So farewell then non censored surfing

It seems the Etisalat (and Son of Etisalat) big brother regulator has decided that all in the UAE must only be able to see censored web content. Including bizarrely the news organisations that were lured here with the promise of unfettered access and no govt interference.

They were also promised competition in ISPs and that other offshore cables would be brought ashore to lift our connectivity to the hi tech economy, but not much is said about that any more...

As for the comments on Skype they are laughable,

"“We are not protecting anyone," says Ghanim, keen to show that Etisalat is not going to get an easy ride from his office.

However when talking about Skype he blatantly says that it is banned because it provides phone services at the end of the ip- ip connection.

Doh - what is that if not protection.