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Sell Out: Blocking an Open Net
Governments in Muslim nations, as well as China, have repeatedly made overtures to and done business with Net-filtering companies. But no nation has used blocking software as vigorously as Saudi Arabia, according to the New York Times. By royal decree, virtually all public Internet traffic to and from the kingdom has been funneled through a single control center outside Riyadh since the Net was first introduced there three years ago. If the Riyadh center blocks a site, a warning appears in both English and Arabic: "Access to the requested URL is not allowed!" Saudi Arabia blocks sex and pornography sites, as well as those relating to religion and human rights.
Now nearly a dozen software companies, most American, are competing for a hefty new contract to help block access to even more sites the Saudi government deems inappropriate for its country's half-million Net users. In fact, the Saudi government is helping to pioneer something once thought impossible -- a sanitized Net for an entire nation and culture.
American software companies are only too happy to help them do it. Software executives say they are only providing politically neutral tools. "Once we sell them the product, we can't enforce how they use it," Matthew Holt, a sales executive for San Jose's Secure Computing, told the Times earlier this week. Secure provides filtering software to the Saudi government under a contract that expires in 2003. The Saudi government is also reportedly talking with Websense, SurfControl and N2H2 of Seattle.
The Saudi government has already spent a fortune to design its centralized control system before permitting Net use a few years ago, selecting Secure Computing's Smart Filter software from four competing U.S. products. SmartFilter came with ready-made blocking categories like pornography and gambling and was also customized to exclude sites the Saudis perceived as bad for Islam, the royal family, or the country's political positions.
This is a radical assault on the spirit of the Net, of its open, point-to-point design, its great promise to democratize information. By allies, no less. And don't for a minute think there aren't plenty of fanatics and zealots in the United States who won't love the idea as well. Remember that the Harry Potter series is now the most banned book series in American libraries.
The Saudi government, along with other non-democratic countries, are notoriously technophobic. They are eager to participate in the emerging global economy, but desperate to stanch the free flow of information that might provide diverse information to their citizens. And they have no problem finding software companies, including American ones, that are happy to help extend censorship. The corporatist rule is simple -- maximize profits at all costs under virtually all circumstances.
Countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and China have been surprisingly successful at wiring up certain segments of their societies while controlling information deemed insensitive for political or religious reasons. The Net can, in fact, be used to make money and suppress freedom. These governments have undercut the great promise of globalism, prosperity, technology and democracy, allowing corrupt and anti-democratic governments to prosper, in part by censoring information -- something many of us thought the Net would make impossible.
This highlights the menacing way corporatism exploits technology, undermining the most basic American values.
"We have a really serious problem in terms of the American free speech idea," says Jack Balkin, a Yale Law School professor who specializes in the politics of Internet filtering. "But it is very American to make money. Between anti-censorship and the desire to make money, the desire to make money will win out." This is a profound blow to the whole idea of using technology -- especially the Net -- to force a more open society.
That's a bitter indictment of a nation that purports to be advancing democracy throughout the world, that's supposedly fighting a war to protect freedom. The reason money will always win out is corporatism, which subverts almost every other value in the name of profit, and which has made globalism a dirty word.
US military deployment in southern Kandahar was Major disaster as more than 300 US troops have been wiped out by the Taliban in clashes.
Taliban and Pro-Taliban fighters fought a heavy battle against US forces in southern Kandahar. One Taliban fighter said that after the fierce battle that took place a whistling sound bellowed out from behind the US forces after which many of the enemy where wiped out! By the help of Allah(swt) the remains of the dead where found to have been mangled as though their bodies had been shattered. The Taliban are in full control of Kandahar and surrounding provinces. The US/British bombing campaign continued in retaliation against their losses.
On another front 60 US elite commandos and 10 US paid mercenaries have been captured to the east of Kandahar. (Comment: Do the British and Americans believe that Allah(swt) will not come to the aid of Muslims. Aren't the US and Britain chicken shit when it comes to fighting on the ground instead of dropping bombs from safe heights! The British are not the lions as they make out to be, they are more like mice.)
Reports are coming in of major US losses and that the US have delivered extra body bags to Pakistan.
That's news from Islam who you lefties love so much.
What's to say that that isn't the truth?
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Please also enroll me under your special Car Insurance Scheme. I understand that I do not have to sign anything to make this completely binding to me.I actually kind of look forward to seeing that he posted an article, because it means that I get to vent my feelings towards him. *Everybody I know who reads /. hates him.*
In other news John Katz impregnates 5 afghani women in an effort to introduce them to American culture. The women were reportedly transgender a local source says.
I wish you were one of those innocents that has perished :)
I love J. Katz by the way.
We're involved in a war? Kindly point to the declaration of war. (Hint: There isn't one)
I didn't realize that Ivan Stang and the Church of the SubGenius still exsisted, but it sure has the stark fist of removal all over it. LOL. JHVH-1 rules.
John, Stop the damn Globolization crap. you are like a 3 year old that just learned a cool new word!!
those where daisy-cutters, they are sometimes refered to as tacktical nukes, but are not nuclear
Visit their website today and see what everyone is talking about !!!
Well I don't know about F-18s being shot down, but its pretty well known that the US has B-61 bunker buster Nuclear bombs ready to be used. They only said that they have deployed them, not used them.
And some people like the fucking Taliban. You think liking Katz makes you a special person? (Hint: it doesn't...it makes you a moron.)
I could block Jon Katz stories.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
Quality! That's the funniest post I've seen on slashdot in a long time.
And what the hell does that have to do with this editorial???
Take your consipracy theories elsewhere.
And risk getting your hand cut off?
Seriously, you don't want to rock the boat over there.
Er, how is the above a troll? Didn't the poster say, "stop the trolling for a second"? I don't know about you but, I for one take what he says at face value.
I'll see if I can round up some white powder to send to Mr. Katz.
Apparently the terrorists on September 11 believed strongly enough and were ready to "make that sacrifice.". And lots of them were Saudis. Probably just following your advice. I think the point is to avoid more bloodshed rather than just say to hell with it, and then do a half assed job of trying to pick up the pieces only when some Americans get killed.
development.lombardi.com
oh man, i'm sitting here at work almost doubled over from laughing so hard, this is hilairous, keep it coming!
Now THAT is the funniest bastard thing I have read a looooong time!
Good lord.
Smokers (tobacco or otherwise) have been persecuted enough in this failing republic. Do us all a favor, and exercise your right to move away from the smoke if it bothers you that much.
I have to deal with this crap all the time. I can't smoke indoors so I, like many of the oppressed masses, go outside to get my nicotine fix. Whiny little weasels like you come up to me at least once a week and say mindless drivel like "Go ahead and kill yourself, but your second-hand smoke is killing me too" or "Can't you smoke that somewhere else?" or "I find that offensive". Some of the cockier ones will say stuff like "Ugh. That smells like shit".
You know what I do? I contemplatively look at them, nodding my head in agreement, while simultaneously taking a big drag off the cigarette. Then I forcefully exhale it in their direction. Sometimes, if the mood strikes me, I'll follow this up by winking and blowing a kiss.
I have rights too, you know.
And I'm hypersensitive to you oppressive little twats.
can i plese have back my yellow blanket what you took from me when you slept over at my house last week? my stuffed animals get very cold at night and they like to sleep under the blanket. i love that blanket and you shouldnt have taken it. can i also have the underwear you borrowed too? they probly dont fit so i dont know why you wanted them.