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Contrabandwidth

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.

9 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.. :)

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    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    1. 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. 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...

  4. 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.

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    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"? ;)

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

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

  6. 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.

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    No sig for now.
  7. *psst* Hey buddy... by thesnarky1 · · Score: 5, Funny

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

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    Want to find other gamers to play board and role playing game