Despite all the fun we have in Dubai, there’s one thing in common that most people are annoyed by - Internet censorship

If you travel to the United Arab Emirates, you’d probably find that some of the sites you like suddenly go down. In fact, the dominant ISP, Etisalat, use proxy server blocks certain websites that they deem inappropriate to be viewed. An exact account of what sites they block is not publicly available, but hearsays suggest sites are blocked for the following reasons

1. Political
- Sites related to Israel or Jihadism
- Terrist organizations
- Sites on how to bypass censorship

2. Social
- Homosexual behavior, e.g. the Gay and Lesbian Arabic Society
- Online casinos
- Pornography
- Certain online dating websites

3. Economical
- Internet phone services such as Skype. As Etisalat is also the incumbant telecom operator in the UAE, things that can put its revenues at risk are banned

A site called hrw.org contains more information on censorship in the UAE

Whenever there’s censorship, there are ways to get around it. Numerous websites publish tricks on bypassing the Etisalat proxy server (some are still not blocked). I’m not detailing the how-tos here as it’s politically inappropriate to do so