| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
|
 Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 3:01 pm Post subject: A Blog on Life in Qatar |
 |
|
Since people ask this now and again, here is a blog that I found posted on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree.
The blogger is an American Muslim who has moved with his family to Qatar. Some may accuse him of being overly positive about life in the country, and I didn't notice what employment he is in. He does cover many of the controversial stories in the local news though, so he isn't sugar coating all.
Lots of nice pictures...
http://www.qatari.blogspot.com/ |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
|
| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 3:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Thanks for the link vs. some of it really made me laugh |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
QatarChic
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 445
Location: Qatar
|
| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 5:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Thanks VS!!!
Riveting stuff- he really gives an insight into life there- but I think I'll give sheeps' eyes a miss though  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bindair Dundat
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 1123
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
I'm so glad that the UAE protected your virtue BD.
It took me awhile, but I finally figured out which pictures were censored. (I think... january 1 entry?) It was the article about the camel jockeys!!! There was a photo of some kids on the camels and then a close-up of one of the boys.
Is that ridiculous or what?!?! 
VS |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 1:08 am Post subject: Re: A Blog on Life in Qatar |
|
|
How bad exactly is the censorship in UAE and is there a way around it?
It is an interesting blog. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
younggeorge
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 350
Location: UAE
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 2:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
On home internet connections, which have to go through the proxy server of the sole telecoms provider, anything sexual is blocked and anything critical of the UAE is likely to be. Normally it's a whole site that's blocked, not individual pictures, so maybe these pictures were hosted on a different site from the others - I haven't checked that out. Sometimes they do pick up on a single article from a website that's otherwise permitted; for example, one of the travel articles in the Guardian (UK newspaper) that made a few comments about bad taste in Dubai's architecture, lifestyle, etc, was blocked - but it took them a week or two to spot it, by which time most people had already read it and chuckled over it and it was off the regular site anyway.
The international newspapers online, plus BBC, CNN etc are all available and not censored - not till the news is cold anyway.
The universities and colleges - and major companies with dedicated internet services, I believe - have unrestricted access but only onsite, so you can't log in from home through your college service.
Last edited by younggeorge on Sat May 21, 2005 5:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 9:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
It's pictures of women's dresses.
They are blocked because the hosting site can contain lots of innapropriate images they know nothing about. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
younggeorge
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 350
Location: UAE
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 11:27 am Post subject: Re: A Blog on Life in Qatar |
|
|
Strange: those links don't work on my ZU connection, which is virtually unrestricted, but the actual blog seems to be complete and correct. Haven't tried the blog from home yet (i.e. through the censored Etisalat proxy). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bindair Dundat
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 1123
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 11:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
| veiledsentiments wrote: |
It took me awhile, but I finally figured out which pictures were censored. |
ALL the pictures were censored. The two URLs that I posted were for pictures of dresses in shop windows. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bindair Dundat
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 1123
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 11:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
| younggeorge wrote: |
| On home internet connections, which have to go through the proxy server of the sole telecoms provider, anything sexual is blocked and anything critical of the UAE is likely to be. |
They seem to block on key words. One of them is "privacy". They may subscribe to one of the many services that provide lists of key words and URLs.
Also, access to any usenet servers except their own is blocked. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I'm ignorant on this subject. How are sites blocked? Apparently the ford Anglia website is blocked in qatar.On the subject of censorship I once bought a telegraph and there was a picture of Cherie Blair wearing a T-shirt. Her arms were blackened out! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bindair Dundat
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 1123
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 12:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| dmb wrote: |
| How are sites blocked? |
The most common way is to have a "filter" in a proxy server that looks for the key words that are at the top of most html pages. Everything goes through the proxy server, and when there's a key-word match the download is blocked.
They can also block by URL, by ip address, by port number, or by matching content strings. They block usenet in the UAE by closing off port 119, which is the port that newsreaders use to connect to NNTP servers.
They can block by file type, too, and it appears that they do so with that blog. It looks like the proxy server is replacing every .jpg from that blog page with a tiny little rectangle. The replacement is so that the browser won't slow down while waiting for the .jpgs that never come. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
younggeorge
Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 350
Location: UAE
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 5:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Bindair Dundat wrote: |
| dmb wrote: |
| How are sites blocked? |
They can block by file type, too, and it appears that they do so with that blog. It looks like the proxy server is replacing every .jpg from that blog page with a tiny little rectangle. The replacement is so that the browser won't slow down while waiting for the .jpgs that never come. |
Maybe it's because I opened it first on my uncensored connection at work so now it can read from the cache, but now I've opened it at home and the pics appear normally in the blog but produce the "blocked" message when you click on them. I don't think I've seen anything quite like that before
Anyway, enough of the quirks of UAE internet: the blog itself is a good read, the man's obviously got a sense of humour. A lot of it applies equally to the UAE. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
spicegirl
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Posts: 112
|
| Posted: Sat May 21, 2005 7:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Gordon asks how bad the censorship is in the UAE - until yesterday, I would've said it's not bad. However, I went to a website that I've used before to order posters, etc. I used it last year from the UAE, ordered my stuff and received it successfully. Yesterday I found the same site was blocked. I contacted Etisalat by phone and e-mail, and asked them to unblock the site - they've always done this before when I've requested it. I've just got a message to say the site contains pornography. Well, maybe it does, but I'll never know. BTW, the site is www.allposters.com.
Anyone outside the UAE want to try it and let me know just how dreadful the site is .....? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
