Internet in Iraq

  It feels really weird sitting in an internet cafe in Baghdad, it seems that the Iraqis in internet cafes are very interested in privacy, the computer am sitting on right now has got to plastic plates on the sides of it's monitor to prevent any other user from seeing what I do, but it is equipped with anything an internet surfer or chatter might need, beginning from fast internet and ending in a webcam. It has got multiple other internet programs, which are shortcutted all in the desktop. Some are user installed and some are installed by the owner of the cafe.

  Now this brings me to another chapter of the Average Iraqi Life. How does the Average Iraqi handles internet. Most of the new young men of the country know how to use internet, and have at least a Yahoo email accounts. Strange as it is, most Iraqis begin their internet experiment with chatting, and the majority of them doesn't do anything but chat, entering user rooms, clubs, political debates sometimes, even fightclubs... Then some of them, those who are able to speak English might find their ways into other areas of the internet, like yahoo groups, skype, kazaa and blogger. The names I mentioned are just samples, some find their other ways, it depends on the tastes of the Iraqi. The strange thing is I find that most of most of my friends who know the address of my blog, does read it, but they don't dare blog, they don't even dare comment, even if they find something really provoking.

  The only way to get internet before the war was by Dial Up. But it was censored, every web location you go to is noted and everything you do in it in known, and the dial up was really hard to reach, because it was the only number in Iraq, and it still is. After the war things changed; First there was a few other dial up numbers which you connect to them free, since it was still chaos and the U.S. wanted to maintain a good image. Then those disappeared and the dial up system came back, but it was different, much expanded and not censored, and then the wireless entered Iraq, it is a satellite connection networked around multiple subscribed users, but it is not very stable. In my case we have been to two providers until now and thinking of trying a third, not satisfied with the service so far.

  Today I went to the university, by the way I had succeeded my exams and I came fifth on my class. In a class of almost sixty students only eighteen of them passed from first attempt, not a very good figure, it was almost twice the number last year. Well as some of you might have noted from the comments of my last post, I have became 20 on Thursday, and when I got my first congratulation I had completely forgotten that this was my birthday, I usually see it coming days ago, but this time I was the last to know. Anyway, thank you all.

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