Block My Tongue

What I absolutely love.

Having spent the last hour trying to fix the language translation option on the blog.

Re-reading through HTML (from what I remember) and scouring the web for forums and samples.

Trying to repost, test, repost, test, again and again.

Trying every bloody possible service from Google to Alta Vista.

Then finding out that Etisalat blocks translation sites and the translated site can't be accessed.

Right . . .

And you're then brought to the page here that all of as in UAE know oh so well . . .

WHY? How does this offend any religious, cultural, political or moral values here??

Am I missing something here??

First of all, as some of you may know, Etisalat, the Emirates' chief telecom and Internet provider, and don't be a smart-ass and even bring up Du, (Ask Ali, he'll tell ya alla about it) blocked Skype and other Internet phone providers, on the completely logical argument that they had no license to sell phone service. Etisalat's profits have been sky rocketing since then. Like other Voice over Internet Protocol systems, Skype breaks sounds into data packets just like e-mail and Web traffic and reassembles them at the recipient's end. What happens then is that the VOIP calls are much cheaper because they travel over the open Internet and don't tie up dedicated circuits like regular phone calls.

"People don't understand the harm of a provider that has no obligations to this country," said Mohammed Ghuaith, director of technology for the Emirates Telecommunication Regulatory Authority. "Are the conversations secure? Are they being recorded? Will they steal information? Will they sell it? These are the things we need to look at.'

What I don't get at all, why really use the word obligation? Obligation to what? Security? Are you serious? What about the Internet overall, regular and cell phone lines? What about that security? Skype is the ultimate threat in Dubai?? Shouldn't there be an alert status raised? It's so bloody ridiculous I can't even begin to explain the frustrations I share with many people here. There are so many people here who (throwing in a 'new' word here) globally use this Estonian-based VoIP and shouldn't have to be controlled and regulated by monopoly telecoms!

This pisses me because people don't only use Skype for the low prices, but also for the conference/messaging medium which has contributed to successful meetings and synchronization of business operations. I fell in love with it when I first started, and it's idiotic one can't use it at work or home.

So for now . . . if your engrish no gud, my apologies, until I find a way around. Sometimes living here is like a George Orwell fantasy . . .