A du official said yesterday, “With immediate effect, all pornographic web sites will be blocked as per the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) requirements.”
[...]
"“du has blocked pornographic sites only, a move we are sure all parents will welcome. Content blocking guidelines are provided by the TRA and we abide by these,” he explained."
[...]
He also clarified that business will remain largely unaffected. “Normally business should not be affected because du has only blocked pornographic sites and sites that contain material that is offensive to the moral, cultural and social values of the UAE.
Despite claiming three times that only pornographic websites will be blocked (and also claiming only once that websites 'offensive' will be blocked) I find it interesting that on the 14th of April the following websites were blocked...
arabtimes.com = blocked
secretdubai.blogspot.com = blocked
wikipedia article on 'fitna' = blocked
Posts
21 comments:
Here's a reality check for the moron who said that businesses remain 'largely' unaffected.
I need to know what is written about Fitna for a client. It's what they are paying me to do. I need to help my client figure out how to deal with things being said about fitna so they can respond appropriately to safeguard their business.
So, despite me paying du insane amounts of money for crappy Internet connectivity.. now they are blocking it.
I can only think of a 4 letter word followed by a you, to award to the TRA.
Deceivers
Yea it must be tough not to be able to see a specific article in wikipedia. Life must be miserable right now. I am feeling for you !!
I am available if u want a tissue.
PE, you are clearly missing the point. The free zones and specifically Dubai Media City is populated by journalists, researchers and consultants. All of these groups need unfettered access to information to do their job.
Agreed. That's not including the already poor latency has been made even worse. When I consulted Du on this topic I was basically told it wasn't an issue they were looking to fix. So anyone that's relying on real-time media/data streaming has also been hit (more) by the introduction of the proxy.
@ Dubai entrepreneur,
I know it is not the point of the argument, but if you are relying on Wikipedia for professional research then this itself is certainly unprofessional.
proud emirati, you obviously have plenty of tissues available since the uae community blog excites you so much ;-)
*___^
:P
^^
^___________^
At least I can still get a bet on. William Hill remains unblocked, for now.
the real nick, part of our job is to find information and misinformation.. so yes, even the wikipedia entry is relevant to us.
And yes, it is irrelevant because it is not about an entry on wikipedia. It's far more reaching than this.
anon @ 16 April, 2008 10:24
Yes, I did notice that our connection has gotten slower and slower. Not only are hampered with TRA's idiocy, but we are awarded with du's total incompetence. Beautiful!
ok, now can someone please tell me what 'fitna' is. The fact it is being blocked is causing some arousing thoughts in me. Please!
^^ youtube it
So the DIC have been enjoying an unfettered access since it's opened for business so many years ago. but now they want to go chaste. What about the hundreds of souls they have got corrupted through all these years? Can they live with that guilt on their conscience ???
I disagree with blocking the article about fitna. It’s good to know how some people see us. Hoping to make another movie as a reply! I am sure there are so many fitnas that can be produced by us.
DE, Real Nick, PE and Hatem:
I can't offer means to circumvent the proxy to link to the article about the movie 'Fitna'. However, I have a very different kind of treat for you; a refutal of the movie!
I'm getting bored of that topic. How many time this week did it hit this blog...? We have rehashed all the possible arguments.
Anyway, I'm laughing at the fact the TRA even thinks blocking article such as 'fitna' on wikipedia is even possible. Just search for fitna on google and clicked on "cached" you'll see the wikipedia article in all it's splendor. So much for preventing people to view it effectively but very good result at preventing the local muslim to actually contribute anything to wikipedia on that subject let alone a rebutal. So funny.
Anyway here's the gist of it according to wikipediagoogle, freely accessible information on DU as time of writing:
Fitna is a 2008 short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. The film explores Qur'anic motivation for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. The film's title comes from the Arabic word fitna which is used to describe "disagreement and division among people", or a "test of faith in times of trial".[1]
On March 27, 2008, Fitna was released to the Internet on the video sharing website Liveleak in Dutch and English versions. The following day, Liveleak removed the film from their servers citing serious threats to their staff. On March 30, Fitna was restored on Liveleak following a security upgrade, but was promptly removed by Wilders for copyright violations. A second edition was released on April 6.
[snip]
Plot
The movie shows a selection of Suras from the Qur'an, interspersed with newspaper clippings and media clips with The Arabian Dance and Åses død as an underscore.[24][25][26]
Themes
Wilders has said the 15-minute film will show how verses from the Qur'an are being used today to incite modern Muslims to behave violently and anti-democratically based on those verses.[27][28][29] He later described the film as “a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization,”[30] and a push for a Leitkultur, a culture that “draws on Christian, Jewish, humanistic traditions and that poses a challenge to the Islamic problem.”[31]
[snip]
Go browse the rest for yourself if you care. I don't it's a stupid movie.
The whole USP of the Free Zones was that they offered unfettered access to the web. Most of the companies there signed up because of that (ok, also because of not having to pay 51% to a local for doing sod-all). Suddenly imposing a proxy probably amounts to a breach of contract - not that any court in the UAE would sympathise.
It's amazing how easy it is to get around all these blocks...even without a VPN. My students were very creative in this regard.
4mb DSL sucks in this country, 56k seems to be alot faster.
Thanks Jazz and BB,
Fitna sounds just like one movie I'd like to see. Perhaps next Dubai Film Festival...
Shhhh stop thinking, I can hear you.
I couldn't give a hoot about that silly movie, but ofcourse now its blocked I wanna know all about it! Just like "Satanic Verses" not much really but then once you threaten the life of the Author everyone wants a copy.
Excellent marketing!
But why secret dubai toooooo!!!!!
Post a Comment
NOTE: By making a post/comment on this blog you agree that you are solely responsible for its content and that you are up to date on the laws of the country you are posting from and that your post/comment abides by them.
To read the rules click here
If you would like to post content on this blog click here