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The Gaping Holes In the UAE's Net Firewall
Barence writes "The United Arab Emirates has its own Chinese-style firewall to weed out pornography and other 'unsavory' content. But as PC Pro's correspondent has found out, the firewall has more than a few holes in it. ISP helplines routinely suggest proxy server software that circumvents the filters. Access to Flickr is blocked, in case citizens' eyes should fall upon a naked buttock, but The Pirate Bay, which 'offers a range of bottoms to suit every need, including midget and donkey bottoms for anybody having a really slow afternoon – remains blissfully undisturbed.' 'Ultimately, I'm quite glad the UAE's authorities block websites, and thrilled that they're so inept at it,' concludes PC Pro's writer. 'Just like everybody in Dubai, all they've done is made me a master of internet chicanery.'" Guess that depends how closely they're watching the evaders.
Yes! Penetrate all their firewall holes!
PC Pro obviously needs to be blocked to prevent people from finding out the firewall doesn't work!
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
I doubt the firewall is there to block access to porn. What they really want is enforcement (harsh).
Without the firewall, you might get away with the excuse that you happened upon the site by mistake, or via those corrupt western popup blockers.
If you go through the trouble of setting up a proxy or some other means of circumvention, then they could probably use that information to show your willful intent to kill kittens or something.
Having been to a few church weddings recently, it's apparent from the talk that marriage is just a way for religion to maintain control over something. And what better way than to control people than through the nookie supply? You get your nookie assigned to you through church or not at all. So it sort of stands to reason than religious groups are against prostitution or promiscuity or even just loose women... it pretty much cuts into their turf.
Before posting something like this, this genius should make sure he is out of the country and is never going back. They'll kill him or send him to jail for "encouraging indecency" -- or maybe a stoning?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/04/dubai-kissing-couple-jail_n_524736.html
These whack jobs in Dubai and other Tyrant controlled governments have SLAVE labor. Like they are going to respect "freedom of the press".
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/dark_side_of_du.html
Whenever people try to block something, they only succeed in making the users smarter, and those in charge look less competent. High-school filter proxy blocking Slashdot and Wikipedia? Install firefox, set it to autodetect proxy settings, and it picked up the unfiltered teacher proxy, not the student. When they changed it around so the student proxy was preferred, we figured out the IP and configured it directly. College filter blocking Facebook? Use the VMWare helpfully installed by the admins, boot up Firefox in Linux, and it uses a direct connection. Heck, I discovered that one by accident. I'm actually starting to suspect that the real purpose behind school filters is education, not censorship.
What is /. coming to?
Adulthood?
10 years ago, i was flying from london to sri lanka via jordan airport.
I had a DJ magazine with me for a DJ friend in sri lanka, and lacking anything to read on the flight, i had it in my hand.
the guy at immigration saw the magazine in my bag and wanted to take a look. i knew what was going on, and i also knew that hte magazine didn't have anything they could even REMOTELY consider "lascivious" so i let him have it.
he leafed through a few pages and asked me (with great disappointment) "no mwah mwah mwah?" while kissing his hand.
i had a hard time NOT telling him that i was an IT geek, and we can get our "mwah mwah mwah" from the internet.
the point i am trying to make is that when you try to suppress a biological impulse, nay NECESSITY, people will find a way to get access to it.
they are trying to implement a pornwall in sri lanka as well. a year ago the government blocked ELEVEN sites. now they want to block a hundred. I know the guys in charge of the pornwall. I know their abilities. i know at least two of them are in a porn mailing list that has been in existence in one form or the other since 1998
i would REALLY doubt it was incompetence on the part of the people running the firewall. that is created to make the politicians and the religious extremists feel better.
if the IT guys wanted to take down a site, they would, but most of them really don't want to, and really don't care. as far as they are concerned, they are doing their jobs, but when it comes to things like this "their job" is the bare minimum they are forced to do.
learn from yesterday, plan for tomorrow, party tonight
or one out of three ain't bad
Apparently, regionally, Dubai blocks all mention of The Flintstones because people there don't like it, but the people in Abu Dhabi do.