UAE Community Blog: Orkut blocked!!!

04 July, 2007

Orkut blocked!!!

So Etisalat has blocked Orkut... I knew this was going to happen. One day they will even block Facebook. Why don't they just think rationally and use some of that common sense which they've locked up in the banks vault?! Are they going to keep blocking these kind of sites just coz of some "immoral" pages? It doesn't make sense to block the entire thing! Crap...

39 comments:

samuraisam said...: Thanks Gulf News!; 04 July, 2007 19:04
Arvind Satyanarayan said...: Come now, Google's rep did say "Some people might flag something they think is inappropriate, but we might feel it's appropriate and represents freedom of expression," and we all know the UAE's take on the latter :); 04 July, 2007 20:01
Anonymous said...: its not Etisalat anymore, its the TRA.; 04 July, 2007 20:29
Anonymous said...: feel free to send your love letters to http://tra.ae/board_directors.html and wish that they'd read them.; 04 July, 2007 20:51
Anonymous said...: TRA = Too Retarded (to) Administer; 04 July, 2007 20:53
Anonymous said...: Why not if wee call 800 6100 and say complaint them!
I think a bucnh of Complaints will get it opened; 04 July, 2007 21:04
Anonymous said...: Good riddance!; 04 July, 2007 21:48
Anonymous said...: As if people looking for sexual encounters online can't get them anywhere else....; 04 July, 2007 21:56
Anonymous said...: Gulf News turns from journalism to moral policing! blahh

Guess what?? Block the telephones too! It can be used for soliciting! A tool for immoral activities. Block tv, radio and everything else!

Gulf News was bad - but now it is SICK!; 04 July, 2007 22:51
measuredPR said...: I don't understand what the fascination with orkut.com is anyway. It's a crappy attempt at social networking.; 04 July, 2007 23:01
secretdubai said...: It's a crappy attempt at social networking.

Yes - I was quite shocked at how rubbish it was. Even "normal" communities just seemed to be spammed fulled with sex/porn related posts.

Facebook is so much better.; 05 July, 2007 01:29
Ahsan Ali said...: Well, I'm not a fan of orkut. Its a substandard effort compared to facebook and other sites.

Still, Etisalat took the __easy__ way out. It was much harder for them to filter the content.; 05 July, 2007 06:41
Salomie said...: I know Orkut is overrun with stupid sex freaks, but hey, there are plenty of normal people out there who use it to stay in touch with friends.....me being one of them. If you have to censor stuff, go after the freaks....I'm sure the moral police can track down specific users....why ruin it for everyone?; 05 July, 2007 09:40
Anonymous said...: anon@20:29,

It is the bastard Etisalat. I can access it from my area, my internet connection is from du.; 05 July, 2007 10:08
Anonymous said...: Well they also block things like Twitter, Jaiku, and more... it seems TRA/Etisalat/whoever is against most of the latest examples of cool web technology/sites.; 05 July, 2007 10:49
hemlock said...: if you go into facebook's marketplace (for UAE), youll find lots of locals searching / advertising for "playmates" and "no strings attached sex".
in the marketplace.
*sigh*
where others are selling rubber chickens.

orkut sux. TRA needs to unblock flickr.; 05 July, 2007 11:29
Anonymous said...: I can pick up a copy of porn dvd from any chinese seller on the streets for 15dhm.

Block that TRA!; 05 July, 2007 13:48
flamin said...: I hate Orkut. But I've refrained from joining any other online community (except blogging) because each time I get 'attached' to the site, TRA/Etisalat blocks it. I still miss Flickr :'(; 05 July, 2007 16:24
Anonymous said...: etisalat "Reach out. The world’s waiting." but where?; 06 July, 2007 00:16
h said...: "...but where?"

On the World islands they're building.; 06 July, 2007 01:24
Anonymous said...: Why dont they ban all the night clubs and pubs in Dxb if they are really serious abt stopping vulgarity......becasue they are earning from night clubs and not from orkut.......ass holes.; 06 July, 2007 14:12
Stained said...: facebook might be better, but orkut aint bad either....
I still can go to orkut[for non-sex reasons] as I have ways around the proxy, but everyone has that facility.....GF really is having fun, & now KT has also jumped in the band wagon....; 06 July, 2007 14:13
Anonymous said...: Ok, hold it!! Ive been hearing so much over the past days bout orkut. WATS MUCH 4 IT??!
i fynd it pretty much sensible 2 block orkut...true, i du miss scrappin my ol' friends n'all...but hell no, wud i want to encourage any sort of "_____" in tht reason... twz imp tht Gulf News posted an issue...; 07 July, 2007 10:01
Anonymous said...: i dont unerstand why Etisalat tries to show its monoploly.earlier they were known for charging, highest calling rates nd ripping customers through various so called services...now they blocked ORKUT !!! dont these guys use their brains..... earlier they blocked Friendster,Hi5 nd other online communities nd now Orkut. dont they understand tht these are the sites who helps in connecting people from all over the world nd most important part is that , it helps us rejoin our old friends nd relatives.... it is ridiculous nd shamefull to block ORKUT ... they are directly hurting people. they shud appologise nd unblock it when they know tht it is still working with DU users... did they want everyone of us to move towards DU nd hate them like anything.........; 08 July, 2007 10:40
Anonymous said...: its not encouraging "___" .its a platform where we meeet our friends nd relatives .....u might fidn some non-sense things as well 'coz u can't stop it.u can find these things everywhere...we can only filter things but for tht why shud let others suffer ????????/; 08 July, 2007 11:21
Anonymous said...: i guess etisalat or tra shud try to stop the huge availability of sex in the city than stopping these networking sites. next in line is facebook cos it too has adult stuff.
They should start by stopping all the night clubs and reduce the number of prostitutes in dubai. u go to any city in the world u mite not get easy accessibility to so many prostitutes... so betta stop that...

damn gulf news for publishing this article.. and i ve made it a point not to read gulf news from today..; 08 July, 2007 15:37
mubin said...: i agree...with all of u people...why block the entire site?? makes no sense...! its the world wide web...how can you stop information? you cant...there's one way or the other! wht is the objective? that ETISALAT users are the only moral people?! BS!! and i dunt get it...people hwo dont like ORKUT? why the hell are u on this blog? you should be on some etisalat support blog!; 08 July, 2007 16:36
Anonymous said...: Why not give everyone some chemical which will stop their sexual urges and make them impotant!!!
Or does etisalat wanna make people to talk more on their network than orkuting...
example : www.skype.com is filled with sex and porn!!!; 09 July, 2007 09:06
Anonymous said...: I guess ppl who have complained to gulf news abt orkut are sick themselves.They must have looked for such profiles and communities themselves!
Otherwise who can come across such stuff if he remains confined to his domain of friends and clean communities only?; 09 July, 2007 10:01
Anonymous said...: etisalat is a fuckall. Now they blocked orkut also.. First of all, Google should take care of all that shit going through their sites... And secondly, etisalat should have blocked those certain pages filled with nudity only. They found an easy way to get out of their blocking stuff by blocking the site completely. We pay a lot of money to etisalat to use the internet and what do they give us? Block our favourite sites!! lol. Useless people don't have no brains. etisalat, beautifying your logo and sending SMSs of 'Better coverage than any' will not help you re-gain your market in comparision to du. For consumer satisfaction, unblock our favourite sites first. Otherwise, we will shift to du one day. And i thought the TRA is responsible for blocking of the websites right? Then how are du customers getting into Orkut.com?; 10 July, 2007 12:51
Anonymous said...: The next thing we will see is this Blog blocked. And the reason: This site was blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of etisalat.....; 10 July, 2007 12:54
virus said...: how can open orkut; 10 July, 2007 13:06
Anonymous said...: Yap, anyway this is going to be a beginning. Beginning to explore the fuller rights of freedom of expression within this stringent empire( just peripheral morality ). People should raise their voice. Why they fear the free flow information? Are they going ignorant?
See this is an era of information explosion; no one can prevent the flow. If they try to do so, then it’s going to be a revolution…. They can block just one orkut… but what about internet… where you have access to n number of other options….? Mad authorities…; 10 July, 2007 13:42
Anonymous said...: Yes, I think they really need to start using their brains, instead of blocking sites blindly! Blocking Flickr and Orkut is totally stupid. Can't they just block the offensive stuff instead of the whole site!!!; 13 July, 2007 15:26
Anonymous said...: whether its Etisalat or TRA, but the bad thing is that Orkut is blocked, so why don't the UAE Govt. block the whole Internet access. They don't have tech.guys who r enough able to block the shit content in these sites, after all we live in societies, and societies have all kind of people, right from politicians, leaders, teachers, religious persons to prostitutes. Then its better to ban Prostitution in UAE as its also spoiling the socities, but they can't do that, bet with me on this as they are more addict to this society of call girls. Stop at any taxi/bus stop in Dubai/Abu Dahbi for just 5-10 mins & u'll find an easy access to call girls' contacts right there & enjoy ! Why UAE govt. doesn't go after to ban this, bcoz if they ban prostitution, their own females will become insecure which have almost become addict to male prostitutes. I have seen so many of cases happening everyday on streets. Then why Govt. shouts to ban such sites on their religious, social, etc. status. Better they should ban the events & show-offs which are taking place everywhere on streets to which every one is used to see enjoy & use it ! Banning sites will not help anyway to control, stop & erase social diseases completely !; 17 July, 2007 10:47
Anonymous said...: oh god so so bad of these ppl tra blocking orkut.. i was in touch wit all my batchmates back home n encouraged them to coe here d=see d fu but now i guess i'll have to warn them about the "cultural n moral values of uae" . and i'd bought a new connection thinkin they r blocking it for public internetcafes only, but... thinking of switching to du du du du du dud du duuuuuu....; 10 August, 2007 17:24
Anonymous said...: pleeeeeeeeeeeeese dont take my friends awaaaaaaaayyyyyy from meeeeeeee!!!!!!! boooooooohoooooooo........ :( giv back orkut to meeeeeeeeeee. n damn it cant u ppl just filter out d offensive things? cant do it? ther r ppl who wil do it 4 free if u giv back our site to us. damn it google, do somthing!; 10 August, 2007 17:29
Anonymous said...: finally a proxy that unlocks orkut

http://www.benjimit.com unblocks everything..
java script
fast
reliable
no popups
full support

check it out. enjoy ! browse 24/7 and dont forget to tell your friends; 19 September, 2007 18:27
Anonymous said...: you guys are extremly cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeap
how so dum can you guys get.ok you blocked orkut but there were people here who could access it through some sheild and you block that too. this is absolutly disgusting we guys are being loyal to you sticking on to etisalate how come du has not blocked it. you just ruin majority of the users cause beleive it or not majority have groups in there and we miss all our friends in there. Uae of all the places act absolutly ridiculas when it comes to silly matters. Why don't you keep a questionaire for those who wants to lock up all this as they don't trust their kids or their kids are freaks due to their upbringing; 17 March, 2008 21:46