OK, so the Internet has really been getting on my last nerve lately. Usually, the wifi is pretty good and about up to snuff with US speeds. But in the past week or so, I’ve heard rumblings (and rumbled myself) about the difficulties of connecting to the net. Curiously, this also came at a time when I was able to log onto Blogspot (without using anonymizing software). At various times, and according to various people the Big Two sites (Gmail and Facebook) have been down. Until Saturday (1 December, when I had trouble even getting on to Google), I haven’t had a problem with either site. But that was just me apparently.

As with the last post, you may well be asking yourself “who cares?” Well, I’m posting this because I heard a rumor as to why Facebook was down. The source was convinced of the rumor’s veracity, but like I said, I haven’t had any problem, so for me it’s still just a rumor. Anyway, apparently, the daughter of some government Minister (I don’t know who and probably wouldn’t say if I did know) got a Facebook account and began attracting unsavory types. Someone found out about it and now – allegedly – Facebook has faced the same fate as Blogspot re: overall censorship and restricted access to the site.

On a related (though marginally at best) note, I heard something amusing not too long ago, although I forget the source. Someone was talking about censorship in this fair land and how they knew people having problems with Gmail. Or rather, how Americans were having problems with Gmail and were freaking out about not being able to access e-mail. I had to laugh because it reminded me of the great Blackberry scare of last year (or was it early this year?), and also because of the implied notion that all Americans have Gmail and/or that only Americans have Gmail.

OK, maybe that’s only amusing to me, but in a country where I don’t get to see The Office, I have to take my amusements where I can get them.

 

**Update: Chew on this. As for access being denied to Facebook, that is limited only to internet cafés. And thus, “everyone” has been talking about the proxy Facebook site. I’m not a huge Facebook junkie, so I have yet to try accessing it via the proxy. The wi-fi at the Starbucks (when it works) never gives me any problems with Facebook. So does that mean that wi-fi is harder to monitor?