Me, my dial up connection and my internet service provider...

Hmmm... I was wondering why I hadn't posted much after my initial flurry of posts. Is it because I'm just plain lazy or what? It is not as if I didn't go online afterwards, its just that I haven't been able to connect to this site due to the amazing net connection I have at home. It takes an insane amount of time to post anything on the blog.

I have a dial up connection which finds new methods to piss me off with amazing consistency on a regular basis. Now I know that sounds redundant, but I ain't not gonna change. ;)

Anyways, at present I am in UAE where everything is regulated pretty strictly. Contrary to popular belief there is a pretty ok (as in moderately below the so called 'normal' level) freedom of speech. Yeah, you ca say anything you want as long as it doesn't offend their 'values' in any way and of course, you shouldn't complain about the rulers. It sounds paradoxical, but all this amounts to "You can say anything you want, as long as it isn't directed against us."

Oops, went off track there. I wanted to talk more about my ISP. As most countries in the Middle East, there is a proxy server which blocks all sites that are not " consistent with their social, moral and political values" or some other bull. Note the word 'political'. So, it means that it will block alternate political views as well. Ahh...I cannot comment on that because truly I don't care about what these folks think.

Damn!!! Went off track again!!! What I wanted to point out was among the myriad of websites they have blocked, Flickr.com is blocked. Now most net savvy people know the website in question and recognise it to be Yahoo's photo sharing website. It is used widely all over the world and I was stumped as to why the damn site was blocked. I promptly sent an email to them, highlighting the fact that I didn't understand how this site could go against their so called 'cultural' and 'moral' values (I believe these were the actual words I used). Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the fact that they might not appreciate or understand the sarcasm. I sent that email in a moment of frustration and I didn't think much about it afterwards.

Imagine my surprise when I got a reply the very next day...I will paste the letter here...


Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Etisalat Customer Care Center.

Please be informed that we are unable to process the requested action for unblocking the site requested by you.

URL: www.flickr.com
Reason : Nudity

Once again we thank you for contacting us with your query and looking forward to serving you in the future.

Best regards,

Etisalat Customer Care Center
Tel: 101 (toll-free)
Email:help@eim.ae
URL:http://www.ecompany.ae

Serving you 24 hours, 7 days a week.


This letter just cracked me up. Damn, the reason just cracked me up. Anyways, I understood that there is no use trying to convince people who have stuffed their ears with cotton. But I appreciate the promptness of their reply though... And the reply was pretty professional. ;)

Sigh...thats lyfe...

P.S. I found that Flickr is not blocked by the UAE University. I was able to access Flickr from their library.