In 2007, Comcast became the first (but certainly not last) internet service provider to begin censoring the internet. Blocking specific web sites, or connecting at such a slow speed that a web site would become useless. Blocking peer-to-peer communications (BitTorrents, Limewire and other file sharing networks), and altogether being a big Orwellian asshole.
Now Comcast joins fellow communication giants Direct TV and Time Warner to block Al Jazeera English from being seen in the US… Lame. (Looks like CNN is afraid of a little competition.)
Ok but before you all are like, “Al Jazeera? Aren’t they like terrorist or some shit?” I’m gonna go ahead and need you to stop being from New Jersey for one minute. Yes, Al Jazeera is probably most know for airing the Bin Laden tapes after 9/11. But no, they are not terrorist. (Although some groups have charged the original Al Jazeera, not the English one, with being slightly anti-Israeli in it’s news coverage.)
Al Jazeera English is a completely separate news source. It’s really not that different from NPR… Seriously. NPR.org and English.AlJazeera.net both shared two major news stories today on their front pages that CNN.com did not even mention. Take a look…
Not to mention that it’s aired all over Europe.
So why is it blocked here in the US and in Canada?
Are they finally worried about propaganda?
Guess not.
I forget you guys, is it… “Freedom of the press” or, “Freedom from the press?”
TTLY, Conrad
Al Jazeera Meets American Resistance (Business Week)
Comcast blocks some Internet traffic (MSNBC)
