[wordup] Free internet in Iraq

[Adam Shand]

From:http://www.dear_raed.blogspot.com/2003_06_01_dear_raed_archive.html#200369579

  :: Sunday, June 01, 2003 ::

     Ya Allah have mercy on our souls. The old state owned Internet 
center in Adil district has been taken over by anarchists and they are 
offering internet access for FREE. You just need to dial up a number, no 
password, no special settings. Whoever heard of anyone doing that?

     About week ago a rumor spread that the Adil center has put up a sat 
dish and will be using the setup the Iraqi government used to have to 
provide the service. [Uruklink.net] is back. The people who used to work 
there opened the center 4 days ago; you can have an hour of internet for 
as little as 2000dinars. Take that you greedy sharks. The center is very 
well equipped, they put together 30 of their best computers and have a 
very good connection (ok so 30 computers in a city of 5 million is 
nothing, but it is a start). They even got military protection. The 
people who work there got a couple of soldiers from the nearest army 
checkpoint to take a look, the officer asked if it was OK for his men to 
check on their emails and stuff. The reaction the first couple of guys 
who came in was a very amazed “Wow!”.

     Yesterday they put up a piece of paper that said: “we are happy to 
announce that you can get free internet access by dialing up this 
number”. A small little paper on the notice board. The telephone network 
is not fully operational, certain districts don’t have phones at all, 
but as I wrote earlier many of the exchanges that have not been 
destroyed or looted have been linked together. You will need to keep 
dialing for an hour to get thru but it works, I tried it.

     Not a million bad things could have wiped the grin off my face when 
I read that little note.

     Baghdad will also be getting its first GSM network in about two 
weeks. A couple of thousand lines as a first step, mainly for NGOs and 
Administration. I think it is going to be MCI who will set this up.

     Radio SAWA should be playing the Stereo MC’s “Connected” all the time.

     :: salam 2:39 PM [+] ::