The Muslim nation blocks many sites on the basis that they are against the moral or religious values of the UAE, however the selection of sites in the past has often been arbitrary and includes a ban on VOIP, which appears to be more focused on maintaining profits at the two main telcos than concerns over moral values. Earlier this year the
social networking site Orkut fell afoul of UAE's blocking policies which also prevent access to dating sites.
The move may not be permanent as Facebook users are currently just experiencing a 'Page Not Found' error instead of the 'UAE Screen of Death' (as pictured) so the authorities may just be testing the waters. UAE Facebook users have been concerned about this possibility for some time and have set up an online petition.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-01-2007 @ 5:12PM
Aaron Robinson said...
USE TORPARK!
look up torpark
it's free and it's anonymous web browsing
Reply
10-01-2007 @ 6:41PM
lona said...
they gotta stop controling us, and pushing us away, facebook is part of our lifestyle , and in a regular use of facebook . there is nuthing unethical or illigal , if thats the case .. they should ban MOBILE PHONES. facebook is a module "middle man" not a source of Porn, nt even copyrighted music and vedios .
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10-01-2007 @ 7:23PM
nadari said...
What? UAE? With Dubai serving as its prayer center to the religion of greed, the superficial, conspicuous consumption, shallow thinking, worship of anything gucci, vuitton, chanel -- any 'luxury' name from the west, UAE wants may ban facebook?
Ethics? Religion? Unless it is for sale in a mall, it isn't guiding UAE national values.
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10-01-2007 @ 11:24PM
anita said...
this is a complaint my group had passed to etisalat
Facebook is a community webiste , that enables us to keep in contact with all our friends all over the world. , i DONT UNDERSTAND why would you close it, Facebook is just the lifestyle DUBAI gives US . no1 has time to ask about no1. no1 has patience to keep track of any relative/friend's life .. Facebook made it so easy and convenient to be able to know what is happening with our loved ones. plus it is an active tool for all the events and Radio stations . to interact with fans and customers. it is so friendly and borderless. Whoever wanna use it in a wrong way it is THEIR responsiblity .. WHAT R U CLOSING IT FOR? HI5 and myspace has so much disturbing contents , but facebook has nuthing, and if there are groups for explicit contents .. you just have to report it .. and you wouldnt come to know about it UNLESS u R SEARCHING for it.
I managed to find relatives for me i hv never expected to ever know how they look like , My relatives and family i dont even see them, we are all busy to stay online on MSN and chat, and you are only taking away our freedom on how to use our time and money for your SERVICES. We are so shocked how you could do that with no aparent reason.
if we cant facebook , we cant download, we cant talk through Voip , then what else is LEFT for internet communication ? EMAILS? thank you so much for such a convenient offering.
i eccepted everything before facebook, but now i just feel how controled we can be and WITH NO aparent convencing reason .. taking our freedom rights and we have to stay and keep supporting you and pay.
i am so dissapointed , this is not UAE
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10-02-2007 @ 12:29AM
Dave said...
Try http://www.facebook.com/login.php
it works, at least for now anyway...
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10-03-2007 @ 1:40PM
Ajay said...
i used pagemod.com as a proxy they blocked it..thn pmoder.info tht too they blocked.. but https://pagemod.com and http://pagemod.com:1234/ is working for me
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10-04-2007 @ 7:58AM
Cleo said...
False. Facebook is NOT blocked in the UAE. I am a UAE user and have no problem using it.
Cleo
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10-04-2007 @ 12:53PM
Ryan Nadel said...
I posted a story about this on NowPublic.com - see here:
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/661305
Feel free to comment.
Reply
10-13-2007 @ 1:32PM
arabfriendz said...
I didnt know about that that is new , well there is always another Arabic Community site such as http://www.arabfriendz.com
Reply
11-05-2007 @ 10:46AM
hamdi said...
hi
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11-05-2007 @ 10:57AM
hamdi said...
you make me want you .
Reply
11-07-2007 @ 3:02PM
shenal said...
want to open all blocked sites
Reply
11-11-2007 @ 5:16PM
hamdi said...
you make me want you
Reply
11-12-2007 @ 1:13PM
Ajay said...
PAGEmod new domain : http://www.qmoder.info
Reply