Saudi Arabia has implemented an electronic tracking system to monitor women and inform their husbands if they leave the country.

According to an Agence France-Press story, a new system implemented last week sends Saudi husbands text messages from the Saudi immigration agency when their wives are flying out of King Khaled International Airport, near Riyahd. Women are not allowed to leave the country without signed permission from their husbands.

Saudi Arabia, which ranked second worst in a Thomson Reuters global survey on women’s rights in mid 2012,  is a notoriously repressive country. Women are banned from driving, required to have a male guardian, just received the right to vote in municipal elections last year, and must cover most of their bodies, traditionally with a burqa or niqab.

“Women and girls in Saudi Arabia are treated as perpetual minors living under male guardianship all their lives – with restrictions on employment, political participation, travel, education, and healthcare,” Yasmeen Hassan, global director of Equality Now, told Trust.org in response to that survey.

Source: Wikipedia

Saudi woman in niqab

Women being denied the right to leave the country without the permission of their husbands is nothing new, though this tracking technology is. But there are no details in the AFP story or any of the other breaking stories on how exactly the Saudi authorities are doing it.

Based on the limited information available, it may not be a tracking system that uses physical devices such as — and I know this is an awful comparison — a LoJack car-tracking system, which would require a significant infrastructure and ramp-up time for distribution of hardware. It sounds like a simpler system at borders and airports whereby immigration authorities ascertain a woman’s identity, look up her husband in a database, and text him manually or via an automated system.

UPDATE: based on the new local report, this is exactly how the system works.

Which is still, of course, appalling to Western mores and requires a government database that matches up women with male guardians — usually husbands or fathers.

Commentators on Twitter are reacting to the news, some, including Ruwayda Mustafah, a female Kurdish activist/commentator, with despair:

Why can't Saudi Arabia do something for women for once where we can actually be proud of it? Instead of the constant humiliation.

—
Ruwayda Mustafah (@RuwaydaMustafah) November 22, 2012

photo credit: zilverbat. via photopin cc

Renewable energy, especially solar, is making inroads into the U.S. power grid, but it’s a very slow process.

And especially in the wake of the Solyndra collapse, it’s one fraught with political wrangling.

But there’s another country that plans to invest heavily in solar power, hoping to provide fully 30 percent of its energy needs from the sun in just 20 years.

That country is…Saudi Arabia.

Yes, the conservative kingdom and longtime U.S. ally wants to cut its own oil use.

Today, Saudi Arabia burns 850 million barrels of oil a year. That represents almost a third of its total production.

Later this year, the nation is expected to approve very ambitious plans for a massive array of renewable energy projects. The first installations should be completed next year.

The goal within two decades is for the country to have 25,000 megawatts of electricity coming rom solar-thermal plants, which use huge mirror arrays to focus sunshine into a concentrated ray that heats fluid into steam to drive turbine generators.

It also expects to create 16,000 megawatts of capacity using large arrays of photovoltaic solar cells, which are slowly but consistently falling in price as more production capacity comes online–particularly in China, which has made the industry a government priority.

Saudi Arabia also plans to add an additional 21,000 megawatts from other non-oil sources, including geothermal, wind, and nuclear plants.

The entire plan is expected to cost $109 billion, for which the country is seeking investment partners.

Industry analysts say the country can earn a healthy return on the investment by displacing a third of the oil it now consumes and selling that on the open market.

In other words, one of our major sources of imported oil thinks that spending more than $100 billion to cut its own oil consumption is a good deal–because we’ll pay them more than that for the oil they don’t use.

The next time U.S. drivers pay $4 a gallon or more for gasoline, that may be worth keeping in mind.

This story originally appeared on GreenCarReports.com, one of VentureBeat’s syndication partners.

Solar panels photo via Shutterstock

The attack came in retaliation to a group of Saudi hackers, called “nightmare group”, shutting down the Tel Aviv stock exchange website and Israeli airline El Al’s website on Monday. These attacks are part of ongoing occurrences between several groups of Arab and Israeli hackers who have been hacking and releasing Facebook data and email account information over the last few weeks.

One member of IDF-Team took to pastebin to post about the motivations behind the attack and to deliver a warning to Arab hackers:

Because lame hackers from Saudi Arabia decided to launch an attack against Israeli sites such as the airport site “EL-AL” and sites of Israeli banks, today, 01/17/12, Official stock exchange site of Saudi Arabia at the following address http://www.adx.ae not be available online and is only the beginning, in addition there may be disruption to the government’s stock exchange site at the following: http://www.sama.gov.sa/ If the lame attacks from Saudi Arabia will continue, we will move to the next level which will disable these sites longer term may come to weeks or even months. You have been warned.

It looks like the Middle East beginning to wage a cyber war, with both sides ready to release hacked information to the masses. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few weeks; perhaps this is the future of conflict in the Middle East.

Yup, that’s right. The country’s oil minister confirmed Saudi Arabia’s solar ambitions last year and said the country has the potential to export power, not just oil. So far it seems to be moving on that promise. The Saudi Arabia-South Korea joint venture Polysilicon Technology Co. said this week it had signed a $380 million deal to build a $1.5 billion plant for manufacturing polysilicon, which is used in solar panels.

Saudi Arabian solar, however, looks like it’s a part of an overall oil strategy. The country wants to diversify its energy portfolio with solar and nuclear. By reducing its need to burn oil for electricity, it can preserve more oil for money-making exports, Reuters writes.

A handful of foreign companies have moved on solar opportunities in Saudi Arabia so far. Last year, SolFocus announced it would build the first and largest concentrated photovoltaic solar system in Saudi Arabia, delivering around 300 megawatt-hours of energy. Japanese thin-film solar company Solar Frontier will also provide 10 megawatts in a solar installation for a car park.

While renewable energy enthusiasts and companies often talk about cleantech as a way to end use of oil and fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia’s approach shows that in reality, the two are becoming complementary.

In fact, solar is being used to extract oil. This week GlassPoint said using solar to generate steam had become economical enough that the company was deploying it at its oilfields, where solar-generated steam is pumped into wells to help extract oil. BrightSource Energy is also deploying a similar solar steam approach at a Chevron oilfield, where it is expected to lower the cost of generating steam and thus result in cheaper oil, Greentech Media reports.

The renewable-fossil fuels crossover stretches to the area of energy efficiency. Other companies that have won investment lately aim to make the extraction and refining of fossil fuels more efficient. NEOS GeoSolutions, which has the backing of Bill Gates and Goldman Sachs, uses geophysical sensors and data analysis to determine the best areas to drill for oil and natural gas. (The use of sensors and data analysis is becoming increasingly common and important in the area of energy efficiency and management among cleantech companies). Rive Technologies makes oil-refining catalysts that help refiners squeeze more yield out of crude oil, and the technology could one day be applied to biofuels.

The UAE is the first of a number of countries to directly resolve its dispute with Research in Motion. India gave the BlackBerry creator two months to provide the country with some way to tap into corporate email accounts before it executes its own ban. Saudi Arabia let the deadline for its ban on the service slide without major incident. The ban on the BlackBerry service in the UAE was set to begin on Monday.

The UAE was a particularly notable holdout, as one of its emirates, Dubai, is among the largest business hubs in the world. The ban would have blocked out the service for business travelers heading to Dubai and other parts of the UAE.

Representatives from the UAE said a deal had been reached between the government and Research in Motion to make its devices compliant with local government laws, according to a report by the Associated Press. It wasn’t clear what concessions the BlackBerry provider made to government officials, but the wording of the agreement suggested it was a permanent one, the report stated.

The ban emerged after a handful of countries demanded that Research in Motion provide a way for government officials to tap into the BlackBerry service to view corporate email and messages. Research in Motion has stated before that it has no way to decrypt the data that goes through its network via corporate email accounts and so is unable to provide governments with the actual data. Research in Motion has maintained that individual governments would need to request the encryption keys for the data directly from companies.

Investors took the news as a positive, sending Research in Motion’s shares up 2.6 percent to $49.15 as of 10:30 PST.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Research in Motion avoided a ban today on its BlackBerry services in India by beginning a 60-day security test to see whether Indian officials can tap its BlackBerry Messenger and enterprise email services.

Indian BlackBerry users make up about 2 percent of the company’s 46 million users, according to the Bloomberg report, so a ban in India might not place that large of a monetary dent in the company that raked in $768 million in its last quarter, according to its most recent quarterly statement.

But it might set a precedent if India is the first to pull the trigger. India, as well as a handful of others, threatened to ban the BlackBerry services if RIM did not comply with demands to make enterprise email and messages available for government viewing earlier this month. The United Arab Emirates said it would ban the service beginning October 11 if RIM did not comply with its security demands, while Saudi Arabia let its proposed August 6 ban slide by without incident as negotiations continue.

RIM has said that it can’t access data on BlackBerry devices without a decryption key — even though the U.S. government has stated it can crack the service with proper court orders.

The announcements came on the heels of a shaky launch of its BlackBerry Torch device, pegged as an iPhone competitor. RIM cut the Torch’s price in half after Goldman Sachs said the launch was underwhelming.

Research in Motion’s U.S.-traded shares were up about 1.1 percent to $46.50 after the announcement.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Despite announcing its intentions to block web services from BlackBerry devices starting last week, Saudi Arabia has allowed them to continue functioning unimpeded while BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion tries to resolve the country’s security complaints with the smartphones.

The country originally set a deadline for Friday August 6 to block the services, and it also let a second deadline go by at midnight last night, reports BusinessWeek. The news comes after the Obama administration announced its intentions to mediate discussions between RIM and countries with similar concerns to Saudi Arabia.

Regarding the leeway, Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission said: “Given the positive development in the completion of part of the regulatory requirements by service providers, the Commission decided to allow the continuation of BlackBerry Messenger service.”

The UAE and Saudi Arabia were the first to announce that they would ban certain BlackBerry services — Saudi Arabia initially wanted to block BlackBerry’s Messenger IM service, and the UAE plans to block IM, email, and web access starting October 11. They’re being driven to block the devices because RIM would not give them access to encrypted customer data. Indonesia, and later India, both announced that they would block BlackBerrys for similar reasons.

Needless to say, other countries are watching the situation in Saudi Arabia closely, since it would set a precedent for their access to RIM’s encrypted user data. RIM previously stated that there is no way for it to decrypt user data, let alone grant other countries access to it. Last week, U.S. authorities admitted they had the capability of tapping into RIM’s encrypted data, but the company has yet to admit helping the U.S., or any government.

It’s unclear how, exactly, RIM would be able to make BlackBerry devices compliant with Saudi Arabia’s local laws without giving up access to user data. That the country has decided to delay the device ban is a sign that RIM is doing something to appease it — what RIM is actually up to is still unknown.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The Obama administration has stepped in to mediate discussions between BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and foreign governments — including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and more — who want to ban the devices due to security threats, reports the AP.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia were the first to announce that they would ban certain BlackBerry services — the latter’s ban of BlackBerry IM begins today, and the UAE plans to block IM, email, and web access starting October 11. They were driven to block the devices because RIM would not cooperate with giving them access to encrypted customer data. Indonesia, and later India, both announced that they would block BlackBerrys for similar reasons.

State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley said that U.S. officials were working with the countries and RIM “to understand the security concerns and see if we can’t work collaboratively to find solutions.” The State Department is specifically worried that the bans will hurt American diplomats and businessmen oversees.

Speaking about the administration’s involvement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “We are taking time to consult and analyze the full range of interests and issues at stake because we know that there is a legitimate security concern, but there’s also a legitimate right of free use and access.”

BlackBerrys are particularly troublesome for the countries because much of their communications are encrypted and sent to servers in other countries. According to estimates, there are some 500,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE, and 400,000 in Saudi Arabia.

Via LA Times

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have both announced that they will be blocking select BlackBerry communication functions because they are unable to monitor them, reports the BBC.

The UAE plans to block web access, email, and BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry instant messaging functionality starting October 11, and Saudi Arabia will block BlackBerry IM starting this month. BlackBerrys are particularly troublesome for the countries because much of their communications are encrypted and sent to servers in other countries. According to estimates, there are some 500,000 BlackBerry users in the UAE, and 400,000 in Saudi Arabia.

The lock down is intended to put pressure on BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) to release data from user communications “when needed”, according to Abdulrahman Mazi, a Saudi Telecom board member. TRA, the UAE telecommunications regulator, says that the encrypted communications — which don’t comply with local laws — raise “judicial, social and national security concerns.”

To its credit, RIM said that it “does not disclose confidential regulatory discussions that take place with any government,” and it went on to assure customers that it is “committed to continue delivering highly secure and innovative products that satisfy the needs of both customers and governments.”

TRA — which last year attempted to install spyware on BlackBerry phones — said that the move is more about the lack of compliance with its regulations than it is about censorship. In 2007, RIM refused TRA access to code that would decrypt secured customer data.