back to article Pacific nation accidentally does good thing in web crackdown

The Pacific nation of Nauru has been accused of censoring internet access to stifle opposition to the ruling government and possibly to suppress communications at an Australian detention facility for asylum seekers on the island. However it appears that the Nauruan net crackdown has also freed its people from the menace of …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    United States of Nauru?

    A Christian nation that keeps 10% of its populace in prison camps, in order to 'protect the children'?

    Hmm, sounds familiar.

    The prisoners are grumbling - I wonder this is ever heard in the halls of Congress?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Really?

      Um, actually, it's not their population. They host a detention centre for the Australians, who have thus offshored their refugees (or 'nasty immigrants', of course, depending how UKIP-ish your views area).

      I'd agree that a Christian nation shouldn't enter into such a deal, even for a not-particularly Christian nation like Australia - though it's easier to appeal to the morals of a Christian nation that one that isn't.

      But then we in Britain are not in the strongest of positions to complain too much about the Aussies using squalid off-shore prison camps, considering what we used Australia for to start with...

      1. Andrew Meredith

        Re: Really?

        @AC "Australians, who have thus offshored their refugees (or 'nasty immigrants', of course, depending how UKIP-ish your views area)."

        Yet again, boring, ignorant pokes at a now mainstream party. Do have a think about the difference between "UKIP are opposed to open door immigration" and "UKIP hates immigrants". The former is party policy and the latter is the spiteful spin put on it by the new-trendy-lefty-alliance. If you are happy to have your opinions and moral position handed down to you by Marxists then carry on. If however you have any pretence of thinking for your own self, then look up the *actual* UKIP party policies.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

          Re: Really?

          How about spending time looking up what UKIP candidates and supporters say and do? There you see a disconnect between published policy and practice. A dramatic disconnect.

          UKIP = ultraconservative xenophobic peckerheads. It's that simple.

          And no, they aren't mainstream. Thank Jibbers.

  2. ItsNotMe
    Facepalm

    And as we all know...

    ...before Farcebook...there was absolutely no way at all to communicate over the Internet.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And as we all know...

      ...and we also know there is no legitimately useful or informative speech on Facebook, so it's ok to gloat at banning it.

    2. Intractable Potsherd

      Re: And as we all know...

      "before Farcebook...there was absolutely no way at all to communicate over the Internet."

      This ^^. I have never understood how Facebook is better than email/IM - now maybe all these people will find out that there are better ways to communicate without spaffing their words to all and sundry.

  3. Hollerith 1

    Should we be depressed?

    I find it sad that a nation's best financial future is to be a prison-camp for other nations. I used to think bending the knee to toursim and becoming a nation of bellhops was the most demeaning choice a small country could make, but now that's been beaten. And 'Christian nation' would surely be seeking to rehabilitate prisoners or alleviate their lot ("I was in prison and ye did vist me", from memory).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Re: Should we be depressed?

      ... nation's best financial future is to be a prison-camp for other nations ...

      Pretty much sums up how Australia was started.

      Could you pass me the one with the boomerang in the pocket ...

      1. Hollerith 1

        Re: Should we be depressed?

        Yes, but as far as I recall, the Aboriginal peoples of Australia didn't initate the scheme, nor did they run it.

        Though that would have been an interesting cultural experiment.

    2. Gray Ham Bronze badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Should we be depressed?

      Yes, it is very sad that a nation has no other future than to serve as a gaol. Although much of Nauru's plight is self-inflicted, or rather government inflicted, (see http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/how-nauru-threw-it-all-away/5312714), it is hard to condemn Nauruans for taking this option - rather, the responsibility for this prison camp should be placed where it belongs, with Australia's last two governments, both headed by (supposedly) Christian prime ministers.

      1. Hollerith 1

        Re: Should we be depressed?

        Point very well made, G. Ham.

  4. Turtle

    Everything You Need To Know About Nauru In A Nutshell. Errrr... make that Pie Crust.

    "Nauruans are the most obese people in the world; 97 percent of men and 93 percent of women are overweight or obese. In 2012 the obesity rate was 71.7%."

    "As a result, Nauru has the world's highest level of type 2 diabetes, with more than 40 per cent of the population affected. Other significant dietary-related problems on Nauru include kidney disease and heart disease."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Everything You Need To Know About Nauru In A Nutshell. Errrr... make that Pie Crust.

      I wonder what the going rate for a non-obese non-overweight Naurian islander female is.

      1. x 7

        Re: Everything You Need To Know About Nauru In A Nutshell. Errrr... make that Pie Crust.

        "non-obese non-overweight Naurian islander female"

        I believe that is today's oxymoron

    2. Hollerith 1

      Re: Everything You Need To Know About Nauru In A Nutshell. Errrr... make that Pie Crust.

      The USA has just a leetle bit of ground to make up. It's already Number One for prisons-per-population.

    3. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Everything You Need To Know About Nauru In A Nutshell. Errrr... make that Pie Crust.

      Nauru is incredibly corrupt (as are most small pacific countries)

      The leadership is more afraid that the Internet offers anonymised ways of open criticism of the nepotism and cronyism than it is of pornography.

  5. Joseph Eoff

    Protect the children

    Give the pervs free internet with no filters. They'll stay at home with one hand on their mouse and the other on the computer's mouse and never bother the kids.

  6. x 7

    We should build a similar holding centre in the Falklands and send all our illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers there. Hold them there for five years or so while they learn how to behave and live like Britons - and how to earn a living and speak English. Once the news got out the rush to get to the UK would soon drop. All those people from sunny countries would quickly realise the Falklands weren't for them. Any that fail would get sent back to their origin - or be offered a free trip to Argentina

    1. D 13

      I'm fairly sure that migrants from Africa don't come to the UK for it's warm weather and they'd be more than happy with the Falklands deal.

      RE "Hold them there for five years or so while they learn how to behave and live like Britons"

      It doesn't take five years to learn how to binge drink, eat a kebab and then beat the shit out of a passing stranger.

  7. Youngone Silver badge

    Pacific Problems

    I may be more qualified to comment on Pacific affairs than many of the other commentards here, as I am a Pacific Islander.

    The particular Pacific Island I live on has closer ties to Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Fiji than Nauru, but those places have many of the same problems.

    Pacific Islanders tend to be friendly, laid back people with a live and let live sort of take on life. The ones I deal with in my day to day life are generally a pleasure to deal with. Of course there are exceptions, but that's true of any group.

    The problems the Pacific nations have tend to stem from their leaders. A quick look at the recent history of Fiji ought to make that clear. The average indigenous Fijian has no animosity towards Indo-Fijians at all, but various military hard man have made good careers out of trying to create inter ethnic strife.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji#2006_military_takeover

    Tonga is another example where a weird sort of faux-western "Royalty" owns almost all of the economic assets and a "Nobility" help keep the commoners in check.

    This is a fun read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonga#Political_culture

    We're happy to have them come to live here, as it fills our rugby teams up with genial giants with great balls skills.

    1. Hollerith 1

      Re: Pacific Problems

      Sadly, it seems that the universal condition of humanity is the drive to get as much as you can by any means, so power comes via corruption and we go on that merry loop forever. It doesn't matter what culture, what religion, what ways a people make their livings; there is always someone ready to crush them and take everything.

    2. Turtle

      @Youngone Re: Pacific Problems

      There is the question of whether or not a polity of 9,000 people should be a sovereign nation in the first place.

      1. Youngone Silver badge

        Re: @Youngone Pacific Problems

        Which just raises the question of Niue. About 1,400 people live there. The other 30,000 or so live in Auckland.

        Other Pacific countries are too small to be economically viable nations, but as separate cultures, feel they should be "independent".

  8. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Imprisoning kids

    Never justified.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Imprisoning kids

      Depends - being young don't prevent you to be nasty, very nasty - and biological age has very little to do with how really "grown up" you are, a lot depends on the environment you grew within - some make you much "older" soon. Then dealing with immigrants should be different than dealing with criminals, and immigrant children should be "managed" carefully because they may be at risk.

    2. Turtle

      Re: Imprisoning kids

      Mary Bell.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Imprisoning kids

        I think the OP is talking about migrants/asylum seekers, not criminals.

        Seeking asylum is not illegal.

  9. x 7

    Seeking asylum should be illegal

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