Stop Saudi app that tracks women, activists urge

Rights groups, politicians ask Google and Apple to block e-government from using it

Sen. Ron Wyden is asking the chief executives of Apple and Google to immediately stop offering a Saudi egovernment app that allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control the movement of women.

In a letter sent to the tech giants Monday, Wyden urged them to prevent their app stores from being used by the Saudi government to continue the “abhorrent surveillance and control of women.”

Human rights groups including Amnesty International are also calling on Apple and Google to consider the abuse the app could fuel.

Absher, an app people can download on the Google Play store and Apple’s app store, works as an e-government portal and general services software for the Saudi Interior Ministry. It allows Saudi citizens to process a host of personal status issues, such as getting a passportor vehicle registration.

But the app, according to human rights advocates, also facilitates Saudi Arabia’s patriarchal guardianship system.

It remains illegal for women in Saudi Arabia to travel without permission from a so-called male guardian. Under this system of laws and practices, women in the kingdom need the approval of a “guardian,” typically a male relative, for a range of decisions and actions, including marriage, employment with private companies, certain types of health care and release from prison, said Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Using Absher, Saudi men can restrict the travel of Saudi women by first allowing or disallowing them to leave the country, and the men can also limit the dates and places women are permitted to travel.

On both Apple and Google’s app stores, the app preview states: “Absher has been designed and developed with special consideration to security and privacy of user’s data and communication. So, you can safely browse your profile or your family members, or labors (sic) working for you, and perform a wide range of eServices online.”

Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Criticism of the app follows the highprofile case of Rahaf Muhammad, a Saudi teenager who fled from the kingdom and was granted asylum in Canada. Her escape has drawn heightened attention to the country’s male guardianship laws.