Orkut is blocked

[piccolomondo]

Internet users in the UAE have expressed anger over the decision of Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) to block the popular social network web site orkut.com.

TRA decided to block the site yesterday after discovering that obscene material was being posted by members of the network.

“We have received complaints from a newspaper and some individuals saying that objectionable material, including pornographic content, were posted on the site. We checked the site and found out that there were a few things which cannot be allowed in the UAE,” TRA spokesperson said.

“Our technical affairs department has issued an official letter to Etisalat to block the site,” he added.

An Etisalat official said, “Orkut was blocked following instructions from TRA.”

Meanwhile, many Internet users have branded the decision as “burning the house to kill a rat.”

“It is a childish decision to block orkut.com. I managed to keep contact with all my friends across the world through Orkut.

After I began using Orkut, I got connected with my old friends whom I had lost contact with,” said Arif Zain, a resident in Dubai.

“I understand that some people misused the site. But it is a common phenomenon for any social network. In this case, I would suggest TRA should ban Internet,” he added.

Delphin Vinod, a resident in Abu Dhabi, said the decision was unfortunate. “Technology has always been misused. But that does not mean that we should stop using technology. Instead of blocking the site, they should streamline it,” she said.

Wilson Joseph, a media professional, said, “It was an immature decision. I agree that some people posted some pornographic pictures and video on the site. But the users can choose what they want. Blocking the site was not the solution.”

“All the social networks and chat rooms on the Internet have been misused. Orkut was very helpful in reuniting old friends and meeting new friends,” he added.

[source]

[Bent_Bladi]

I wonder how the world would react if myspace and facebook were blocked

[piccolomondo]

BB, don't underestimate the orkut.com metrics, I read somewhere that it's getting more traffic than ebay or amazon.com!

Anyway, a world without facebook, myspace, hi5, orkut, youtube... wikiS... a.com... will collapse from 'abstinence syndrome'.

[Bent_Bladi]

true....

...but remember when people used to read books?

[piccolomondo]

Is it possible to police the internet?

[...] What effect blocking the site will have remains to be seen. It will keep people from "inadvertently" typing the web address and then "accidentally" entering a user name and password and, er, "mistakenly" viewing illicit content. This is provided that these people don't know how to break through etisalat's filter. The filter may manage to keep the masses off of these sites, but as many people in Dubai have discovered, getting through the filter doesn't take much effort.

Whether the TRA decides to keep a total ban, or introduce a partial ban as used on some sites, is also still unknown. While a partial block may be welcome, or at least grudgingly accepted, by users of the site, no one is going to envy etisalat, which seems to increasingly finding itself having to track down and block every new site that creeps up.

It may seem an easy task, until you look at the numbers. There were an estimated 420 million pornographic sites as of 2005, and according to netcraft.com, over 30.9 million new sites were added to the internet last year, although how many of those contained illicit material is unknown. That means one new website appears every second. [...]

[full article]

[piccolomondo]

Facebook is next in line to get the axe

Social networking website Facebook could be in for a ban in the UAE following the government's decision to block Orkut.com. But popular social networking website Facebook is not blocked in the UAE, despite the site being littered with groups and discussion boards about sex.

Graphic images and descriptions are freely available to view on many of the site’s pages, with surfers encouraged to join in by adding pictures and comments. Some sexually explicit material is found under the UAE 'network' on the site. The majority of the members of this 'network' are likely to live in the UAE.

The UAE also has a ban on social networking websites Flicker and Hi5, and only recently lifted a ban MySpace and video-sharing site YouTube.

The Emirates' monopoly internet service provider Etisalat banned Orkut.com on Tuesday upon orders from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The TRA issued a formal letter to the UAE's internet service providers to block the site after receiving complaints - flagged by the UAE's Gulf News newspaper - that the site posted ‘objectionable' material.

Google-owned Orkut claims to be designed to reunite old friends, and help users keep in touch and meet new friends.

However recent reports have claimed that thousands of users in the UAE were joining sexually explicit communities which some say are plentiful on the website.

Google executives have said they will try and negotiate with UAE authorities after they blocked the website.

"We're disappointed that Orkut is being blocked because it's a great way for people to meet, socialise and share interests. We will be reaching out to the authorities to try to resolve this," a Google spokesperson told Gulf News.

The move has fueled speculation among UAE internet-users and fans of popular social sites as to whether networking giant Facebook - the second most visited such website and with 28 million members worldwide - is next in line to get the axe.

The TRA was not immediately available for comment.

[source]