This is what you see on quite a few websites if you're trying to access it in the UAE. BLOCKED. It says "We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates. "
I'm pretty pissed off but understand that they've gone and blocked Flickr again, cos I guess a few idiots think it's fun to upload nude or obscene photos on their online albums. But what about the other 90% Flickr users who don't?
Other sites that have been blocked are Tagged.com and Typepad.com, among others. I've never seen these sites before, but they seem to be popular right now, so whenever I do an online search for something, it's pretty annoying that half of my search results can't be accessed because they're banned.
The most controversial would be the blocking of Skype, since there's definitely nothing about free phonecalls that's "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates". Dubai is probably the most multinational city in the world, where 90% of its residents come from all over the world. So it's a pretty big thing that they've deliberately banned Skype. There are so many blogs criticising this move, and every few days you get the same complaint about it in the Reader's Letters section in local newspapers. Thick-skinned and adamant, the people at Etisalat definitely show the world what "buat bodoh" really means.
I'm pretty pissed off but understand that they've gone and blocked Flickr again, cos I guess a few idiots think it's fun to upload nude or obscene photos on their online albums. But what about the other 90% Flickr users who don't?
Other sites that have been blocked are Tagged.com and Typepad.com, among others. I've never seen these sites before, but they seem to be popular right now, so whenever I do an online search for something, it's pretty annoying that half of my search results can't be accessed because they're banned.
The most controversial would be the blocking of Skype, since there's definitely nothing about free phonecalls that's "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates". Dubai is probably the most multinational city in the world, where 90% of its residents come from all over the world. So it's a pretty big thing that they've deliberately banned Skype. There are so many blogs criticising this move, and every few days you get the same complaint about it in the Reader's Letters section in local newspapers. Thick-skinned and adamant, the people at Etisalat definitely show the world what "buat bodoh" really means.
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