team for comment, chances are we won't hear anything official. If you've got a line to an Apple reseller or cellphone carrier in one of the FaceTime-redacted locales, please send us a quick heads-up. Thanks Khaled
Saudi Arabia pleased by RIM's concession, says BlackBerry messaging can stay for now
The forty-eight hour deadline came and went, but Saudi Arabia didn't pull the plug -- citing a "positive development" in RIM's efforts to appease Saudi regulators, the country has allowed BlackBerry messaging services to continue for the time being. Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) didn't specify what the aforementioned "development" was, but thanks to well-placed anonymous sources we can hazard a guess: "CITC will now be able to monitor communications via messaging services," one Saudi telecom official told the Wall Street Journal, and Reuters reports that RIM will hand over BlackBerry decryption codes to the country. That's all for now, but expect this issue to bubble back to the surface again in the United Arab Emirates come October.
Kuwait wants RIM to filter BlackBerry traffic, Saudi Arabia testing three servers
The floodgates are open, and another country has washed in -- though unlike Saudi Arabia, India and the UAE, this one's not threatening a BlackBerry messaging ban... yet. Kuwait has publicly announced that it has requested RIM to deal with "moral and security concerns" -- namely, blocking pornographic websites -- and that RIM has requested four months to comply. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's deadline-driven local server tests are reportedly continuing apace; three servers, one for each national cellular carrier, must "meet the regulatory demands" of the country by Monday.
RIM averts Saudi Arabia's BlackBerry messaging ban, negotiates surrender (update: 48-hour ultimatum)
It took two long years for India to (allegedly) tap BlackBerry traffic, but Saudi Arabia may not have to wait nearly as long; the Wall Street Journal reports that RIM has all but agreed to set up a local server in the country. While we've no details yet on what the deal entails, an unnamed Saudi telecom official said negotiations are already in the final stages. Sorry, RIM, but it looks like Saudi Arabia called your bluff. We imagine the company will deny any potential for government snooping in short order... and both Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates will start planning their own attempts to wrest away control. We'll let you know where this house of cards falls. Update: Saudi Arabia has reportedly given its three national cellular carriers 48 hours to try out proposed solutions that "meet the regulatory demands" of the country, else the BlackBerry messaging ban will take effect as originally planned.
BlackBerry messaging shut down in Saudi Arabia, users feel early withdrawal pains (update: it's back)
We can't say this is exactly a surprise, but we are rather saddened to learn that Saudi Arabia has apparently carried through on its threats to shut down all BlackBerry messaging services functionality due to "security concerns." Users there are reporting that they are no longer able to use their keyboards for the jobs they were intended, forcing them to actually call friends -- with their voices. Saudi Arabia has threatened $1.3 million fines for any wireless provider that does not play nicely and, until those threats are lifted, we're thinking BBM is down for the count out there. Update: Merely hours later, service is reportedly back. Was it all just a tease? A planned outage blown our of proportion? A false sign of the Apocalypse? Only heaven knows.
RIM's Lazaridis: if goverments can't deal with the internet, 'they should shut it off'
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis has made some pretty bold statements in the past, but he may just have topped himself in responding to the recent issue of countries banning or threatening to ban BlackBerrys -- to which you can now add Indonesia to the list. Speaking with The Wall Street Journal in what's described as a "fiery" interview, Lazaridis said that "this is about the Internet," and that "everything on the Internet is encrypted. This not a BlackBerry-only issue," before adding that if "they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." But that's not all. Lazaridis further went on to saying that "we're going to continue to work with them to make sure they understand the reality of the Internet," noting that "a lot of these people don't have Ph.Ds, and they don't have a degree in computer science." Despite those statements, however, Lazaridis seems confident that the situation will get sorted out, saying that it "will get resolved if there is a chance for rational discussion."
Saudi Arabia beats UAE to the punch, BlackBerry service to be ceased by Friday
Folks in the United Arab Emirates may have until October to enjoy BBM, but neighbor Saudi Arabia isn't the patient type. According to state news agency SPA, the Communications and Information Technology Commission for the country has ordered all BlackBerry services in the country to be halted by this Friday. The reason apparently has to do with "not meet[ing] regulatory requirements," which echoes what UAE and India have said before. We probably wouldn't place bets on a regional launch for the new Torch anytime soon.
BlackBerry email, web and messaging to be banned in UAE due to 'security concerns'
Looks like those regulators over in the Middle East don't mess about. Following this week's revelation that the United Arab Emirates' telco overseers weren't happy with being unable to monitor how people were using their BlackBerrys, today we're hearing what their solution to the problem will be: an outright ban. Internet access, email and instant messaging on RIM devices will be blocked in the UAE starting this October -- provided, of course, that the Canadian phone maker doesn't do something in the meantime to appease the authorities. Saudi Arabia is similarly peeved with the BBM service, which it intends to shut down later this month. And just in case you were wondering why all this drama is taking place, the BBC cites a Saudi Telecom board member as admitting it's designed to pressure RIM into releasing users' communication data "when needed." Charming.
Microsoft confirms Natal launch in October (update: Microsoft responds)
We've heard it before, now Microsoft's Syed Bilal Tariq is repeating the October launch date for Natal. Speaking to GamerTagRadio, Microsoft's marketing manager for Saudi Arabia says that the Natal launch, "is going to be somewhere in October and we will be in a position to confirm the date at E3, which is in June, but definitely it is going to be October 2010." So there you have it. While we'd prefer to see an official press release on the topic, there's little reason to doubt what you can hear for yourselves after the break. Update: It's not as clear-cut of a statement as we'd probably, but Microsoft has responded via email, telling G4, "Syed Bilal Tariq is not a [Microsoft] employee... He is a vendor employed through a third-party company on behalf of the Microsoft subsidiary in Saudi Arabia." Sure, that downplays his realm of knowledge, but it doesn't completely discredit. No comment was given as to the October date. At least E3's a few hours closer now, right?
Wall-E becomes first Arabic-language game for current-gen consoles
We know its July 4 an we should be focusing on celebrating our country's independence by eating dead animals and/or blowing stuff up (ideally at the same time). That said, we just couldn't resist sharing this story we just stumbled upon about THQ's Wall-E being the first current-generation game to be published in Arabic for the Middle Eastern Market.Porting the game to Arabic was a no-brainer, according to THQ's Export Sales and Marketing Manager Luke Keighran. "There are only few games that would suit the Middle East's morals more than WALL???E," he told PC Magazine Middle and Near East. "The game depicts family virtues through a fun and adventurous story line." We guess that means WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 won't be seeing an Arabic port any time soon, huh?[Via GameSetWatch]
Intel developing electronic Qur'an for Saudi Arabia
In yet another move designed to expedite the adoption of networked technology in developing countries (and probably to garner some positive PR as well), semiconductor giant Intel is working with Middle Eastern software companies to create an electronic version of the Qur'an for use in Saudi Arabia. The device, known as the E-Quran, is a handheld, low-power computer similar to the Xell Bible Master B10, which contains the full text of the Islamic holy book along with audio versions in 40 languages and interactive, interpretive material. Surprisingly, the gadget also sports wireless internet connectivity, which is likely employed to send pertinent passages to other users and not for updating the content; we're no theologians, but we're pretty sure that these major religious tomes remain mostly static documents. It's worth mentioning that this is not the first time a company has chosen to target Muslims with its goods, as we've already seen cellphones that direct the user to Mecca, an illuminated prayer rug, and even a dedicated Pocket PC. What's more, this isn't even Intel's first attempt at engaging in cultural diversity: back in 2004, the company completed a three-year study detailing the unique ways in which different cultures utilize their gadgets. Besides the digital Qur'an -- being developed in conjunction with software manufacturer Dar Al Rasm Al-Othmani -- Intel is also teaming up with a company called Semanoor to build training computers for Saudi teachers as part of the E-Curriculum program. The announcement of both of these projects comes just a few weeks after Intel committed to donating several hundred of its low-cost Classmate PC laptops to the Brazilian government, pitting the Santa Clara firm against OLPC and Encore's Mobilis tablet in what has strangely become a heated battle to supply emerging markets with low-end hardware.Update: Why can't we publish one story involving religion where the comments don't devolve into hateful, prejudicial speech? Apologies to the folks who were attempting to have a thoughtful, on-topic conversation about this post, but once again a few bad apples have forced us to close commenting on the thread. All off-topic postings have been deleted.
