North Korea To Enable Mobile Internet Access — For Visitors Only

Posted by Soulskill on Friday February 22, 2013 @06:02AM from the visitors-get-free-nukes-too dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports that the reclusive country of North Korea is planning to enable 3G mobile internet access. It will not be available to the country's estimated one million mobile users, however. The service will be available only to international visitors, who have been allowed to bring their own mobile devices into the country since January of this year. The decision comes shortly after Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said enabling 3G internet in the country would be 'very easy' during his recent visit there. Currently, North Korean citizens can only access a small number of state-controlled sites. Might this decision open the door for some of them to surreptitiously access the open net?"

1 of 114 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I'm not hopeful by interkin3tic · 2013-02-22 06:13 · Score: 1, Redundant

Might this decision open the door for some of them to surreptitiously access the open net?
Seems like having a device which gives away your location to a brutally repressive regime, and using said device to access things that would get you and your extended family thrown into starvation camps might not be a good idea.

On the other hand, I have no idea what I'd do if I were a North Korean. Maybe look up the best way to make suicide look like an accident so your surviving relatives don't get thrown into those starvation camps for the crime of being related to someone who dishonored the country by killing himself?