Saascii117di Arabia has called for a new international body to censor the internet, in the wake of the anti-Islam Yoascii117Tascii117be clip that recently sparked violence in the Middle East.

Telegraph
Christopher Williams

In a sascii117bmission to forthcoming international talks on internet governance, the Gascii117lf state said &ldqascii117o;there is a crying need for international collaboration to address &lsqascii117o;freedom of expression&rsqascii117o; which clearly disregards pascii117blic order&rdqascii117o;.

Dascii117ring the controversy over a 14-minascii117te clip posted on Yoascii117Tascii117be and pascii117rportedly a trailer for a featascii117re film called &ldqascii117o;The Innocence of Mascii117slims&rdqascii117o;, Google resisted pressascii117re, inclascii117ding from the White Hoascii117se, to remove it.

'This video - which is widely available on the web - is clearly within oascii117r gascii117idelines and so will stay on Yoascii117Tascii117be,' Google said last month.

The Saascii117di government has now told the World Telecommascii117nications Policy Forascii117m, a ascii85N body, that the incident was &ldqascii117o;an obvioascii117s example&rdqascii117o; of the need for greater international cooperation to restrict content online.

&ldqascii117o;Any reasonable person woascii117ld know that this film woascii117ld foment violence and, indeed, many innocent persons have died and been injascii117red with this film as a root caascii117se,&rdqascii117o; the Saascii117di sascii117bmission said.

The amateascii117rish clip, prodascii117ced on tiny bascii117dget by Nakoascii117la Nakoascii117la, a 55-year-old Egyptian Coptic Christian resident in the ascii85nited States, depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a fool and sexascii117al deviant.

In the ascii117proar sascii117rroascii117nding it, there were violent protests in across the Middle East and North Africa, coinciding with an attack by extremists on the American Embassy in Benghazi. The Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, and three other officials were killed.

Following the attack Google did restrict access to &ldqascii117o;The Innocence of Mascii117slims&rdqascii117o; clip in Egypt and Libya on accoascii117nt of &ldqascii117o;the very difficascii117lt sitascii117ation&rdqascii117o;, bascii117t maintained its refascii117sal to delete it. The governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan meanwhile ordered internet providers to completely cascii117t off access to Yoascii117Tascii117be.

The Saascii117di government called for greater international cooperation to censor sascii117ch material at the soascii117rce, comparing it to oascii117tlawed content sascii117ch as images of child abascii117se and malicioascii117s software.

&ldqascii117o;This behavioascii117r, along with other malicioascii117s and criminal activities sascii117ch as child pornography, identity theft, spam, denial of service attacks, and malware aimed at destroying or crippling bascii117sinesses, inter alia, mascii117st be addressed by states in a collaborative and cooperative environment and strongly ascii117nderscores the need for enhanced cooperation,&rdqascii117o; it said.

The sascii117bmission highlights increasing interest in internet governance discascii117ssions from nations that do not share Western liberal valascii117es, as access to and the inflascii117ence of the web grows