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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.
I wonder if there is any good way to invest in a black market? I'd gladly run a proxy server to help people in opressed countries access stuff, but then, bandwidth costs and all... A shame there isn't a black market stock exchange, where one can invest in emergent social causes, and get a cut of the profits. One could invest seed money for a marijuana dealership, or a contrabandwidth supplier, etc.
On a side note, since I'm in the US, and running a proxy here is legal, would there be any potential legal implication to my supporting a black market overseas, assuming I never go to saudi arabia? What if I did go do saudi arabia?
There are techniques by which anyone can bypass government control of the Internet. Consider the following. A Tibetan uses a cell phone to call into an internet service provider (ISP) in Australia. Radio Free Asia subsidizes all such accounts so that they are essentially free.
The cell phone then becomes a 56K modem. It is not fast but will do the job. The Tibetan can then freely and daily e-mail reports about Chinese brutality in and around Tibet. Moreoever, the Tibetan can receive factual information about the outside world. After all, both CNN and FoxNews have web sites.
I knew someone who had a company that set up some sort of technical equipment in Saudi Arabia. The government wouldn't let them operate there all by themselves, so they only allowed a "partnership" that was 51% owned by a Saudi company - the cousin-in-law of some royal, or something like that. Of course, the Saudi company didn't do 51% of the work, so it was like a hefty tax. Anyway, in addition to their regular installation, they had a bustling business in illegal satellite tv dishes. They eventually got busted, but then it was the fact that this was mainly a Saudi-owned company with royal ties that kept them out of trouble. And, they probably copped a deal to uninstall the dishes. The penalty was only monetary - my friend had all his appendages.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
You would not have to worry about the US going after you for running a proxy server overseas. When in whatever country it is you are in you are subject to their laws. One of the only exceptions for US citizens is it is not illegal to go abroad for the purpose of having sex with underage children. I saw something really messed up a while ago. People would run "tours" of southeast asia where it was basically a front for child prostitution.
If you ever went to Arabia, they wouldn't need a legal reason to arrest / torture you. You'd just vanish or get beat to death by "holy" men. That's kinda the point.
However, if you are serious about helping, what I would suggest grabbing a copy of FreeNet and running a node. You don't even have to actively surf on it, IIRC, to allow it to make active copies of nodes, thus allowing "banned" content to get out.
IIRC, they had also included last time I ran it a built in proxy server/anonymizer, so you'd be helping in that way, too.
If you are concerned about Bandwidth, you can use Netlimiter to throttle it. I don't know of any Linux equivilants to Netlimiter, but I'm sure there's something (probably built in).
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.
Check out some of the wildly political investing he does. Interesting approach, with his humaitarian organizations providing carrots and his hedge funds acting as sticks; he both encourages freedoms in countries proactively, and devistates countries that refuse them (on the grounds that he sees oppressive regimes as bad investments)
I remember one of my classes on the middle east- the professor asked for a show of hand as to how many people would be willing to trade civil liberites for cash. More then half the class seemed willing to make the bargin. He then pointed out that this was the trade-off that Saudi-Arabia represented. He also noted that students from other middle eastern countries usually tried to stay in the US, but that the students from Saudi Arabia tended to go back.
I suspect a large number, if not a majority of US citizens would be willing to make a similarly lucrative trade off in exchange for allowing an absolute monoarchy, in a way the house of saud is the ultimate example of free market goverment, they have bought their power.
I for one don't waste any effort hating this goverment, nor do I feel espically sorry for its citizens. I suspect that most could leave if it really bothered them.
When I was working in Riyadh the compound where I Lived had two internet access routes. The first was available to all residents regardless of nationality and went via the government censored route. So, the only sites reachable were those which had been passed by the Saudi censor.
The other route was only available to non Muslims was via satellite and was totally uncensored. It was very illegal but we made sure that it was kept quiet and for the 18 months I was there the service was splendid.
From my experience you have to actually live in the place to understand the paranoia of the Censor. In the branch of Safeway that I regulrarly visited there were plenty of womens magazines that carried no censorship whereas any picture of a women in a magazine or paper that was aimed at men was heavily censored with the black felt tip pen.
just my 0.02riyals worth
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
I lived in the Middle East for a very long time before moving out west. I recall that back in 1996 when the Internet started to get a hold of more pro-Western nations (Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar) that there was an outcry from the conservative, fundamentalist population. After 20 years of censoring Israeli and Jewish pictures from encyclopedias in local bookstores and pixelating television broadcasts containing PG kisses, they were appalled that the Internet gave access to such decadent material.
Since the only ISPs were the government-run telcos (Batelco, Etisalat, Qatar Telecom) censorship was rather easy to push. Websites that promoted blasphemy, Israel, anarchy, porn, warez, etc. were banned; sometimes hastily. The ignorant admins at these ISPs used a list of keywords to censor URLs due to the exponential increase in pornography. In fact, because of its very name, Hotmail.com was banned in 3 of those countrie for almost 2 months until they realized its innocence. Similarly, sites such as Whitehouse.com were made available for diplomatic content (for some time) but access was denied to Hotbot.com because it was too lewd.
The fines for visiting offensive material and / or finding ways around the filters ranged from about US$10 to ~$200. Of course, in '96 the ISPs charged about US$1.50 for each hour spent online. With that kind of sticker price and the reasonable likelihood of surfing onto banned websites accidentally, some kids started making international calls to ISPs in India and Egypt to get around the limitations. The ones who couldn't dish out the bucks stuck with private BBSs. It would have been possible to make quite a bit of money by meeting the demands of the people, but the risks (especially under Sharia law) are not to be taken lightly.
Not. I have a dutch passport and it's valid for the whole world. There's not a dutch law that prevents me from going anywhere on this planet, only common sense and financial reasons.
I'm currently visiting Saudi Arabia. Been here a few days and noticed that the internet is blocked by a proxy-server (proxy-dsl.nesma.net.sa:8080 to be exact) Just got past the thing a couple of hours ago with a little help of some googleing ;)
It isn't hard if you got some computer skills and some know-how of proxys. Maybe should start up an internet café :)
I use a program called HTTPort (the homepage to the program is, ofcourse, banned by the proxy) and connect to one of the thousands public proxy-server around, maybe I should sell the idea to some pr0n-craving guys over here!
Now back to some "illegal sites" just for the fun of it, solong suckers!!
They are still communist in name, and your post only makes my point more accurate: communism is much less harmful to the citizens than fascism, and, although some people fail to admit it, in some ways it does work. Why you can't give Cuba a dime, but you're almost forced into giving money to China is beyond me.
Conclusion: communes work well when they are small enough. Rule of thumb based on extended visits: communes where every member has personal contact with the current leader, and where the leader is replaceable, work well. The further removed the least prominent members are from the leaders - the more dicatorial and cult-like the commune becomes. Cuba is way past my "works well" limit. Counter-example: small cults with very charismatic leaders (e.g. Jim Jones, Heaven's gate) (although they also fail the "replaceable" test).
One Christian group in Vermont that I spent 2 weeks with had a leader who declared himself (while I was there!) an "Apostle" whose authority cannot be questioned of removed. Fortunately, the group was under oversight by an international board with members from every subscribing commune. The "Apostle" was removed.
Interestingly, while every group I visited was a "commune" in the sense that all property was legally owned by the corporate entity, a huge part of what made them tick was "ownership" of a different sort. The head chemist at the Vermont group (in charge of making soap and perfumes) was so excited about his products and workmanship that he "owned" his unique position in the commune. One of the things the "Apostle" talked about doing was switching around jobs so that everyone would learn "humility". Kind of reminded me of the part in the Communist Manefesto were everone is supposed to be able to do anyone elses job.
This is where I began to see that there is a big difference between "commune" and "Communism". Classic Communism as a political philosophy is bunk. However you handle production and distribution of goods, every person is unique, and brings unique gifts and talents to an organisation. A political philosophy that tries to make everyone interchangeable is just another means of oppression. Capitalism becomes oppressive in the same way when it tries to make every employee an interchangeable cog in the machine.
I'm sure the poster meant that as a tongue-in-cheek. But there really is a plan to make a single Free state. Moreover, it's a plan with actual results, in which thousands have signed up, and over a hundred free-market, free-speech, "free-Everything" activists have already moved there and are making a difference right now.
It's called the Free State Project, and I myself am a member.
Check this newscast from a local TV station.
Part of the Second American Revolution!
i m egyptian not a saudi.
i have used cyber cafes in saudi arabia.
i kinda like not having ads, popups or otherwise, of "meet your mate" and "grow your dick" style on my browser. right now i use firefox with adblock for the same effect. but i got to do it manually, this is like automatic.
the kids find it hard to browse porn sites: i like the (conservative) idea that kids get introduced to NORMAL sex thru their parents
and the clincher: there is a site one can go to add a new porn site to the proxy ban list: the list is BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE and sorry i dont have the url any more.
in conclusion sites like cnn is available and foxnews (unfortunately) too while victoria's secret isnt
_ In Egypt Networks: Network Solutions with a Twist
hey! what do you know!? i have been to saudi arabia. when were u there? i was there 3 years ago. and 5 years ago. and 10 years ago and 11 years ago and 12 years ago. adn when did u say u went there again?
i havent vanished have i? (i cant hear you gears grinding!)
pity i dont have any moderator status i would have modded you flame bait.
no seriously speaking, a place where u simply vanish and get beaten to death by holy men is the United States of America. check it out.. men in orange suits, in a military camp; no one actually knows their status; they are not POWs in contravention of the Geneva Convention and they get bush-whacked to death by men who got "religion"
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go ahead, biased bigots and religious men who wish to promote freedom, mod me a troll, flamebat, and -5. you live in a perverted view of your own world and have a closed mind. open it and learn how other people live and WHY
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ps. your ignorance is shown by your lack of knowledge of geography. ARABIA is the sub-continent
_ In Egypt Networks: Network Solutions with a Twist
"A pigeon carrying a DVD a short distance has some fairly impressive bandwidth... it's the latency and packet loss that's the real killer."