At Last, Email From Baghdad

from the important-stuff-first dept

With all that's going on in Iraq, some people have decided to set up the first internet cafe in Baghdad for those who want to connect to the outside world. They're using a satellite modem and a somewhat unreliable electricity generator to keep the place running. The prices seem quite high ($5/hour for surfing - which isn't that bad - but, $1.25 to send an email and $0.75 to receive an email, so Baghdad emailers better hope they don't get too popular). The guys running the cafe say that they're losing money, since it's so expensive to keep the connection, but they're doing this to help people connect - not just to make money. They're also letting people surf any site they want, and aren't concerned about the need to block anything.

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