Is This News?
Today in the Arab Times I see this announcement:
Ministry monitoring Internet networks to block porn sites
KUWAIT : The Ministry of Communications is monitoring Internet networks to block porn websites and clamp down illegal Internet telephony, Al Seyassah daily quoted the Director of Telephones Monitoring Department at the Ministry of Communications Eng Nasser Al Khandari as saying. The department is also monitoring various areas for such illegal telephone service providers.
Is this news? One time, I was looking for tablecloths, and the site was blocked for inappropriate content. It seems to me that the Ministry of Communication has an ongoing battle, trying to block content providers. As for illegal telephony . . . it appears they are cracking down mostly on large scale telephone service providers, not on the individual VOIP phones. VOIP users complain from time to time about “listeners” and about echos, but I think this is more a result of poor connections than any local actions. Am I wrong?
Which ministry is it that will be/is monitoring bloggers?
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Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 
there is a ministry within a ministry within a ministry that collects data on everything anyone does online and off line.
and i wouldnt be surprised if there was some sort of table cloth fetish forum out there somewhere 😛
Yeah sometimes I get surprised too when some things are blocked. I am guessing they base it on the usage of certain words in the website.
As for VOIP, does that include Skype.com? It’s easy AND free to talk to someone abroad through your computer if you both have the program. It’s different from Vonage and Lingo and there’s no actual handset involved, you just talk through the computer. I think you can even use MSN for the same thing.
VoIP is being used in major companies all over Kuwait, yet they turned a blind eye to them.
The Ministry including the rest of the country needs a makeover.
Skunk – Hahahahahahahahahaha tablecloth fetish. And watch me be blocked because I mentioned it online!
Я – Yeh, I hear people talking about how much money the companies are saving now that they have VOIP. And I never hear about any company being busted, only poor Indians and Bangladeshis trying to call home.
Darnit!
There goes my hairymilfnursedotcom domain…
Sorry, 7zaya, you got sent to spam. I have heard sometimes Skype is blocked here. So far, none of the VOIPs have been sucessfully blocked, but some of their websites have; then you write them and they send you a new workaround site. Yeh, MSN Messenger works, IChat (if you are a MacAddict) works, but you can’t call your stateside bank or doctor with them, so the VOIPs give you more flexibility.
Amer . . .you get a time out.
of course its a ‘time out’ – i made it up you silly girl! – you take me wayyy too seriously sometimes!
You are so right, Amer. I can’t always “hear” the playfulness. OK, OK, you’re out of time-out now. 🙂