A Forbidden Country
Google has been developing a new platform called “Google Wave” for collaborative work online, but it won’t be released until later this year. There’s a button on the website that allows you to ask to be notified of the release, but when I clicked on the button, I got the following message:
| Error | |
Forbidden
Your client does not have permission to get URL /fb/forms/wavesignup/ from this server. (Client IP address: 91.144.19.142)
You are accessing this page from a forbidden country.
To be honest, accessing this particular technology isn’t all that important to me; left to my own devices, I would probably follow the same strategy I’ve fallen into with most technology and trends, which is waiting to see which ones emerge as most important before adopting them. But it’s not clear why Syrians as a whole should be prohibited from being a bit more proactive than I am. That it’s also easily accessible through a proxy is beside the point.
What most caught my attention about the message, though, was the phrasing of calling Syria a “forbidden country,” as exotic as that kinda sounds; from my perspective, of course, it’s not the country that’s forbidden, but the website.
Sasa said,
June 2, 2009 at 8:21 am
Far be it for me to defend this kind of thing (you know I’ve posted stuff against these blocks) but in this case, Google are just applying the sanctions. They are not allowed to let Syrian users download software (even free software).
Wave will eventually be a programme – although it does seem a bit weird that you can’t even sign up for info.
There have been a lot worse cases than this…like UK companies extra-territorially applying American sanctions on British citizens in Syria.
Sarah said,
June 3, 2009 at 5:44 am
Yeah, it’s more strange than truly egregious. What most struck me about it was really the strange phrasing of the “forbidden country” thing. Anyway, I don’t think blocks, from the Syrian government or anywhere else, are the biggest problem with the internet in Syria; the cost, speed, and availability seem far more important in determining to what extent Syrians will be able to take advantage of it as a tool.
علوش said,
June 4, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Does forbidding a technology on whole nation would make the world a better place?, are they punishing us for supporting the resistance against a clear and visible occupation.
I don’t care if they put us on forbidden list, we will figure out a way to use it, no one on this earth has the right to forbidden me from using the technology.