Contrabandwidth

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.

Comments

Censoring == import tax, illegal access == smuggle

[Toby The Economist]

In a market, import duties encourage smuggling, since the artificial State imposes cost makes it possible to provide a given good at a significantly cheaper rate simply by avoiding customs.

Censorship is an attempt by the State to prevent the import of information. In an exact parallel, this encourages the smuggling of information, since there is censorship by no means eliminates demand; it merely restricts supply and so drives up prices.

The article implies that Internet access is expensive in authoritarian countries because of the rates being charged by black access groups.

In fact, it is a testimoney to the power of supply and demand that it is *possible* to obtain access *despite* all attempts by the State to prevent this.

--
Toby

In case they get Slashdot...

[Rightcoast]

From A website that promotes democracy in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Diplomat Defects to France Saturday, 19 March 2005 Washington DC - A Saudi diplomat defected to France Thursday, according to the diplomat who issued a statement on the first anniversary of the reformers arrest last year. Ahmed Bin Jaza Al-Shaikh, the second secretary at the Saudi Mission to the United Nations in Geneva told the Saudi Institute from Paris 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.

Never

[CdBee]

FreeNet nodes can - and often do - contain generally unacceptable content such as images of child pornography. It's not an acceptable solution for most people.