[Qatar-pm] What material does Qtel block?

[Nigel Gourlay]

> www.thepiratebay.com <- Torrent Search Engine
> www.metacafe.com <- Media Sharing same with YouTube
> www.qhell.com :))

None are blocked. The filter seems pretty good at blocking porn
(probably using SmartFilter's list), but the other sites it blocks are
pretty random. I think that Qtel just responds to angry emails, rather
than searching out sites.

> Thanks SSH I can access everything with out any pain-in-the-ass by Q Hell!

Yes. It would be madness from a business perspective to block port 22.
No one would have a secure route out of the country. I guess if
tunneling became a widespread method and someone complained it would
be blocked too.

The same goes for the ports used by peer-to-peer software, although of
course a few of the clients use tricks to avoid being blocked. It
seems weird that you would block a popular torrent search engine, but
not bittorrent itself.

Qtel could easily block all ports apart from those being filtered, but
they don't. Amongst those I've asked, most people think that filtering
porn is a good idea. Even Europeans have told me that they think these
sorts of filters should exist in their home countries, which seems to
suggest that most people don't find the filter annoying. I do.

--nigel