Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Middle East censors seek to limit Web access

From McClatchy's here
"...The ultraconservative Saudi government, a close U.S. ally, blocks thousands of Web sites that deal with pornography, religion, politics and human rights. Medical students at Saudi universities have complained that they can't even access scientific sites to study human anatomy.
Fed up with the growing list of banned sites, a 25-year-old finance student named Hani Noor helped his cousin to create a Facebook group called, "We All Hope They Don't Block Facebook in Saudi Arabia." As of Monday, the group had 225 members and a message board that focused on tips for the best proxies to get around government bans.
Noor, however, hit on an even better solution: he signed up for satellite Internet, which means his connection is now free from the long arm of the Saudi censors.
"I'm off the hook," Noor said with a triumphant laugh in a telephone interview from his home in Saudi Arabia. "We are winning. They're blocking, but we've always found a way to overcome it."

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