TrinityeXchange Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I've been having a lot of delays getting information to and from my broker. Never seen it on this scale before. I found an article detailing why this is happening and thought I would share. Iraq tries to censor social media to disrupt ISIS communication, but its success is limited By Craig Timberg June 13 The Iraqi government moved Friday to block access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in a bid to disrupt the social media tools deployed by insurgents as they have swept through the country in a bold drive toward Baghdad. But the initiative ran into a hard reality of warfare in the 21st century: Losing physical ground means losing control of cyberspace as well. Companies that monitor Internet traffic reported significant declines in access to social media services in Baghdad and the immediate vicinity as providers complied with censorship orders from the Ministry of Communication. Internet access in other parts of the country were disrupted to a lesser extent, if at all. Regions beyond government control often rely on alternative sources, such as satellite links and fiber-optic lines coming from telecommunications providers in Turkey, Iran and Jordan, analysts said. Service in semiautonomous Kurdish regions, for example, appeared to be flowing without a blip. “It kind of echoes the larger themes in Iraq, of how little the Iraqi government controls in that country,” said Doug Madory, a senior analyst with Renesys, a New Hampshire-based company that tracks Internet performance worldwide. Internet monitoring services detected several hours of outages Monday and Thursday in Iraq. Friday’s appeared to be more sweeping and longer-lasting, continuing throughout much of the day and into the night at a time when tensions were running high and President Obama was speaking openly of possible military action. Governments under threat often seek to block online services, especially if they are widely used by their opponents. Syria has regularly interrupted Internet access during its more than three years of civil war. Egypt shut down social media sites during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. Iran temporarily blocked access to encrypted sites in 2012, making it impossible to have online conversations free from government snooping. In Iraq on Friday, overall Internet traffic was running at about one-third of its usual levels, according to Akamai, a network that delivers Internet content from servers across much of the world. “Syria, from what we’ve seen in the past, has been an all-or-nothing proposition,” said David Belson, editor of Akamai’s State of the Internet Report. “What we’re seeing in Iraq is a decline in traffic but not a complete flatline.” The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a jihadi group that has seized a series of towns and cities in western and northern Iraq, has used social media to communicate and distribute its propaganda messages. In addition to affecting Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the outages also curbed access to WhatsApp and Viber, both of which provide instant messages through cellphones, said Collin Anderson, a researcher affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication who tested access within Iraq to thousands of top Web sites. “Anything that’s a social media site . . . that’s what they’re going after,” Anderson said. Facebook confirmed the outages in a statement, saying: “We are disturbed by reports of access issues in Iraq and are investigating. Limiting access to Internet services — essential for communication and commerce for millions of people — is a matter of concern for the global community.” Google, which owns YouTube, showed disruptions across its services on a tracking program, but analysts said that may have been an inadvertent consequence of efforts to block YouTube. “We’re seeing reports that some users are not able to access YouTube in Iraq,” Google said in a statement. “There is no technical issue on our side and we’re looking into the situation.” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneysoon Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 I hear you TrinityX, The internet blocks have affected communication. Hopefully soon, these days will be behind us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haymon Posted July 16, 2014 Report Share Posted July 16, 2014 my man said 20 days without internet. But when he did get it he emailed me my paper on my buy orders!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPRAYERDUDE Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 wow iraq trying to sensor social media? its not iraq its the highr power who stage these isis and terrorist happenings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandfly Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 THANKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoD Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 I would love to believe that the reason I'm not getting a response back from Warka Bank is because of FaceBook, Twitter or YouTube...Unfortunately I use Microsoft Outlook and gmail... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrinityeXchange Posted July 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Our broker is simply the best. Finding him was truly a blessing! I actually spoke with him today before the opening bell. They expect the Internet service to be restored soon. Continue to be patient my friends. They are really embarrassed because of this but I assured them it is not their fault. Once the country stabilizes the situation, things will return to normal. Warka however is a different story. At least with Warka people are still getting their dividend deposits. Edited July 17, 2014 by TrinityeXchange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unirod Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Trinity, I e-mailed Warka yesterday about dividend deposits specifically. I asked them to send me a report on my equity values as I am interested in re-investing these deposits. I'll keep you all posted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadita Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Trinity, Do you happen to know the symbol for ISX in Nasdaq? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdoncampos Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrinityeXchange Posted July 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 (edited) Trinity, Do you happen to know the symbol for ISX in Nasdaq? Thanks hi nadita. i don't believe you will find isx in nasdaq yet....we believe one day we will though i recommend going to www.isx-iq.net (click english button at top left of screen) if you want to see the performance of the market. another great site is www.mubasher.info (click english link somewhere along top and change drop down to iraqi stock exchange). i use both as trading tools. Edited July 17, 2014 by TrinityeXchange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfl9 Posted July 17, 2014 Report Share Posted July 17, 2014 Nadita, I don't think you will ever see the ISX itself listed. If anything it will be an ADR ( American Depository Receipt). To trade under its own symbol it would have to register as a US Corporation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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