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Notel Media Player Helps North Koreans Skirt Censorship

Posted by timothy on from the one-day-will-be-on-ebay.nk dept.

An anonymous reader writes A small portable media device, costing roughly $50, is allowing North Koreans to access and view foreign media despite tight government censorship, according to a Reuters report. The 'Notel', a mashup of notebook and television, is being described as a symbol of change in the repressed society. Used to watch DVDs and shared content from USB sticks and SD cards, the media player can be easily concealed and transported among families and friends. According to correspondents in the region, as many as half of all urban North Korean households have a notel and are swapping a broad range of banned media such as soaps and TV dramas from South Korea and China, Hollywood blockbusters, and news clips — all of which is strictly forbidden by Pyongyang law.

5 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Just wait by kelemvor4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just wait until the MPAA and RIAA get ahold of them for piracy. They'll wish they were in north Korean prison.

  2. This too shall pass by Onuma · · Score: 4, Insightful

    North Korean dominance over its people can't last forever. Sooner or later, they'll wake up to the fact that they're being subjugated, manipulated, and forced to live in poverty.

    I hope more Notels get circulated. The more, the better.

    --
    What else can happen when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object?
    1. Re:This too shall pass by TheDarkener · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sooner or later, they'll wake up to the fact that they're being subjugated, manipulated, and forced to live in poverty. "

      Funny how substituting North Korea for other large nations of the world can still make the above sentence seem very relevant.

      NK is definitely bad, but it's not the only one. Maybe just the most obvious.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    2. Re:This too shall pass by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

      NK bad is several orders of magnitude worse than most countries in the world.

      All countries have problems but to talk about those interchangeably with NK's problems is a farcical level of ignorance or intellectual dishonesty about just how bad it is in NK.

      You can't say anything intelligent about your world if you have no sense of proportion and degree.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  3. Good old sneakernet by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Saves the day again.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au