The Censorship Saga Continues...

Bahrainblogs.org, an aggregator of Bahraini blogs and nothing more, has been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Vultures. All it did was put all the blogs about Bahrain in one easy to find place, and nothing more. Blocking it is like banning the phone book because you don't like some of the people listed in it. I'd love to know what regulations and/or laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrainblogs.org allegedly violated. Perhaps it was that, y'know, regulation type thing about linking to stuff that could possibly contain opinion. No such rule? Who cares? Block it anyway. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

First of all, it's only blocked in Bahrain. It will still be updated (I hope) and read (I know) by people here and abroad. I wonder if the Ministry realises that blocking sites only blocks them locally? I don't think they do. I think they think that by clicking their magic block button, all the criticisms will disappear. Nobody will ever get a chance to read them ever again. And the opinionated bloggers, they'll be so utterly frustrated by the big powerful Ministry's actions that they'll give up blogging all together. 

Morons.

As soon as they press their magic block button people get curious. And curiosity is far more powerful than any stupid blue coat firewall. Anyone with a hint of inspiration has already figured out how to bypass the pointless blockages, and with every new blockage emerges a wave of new bypass experts. Soon their whole morality-upholding experiment will be proven to be what it actually is: a complete, utter waste of time and money. Their time. Our money. 

The more they block stuff, the more people sit up and take notice. And when they take notice, they criticise. And when the right people criticise, even more people take notice. And soon everyone knows that Bahrain is "getting the hang of China's tricks". Not my words, but the words of Foreign Policy magazine. They talk about the 'pornography' excuse - 'a government-sanctioned effort to crack down on online vulgarity -- to shut down several sites offering highly critical opinions on political and social issues in modern China.' Sound familiar?

So now we're being directly compared to China, by reputable international publications. How the hell is that progress? Shouldn't someone get in trouble? After all, all Bahrain has ever cared about is its reputation. We blush when people call us progressive and democratic and free, so naturally we should be outraged when we are being compared to China, shouldn't we? Why are the only people getting disciplined are very same people who have been pointing out, from day one, that censorship is primitive and pointless?

Interestingly, the article goes on to point out that users who never wanted to access porn or political content are more likely to learn how to use censor-evading tools so that they can do the things they'd like to do online. This is known as the Cute Cat theory of digital activism. Read it. 

Make no mistake - the blocking will continue.  There is no way, no chance in hell, that they'll consider giving up now. So they'll cover their eyes and plug their ears and go on their merry way, barricading access to anything remotely opinionated or 'immoral'. And the blogging will go on. And the criticisms will get louder and louder and louder.  And eventually, when Bahrain's reputation has been dragged through the mud repeatedly, someone somewhere in the upper echelons of some ministry somewhere will realise that nothing has been achieved. But by then it'll probably be too late.