<<<Quite apart from being impossible to fully block, the ban on VoIP is foolish on so many levels. As well as losing Etisalat a share of the internet telephony pie, it's actively driving businesses away. Telco execs, such as British Telecom's Olivier Campenon, openly admit that there are international companies deciding not to set up in the UAE because of sky-high expensive and restricted communications costs.

It is difficult in cultures that are used to restrictiveness and social oppression to come to terms with an open, uncontrollable phenomenon like the internet. But there is no going back. The internet - and its users - will win every battle, circumvent every block, break every wall tha...

<<<Quite apart from being impossible to fully block, the ban on VoIP is foolish on so many levels. As well as losing Etisalat a share of the internet telephony pie, it's actively driving businesses away. Telco execs, such as British Telecom's Olivier Campenon, openly admit that there are international companies deciding not to set up in the UAE because of sky-high expensive and restricted communications costs.

It is difficult in cultures that are used to restrictiveness and social oppression to come to terms with an open, uncontrollable phenomenon like the internet. But there is no going back. The internet - and its users - will win every battle, circumvent every block, break every wall that governments, telcos and ISPs put up.>>>
from article.

I find a marvellous and powerful human story in all of this.