Banned on the Run
I have recently discovered that all of the pictures from this blog have been banned in the UAE. Not the text, only the pictures.
I am actually quite baffled by that… I can think of four possible reasons… either it was because of the pictures of the camel jockeys (January archives), the picture of Fitri Iskandar’s wounds (April), the painting of women in traditional dress (March), or my daughter’s birth (January).
It would be strange to censor out the jockey pictures, considering that the UAE has joined Qatar in banning the practice. I took those myself, but similar photos have appeared in both the local and regional press.
The Fitri Iskandar case is a likely prospect, but those photos were taken from our local paper (I think that they are the only ones on this blog that are someone else’s). They are widely available in cyberspace, as are similar photos. I personally think that it’s vitally important that anyone who employs a maid be aware of these cases.
The painting of women in traditional dresses is a longshot… it’s completely innocuous despite the caption (an attempt at humor… “Qatari Women Unveiled”). It shows three ladies wearing long traditional dresses, without niqab. It’s a painting for crying out loud! LOL
My daughter’s birth photo does not show my wife at all. Although my daughter is technically naked, her position is such that nothing errr…. embarrassing… is revealed (can someone really be embarrassed by a newborn baby?).
My guess is that it was the maid photo… In any case, I had said before on this blog that both Qatar and the UAE had freedom of the press. I guess I have to retract that. Only Qatar seems committed to a free press. All Gulf countries censor internet pornography, but I have yet to see Qatar censor any political content… pretty much any view you could imagine is available here, and rightly so. If you trust folks to make up their own minds, they’ll usually call it right.
For you in the UAE, I’ll try to be descriptive in the captions…just use your imagination!
I am actually quite baffled by that… I can think of four possible reasons… either it was because of the pictures of the camel jockeys (January archives), the picture of Fitri Iskandar’s wounds (April), the painting of women in traditional dress (March), or my daughter’s birth (January).
It would be strange to censor out the jockey pictures, considering that the UAE has joined Qatar in banning the practice. I took those myself, but similar photos have appeared in both the local and regional press.
The Fitri Iskandar case is a likely prospect, but those photos were taken from our local paper (I think that they are the only ones on this blog that are someone else’s). They are widely available in cyberspace, as are similar photos. I personally think that it’s vitally important that anyone who employs a maid be aware of these cases.
The painting of women in traditional dresses is a longshot… it’s completely innocuous despite the caption (an attempt at humor… “Qatari Women Unveiled”). It shows three ladies wearing long traditional dresses, without niqab. It’s a painting for crying out loud! LOL
My daughter’s birth photo does not show my wife at all. Although my daughter is technically naked, her position is such that nothing errr…. embarrassing… is revealed (can someone really be embarrassed by a newborn baby?).
My guess is that it was the maid photo… In any case, I had said before on this blog that both Qatar and the UAE had freedom of the press. I guess I have to retract that. Only Qatar seems committed to a free press. All Gulf countries censor internet pornography, but I have yet to see Qatar censor any political content… pretty much any view you could imagine is available here, and rightly so. If you trust folks to make up their own minds, they’ll usually call it right.
For you in the UAE, I’ll try to be descriptive in the captions…just use your imagination!
posted by dervish at Sunday, May 22, 2005
3 Comments:
Did UAE block flikr altogether or just your photos on flikr? Saudi had blocked flikr for a while than unblocked it. Difficult thing to do with censoring the web, usually things get blocked that isn't the main reason for being blocked.
My suggestion, put the money out for uncensored internect acces.
All of flickr is banned in the UAE. Don't worry, they've got nothing against your blog. It's the internet as a whole they have trouble with. For a country so desperate to show itself off, they sure do have a weird censorship policy when it comes to the internet.
I am investigating this now. If it turns out that my entire photo host is banned, and not just me, then I will retract my statement.
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