Truemors
Oppressive governments the world over struggle with the access to information provided by the internet. The banning of YouTube in Morocco, the firewall in China, and most recently the apparent blocking of Facebook in the United Arab Emirates are just a sampling of cases.
Users of Facebook in the United Arab Emirates have been left wondering if their access to the site will continue after major telco Etisalat appeared to have blocked the site today. Many Web sites are actively blocked in the Persian Gulf country which is home to a large expatriate community from India, the US, Europe and other countries in the Middle East.
Blocking of websites is usually attributed to religious fundamentalism. Even though the millions of p[ictures of people drinking and having a 'good time' could stir some to question their faith...Facebook is pretty benign.
The Muslim nation blocks many sites on the basis that they are against the moral or religious values of the UAE, however the selection of sites in the past has often been arbitrary and includes a ban on VOIP, which appears to be more focused on maintaining profits at the two main telcos than concerns over moral values. Earlier this year the social networking site Orkut fell afoul of UAE's blocking policies which also prevent access to dating sites.
The move may not be permanent as Facebook users are currently just experiencing a 'Page Not Found' error instead of the 'UAE Screen of Death' (as pictured) so the authorities may just be testing the waters. UAE Facebook users have been concerned about this possibility for some time and have set up an online petition.
See here for the petition.
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