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Posted by timothy on from the most-places-bad dept.

tcd004 writes "Kate Palmer writes in Foreign Policy Magazine that an international black market for Internet access has arisen in many authoritarian countries who keep their populations offline. Savvy black marketers in cybercafes, universities, private homes, and elsewhere are exploiting technological loopholes to circumvent government filters and charge fees for access. According to OpenNet Initiative, a nonprofit that tracks banned sites, visiting a single website in Saudi Arabia can cost anywhere from $26 to $67. And as censorship spreads, the prices are only going up." It's just a few paragraphs, but thought provoking.

18 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. When /. is blacklisted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    First posts will be harder to attain without this service.

  2. Yup by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used to run my high-school's firewall, back in 1994... Students paid me top dollar to gain access to then blacklisted sites... What a sweet deal that was... :) Especially since I maintained the blacklist of sites.. :)

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    1. Re:Yup by kjamez · · Score: 2, Funny

      well you are ready for a exec position at microsoft with those ethics ... have you considered sending in your cv?

      --
      you can't have everything, where would you put it?
    2. Re:Yup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      Brilliant. I can see how the conversations went.

      1. teacher: "students, your homework is a report is on space"
      2. you: thinking "cool, I'll blacklist Nasa.gov"
      3. ...
      4. PROFIT!
    3. Re:Yup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      Exactly. When something is "banned", we have criminal activity,i.e. making money off giving the public whatever was "banned". Good example was alcohol prohibition [cato.org] in the USA.

      So if SCO wins, perhaps then all the Linux companies can finally make a profit selling contraband linux distros?

    4. Re:Yup by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

      The proxy access at college where I started out once blacklisted all sites with an "m" in them.
      It took only a couple of hours to resolve it, but the number of embarrassed faces was amusing.
      (Proxy used to bring up a big red banned site warning with an alarm wav...)

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  3. Slashdot by Casisiempre · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder how much it costs to read Slashdot in Saudi Arabia...

  4. Hmmm by elid · · Score: 3, Funny
    visiting a single website in Saudi Arabia can cost anywhere from $26 to $67

    And suddenly, a Slashdot addiction seems to be a much more costly habit than a smoking addiction...

  5. Yaaahoooooo by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Exactly. When something is "banned", we have criminal activity,i.e. making money off giving the public whatever was "banned". Good example was alcohol prohibition in the USA.

    I can just picture geeks driving around in red 70's Dodge Chargers shouting "Yaaahoooo" and "Yeehaaaaa" as we jump over ravines to bring data to the censored masses.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Yaaahoooooo by Zocalo · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can just picture geeks driving around in red 70's Dodge Chargers shouting "Yaaahoooo" and "Yeehaaaaa"... Erm, wouldn't geeks be more likely to be shouting "Yaaahoooo" and "Gooooogle"? ;)

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  6. To Get More Bandwidth: by __int64 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select, start

  7. Illegal = black market by alexandreracine · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is always place for black market in every country. Whenever something is illegal, it will be on the black market.

    Examples:

    -Prostitution - most of the world (well, exept for Amsterdam, and p0rn)
    -Drugs - most of the world (well, exept for Amsterdam)
    -[Insert illegal things here (exept Amsterdam)]

    So... in conclusion. Go to Amsterdam.

    --
    No sig for now.
    1. Re:Illegal = black market by oGMo · · Score: 2, Funny
      There is always place for black market in every country. [...]

      [...]

      -[Insert illegal things here (exept Amsterdam)]

      So... in conclusion. Go to Amsterdam.

      Clearly, there must be a black market for "Illegal Things" in Amsterdam, since they are otherwise unavailable!

      --

      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  8. *psst* Hey buddy... by thesnarky1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... wanna buy a byte? Brand new....

    --
    Want to find other gamers to play board and role playing game
    1. Re:*psst* Hey buddy... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Funny

      No thanks, I've got all 256.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  9. Re:In case they get Slashdot... by stimpleton · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...he defected to protest the Saudi government oppressive polices against reformers and democratic activists. Al-Shaikh called for a fully elected parliament with real powers in order to curb massive official corruption and to ensure the human rights f the population, and their rights for free expression.

    This can't be right. GW isn't vocal against Saudi Arabia. Therefore, they must best a shining light of Freedom(tm) and democracy.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  10. Re:before you react by gnuman99 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Nope... even if you aren't an American, they don't stamp your passport in case you get hassled going into the US. I've been there twice.

    Thank you. You can now consider your passport stamped.

  11. heh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Just think, Slashdot editors - someone somewhere paid $67 for a dupe!