Well, it’s finally official. Skype is now blocked all over Dubai. There have been some conflicting reports over the last week or so. Because my article about how to get Skype working in Dubai (skype.com has long been blocked, but if you get the software and find a way to top up your account with finds, the actual VoIP was working fine…) comes up on the first or second page of most related Google searches, I have been getting a rush of comments and emails saying it wasn’t working since about August 23. At that time, Skype stopped connecting on my Windows PC, but my primary laptop (Mac OS X G4 Powerbook) continued to work fine. Simultaneously, some friends of mine in local “free zones” who have Internet access provided by a company other than Etisalat, the UAE’s MONOPOLY telecom company, also complained that Skype had stopped connecting. For the last week, my Mac Skype, including the recent Video beta, worked fine.

That didn’t stop me from signing the online petition with the other pissed off 2000+ unafraid westerners. Many others have {whisper} secretly {/whisper]} expressed their displeasure but are too scared of legal and political repercussions to say so out loud or write it down. Fuck that.

Two days ago, I received a few emails that Skype was working again, and I had other friends confirm it was indeed working in the free zones, but not in Etisalat provided (most) areas of Dubai.

Today, my Mac stopped connecting. This is ironic because last night I spent an unprecedented 3 hours talking to various friends and family. Maybe I had a subconscious homesickness that the inexpensive Skype was able to cure without me even knowing it. It’s also ironic because my good friend Sally from Australia just got Skype working and we had planned our first real conversation for tonight. Sorry baby. All of our conversations are no more. Oh yeah, sorry, no IM either.

So, that’s it basically, there is no more easy access to my friends and family, and I never thought I would say this, but I am instantly homesick. There is a small throwupy feeling in my stomach, cause partially by anger and mostly by a sudden feeling of immense distance from the people I love.

If you can indulge me, I am now going to vent the anger part. This is the stupidest, most short sighted decision a growing “tolerant” government could possibly make. Allowing Etisalat its monopoly status can do nothing but line the pockets a few, and hurt the growth of Dubai forever. Etisalat of course, characterizes claims that this is monopoly greed as “unfair” but refuses to comment further or engage in a real public debate. If nobody answers any questions, nobody can be held accountable.

State-owned Etisalat - the country’s only fixed line operator –claims it did not ban Skype, but that the decision was made instead by the Dubai government.”

“It’s illegal to use voice over IP in the UAE and it is left to the regulatory authorities to allow or disallow such things,” Ahmed Bin Ali, public relations manager at Etisalat, told ITP Business. However, Bin Ali went on to admit that he didn’t know why a technology that is legal across most of the world had been banned in the UAE. “I don’t have the answer. Up ‘til now the technology itself has not been standardised,” he added.

Coincidentally, the Skype block comes as Etisalat itself prepares to launch its own VoIP service later this year. However, when quizzed on whether Etisalat might have been using its UAE government connections to ban VoIP competitors in advance, Bin Ali claimed this wasn’t the case. “That’s not a fair [accusation],” he said. “It (Skype) has been blocked because it is illegal to operate.”
May 2005, ITP.NET

Asked if the UAE banned Skype to protect its monopoly on telephone service, a spokesman for the state–owned firm said, “That’s not a fair [accusation].” But he declined to offer another explanation.” August 2005, FP, Foreign Policy

Many articles from back in 2005 explain that Etisalat planned to launch it’s own VoIP service later that year. Of course, that has not yet come to pass. One can imagine that when you can block the services of others, there is no reason to ever improve your own. Or drop the price. Or do anything for that matter. (I think you might remember that I had to rewire half my apartment with a Leatherman after Etisalat supposed “installed” my DSL. Systemic incompetence.)

Dubai: Cisco Systems, the global network solutions company, said it is negotiating with the UAE’s telecom operators, Etisalat and du, to launch Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the UAE.” July 2006, Gulfnews

The best part is that the software that makes this possible, even though we recently read about how it was not possible to block Skype, is made by an American company. According to Gulf News, the UAE was about to sign a deal with Bitek International early in 2005 to use their Guardian and Snyper software to block VoIP traffic. “We are in discussions with Etisalat for a product called Guardian which they can use to selectively choose what [programs] will or will not have access,” said Graham Butler, president and CEO of Bitek International. I bet Mr. Butler fully enjoys using Skype to call his friends and family for free from his mansion. Hey Graham, fuck you. Typical American ingenuity without responsibility. Make a buck, go ahead you fucking scumbag.

According to rumors, which Dubai is well-known for because it lacks a truly free press, Reuters local UAE offices, who use Skype exclusively, or at least some form of VoIP, for all their international calls, are furious over the blockage and are looking into moving Middle East locations. Good for them, but ironic, that a major news organization in the heart of a nearly news-free region is now part of the news because they can’t talk for free. Note: I can’t find any real news on this particular rumor…

Other companies are sure to follow. Telecommunications costs in Dubai are outrageously high, and outrageously unreliable. It simply doesn’t make sense to make it difficult and expensive for companies to open in your growing city. It doesn’t make sense to make the lives of foreign expats helping to build your city more difficult. It’s difficult enough to pack your things and move into the Middle East when busses and cafes blow up regularly, whether from suicide bombers or Israeli or American bombs. It doesn’t make sense to try, like China, to restrict information, free speech, and telecommunications when all you are doing is pissing people off and driving them away.

More recent rumors have suggested that Etisalat’s internet pipes are also bursting at the seams despite their 1 billion dollars profit last year. This is the exact problem with monopoly services. Too expensive, too poor, too slow, too controlled, too backward, too bad. (I wonder how much eliminating Skype is financial and how much is about cutting down some network traffic…)

For those of you who think the introduction of “Dubai’s second telecom provider”, du, will make any difference, think again. It’s all for show. Etislat is 60% government owned, du is 40% owned by the same government, and another 40% by Mubadala Development Company “a wholly owned investment vehicle of the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.” The “end of the monopoly” means the start of a “dualopoly” and the end of nothing. And they are quite happy to point at the TRA:

An Etisalat spokesman defended the company saying it’s up to the TRA to allow or ban VOIP. “Etisalat is just a communication provider which operates under the rules and regulations set by the TRA,” he added. Last night Osman Sultan, the CEO of Du, the new telecoms operator due to begin in the UAE later this year, confirmed that his company would have to abide by any TRA ban on VOIP. Last night a spokesman for the TRA said it is currently studying the issue and had not come to a decision. But another TRA source, who did not wish to be named, added: “This is not just about cheap phone calls for consumers, there are aspects of national security and operators’ interest that has to be addressed and investigated. It’s simply false to claim we are only interested with protecting the operators’ interest. After all, we are all consumers and cheaper calls would serve us all, but we have to do it in an organised and responsible manner.” 23 August 2006, 7Days

“National security”!!?? More like “operators’ interest”… “Organized and responsible”!!?? More like expensive and controlled…

Efonica, a Dubai-based VoIP company (now currently also blocked) plans to be ready to move as soon as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of United Arab Emirates rules on VoIP’s legality, expected to come within Q1 of 2007. Q1, 2007, the TRA will decide if VoIP is LEGAL, then we’ll see what the duopoly allows. Wanna take bets now? Oh wait, gambling is illegal here too.

So add this to the growing lost of blocked websites and services:
Skype
Yahoo! Messenger
AOL IM
Google Talk
Flickr
YouTube
BoingBoing
tor.eff.org (for proxies)
Idontlikeyouinthatway
Stephanie Klein
The Hun

Efonica, a VoIP company actually based in the UAE, is also blocked. So is the 100 million subscriber Vonage, as well as Net2phone, Webphone, DialPad, Babble, Go2Call, GizmoProject, IConnectHere, Lingo, MutualPhone, Netzero, Nikotel, Packet8, QuantumVoice, SipPhone, SunRocket, TeleSip, TerraCall, VoicePulse, and doubtless myriad others.” AME Info

For those of you still trying to connect, this guy over at The Enightened Blog has step by step instructions for bypassing the proxy on a PC. I have not yet tried it, but if anyone gets it to work, let me know.

For now, I am going to find a new place to live in one of the free zones, and hope that Skype stays on out there. It is unlikely to last long, but worth the effort even for the short term. If Dubai/UAE/Etisalat manages to shut down Skype everywhere, I will be leaving Dubai.

With that said, the more I talk, the more likely it is that Etisalat will block this website too. If that happens, I will also leave Dubai. I am no longer irritated or distressed by this bullshit. I am fucking offended, and money or no money, job or no job, I will leave this fucking place forever. Let Graham Butler explain it to my clients…