Many apologies and much embarassment here…. It appears it was the local server blocking me (though I have yet to understand why…)
Have removed the post in order to minimize damage from unfair lashing at TT. Not that they don’t deserve it for other reasons!
Thanks to readers in Timor for pointing me in the right direction.
5 comments
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March 25, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Allen
Well, they didn’t sensor your rant, which seemed like a bit of a test. Did you post something between the weekend drive and this one?
RESPONSE FROM MOGADISHU: The whole home page is censored, including the rant, as is the page with all the Timor-related entries. Though interestingly, they did not bother to censor the entries about Dubai. So it’s quite a selective censorship.
Fortunately Timor Telecom can only censor the site from being viewed WITHIN Timor. You lucky folks in the free world can still read it.
March 25, 2007 at 9:16 pm
giantpanda
All very interesting questions. I have to say, I’m rather surprised. I posted some rather critical posts regarding the political situation while I was in Dili last year at internet cafés. I don’t have any experience with blog censorship.
La’o Hamutuk or some of the media capacity building NGOs might have some insight or limited experience with this?
Perhaps this should be brought to Ramos-Horta’s attention, as he seems to have lost patience with TT.
And yes, ultimately the buck stops at Portugal Telcom. If you can find out more about this episode, please pass the information on, I think the Portuguese blogosphere would be interested.
Thank you for speaking up
giantpanda at Raiketak
March 25, 2007 at 11:57 pm
fatoldsod
I find this, if true, incredible. I have a couple of journalists in town at the moment who are doing a documentary on East Timor and democracy. We have an interview with JRH lined up later this week and I will most certainly bring this subject up. I also notice that Dili-gence hasn’t posted since 20/3/07. I wonder if this is a consequence of what you say.
FOS at Xanana Republic Gazette.
March 26, 2007 at 12:21 am
Muzzled
It’s amazing, really….
But TT is making an AWFUL lot of money. They charged an organization $1,800 setup fee for internet (not $500, as their outdated web site states), and the monthly fee is $2,100 a month for a lousy 256K connection. It is crazy. Meanwhile, Inet can’t get the lines they are supposed to have…
March 26, 2007 at 2:49 am
Charles Scheiner
Whatever censorship there was seems to be over or intermittent. I’m connecting to this blog from Dili, via Timor Telecom dial-up, without any problems other than the usual slowness.
I’d be the last to defend Timor Telecom’s service or rates, but are we sure there was deliberate censorship or is it just glitches or technical incompetence?