UPDATED: As Arabia Protests, Libya Blocks Internet Access

In light of the ongoing battle of citizens against corrupt and unjust regimes throughout the Arab world (more on Wikipedia), protestors have been increasingly reliant on social media websites to rally their numbers and organize their meets.

Over the past two days, protests have flared up considerably in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain resulting in mass casualties at the hands of government security. We now have reports from friends of NeoSmart Technologies in Tripoli, Libya (stay safe, guys! Please!) that the government has ordered ISPs to block access to most websites. Currently, most websites are unavailable and internet access is, by and large, being blocked.

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isoHunt’s Extended “Temporary Downtime” From Certain Regions

For the past week or so (what are a couple of 12-hour periods here or there between friends?) isoHunt has been “sick” when accessed from certain regions – but perfectly fine from others.

At the moment, users are being redirected to a tongue-in-cheek “isoHunt is Sick” page, letting them know that isoHunt’s hardware and software services wouldn’t mind a bit more attention and that, hopefully, isoHunt will be back up shortly..

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VIPeR: The Israeli Murder Machine

Israel has just unveiled its newest way of “defending itself” that would “reduce the risk to it’s forces [IDF].” It’s called the VIPeR, and no, despite the spelling, it’s not a warez team. It’s an autonomous hand-to-hand fighting machine, that has an onboard Uzi submachine gun and grenade storage. It’s supposed to be able to enter combat zones on its own, and engage enemy fighters. According to its manufacturer, Elbit Systems, it’ll be used to move “undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels.” It has an onboard camera that lets it aim, and a hell of a lot of ammo in case it misses.

That’s rather scary. A robot – that can fight, kill, & plant bombs – all indiscrimanetly of course. The last time we checked, AI wasn’t in production yet, so we highly doubt the “VIPeR” can tell the difference between civillian and “guerilla fighter.”

If it’s an indiscrimate killing machine, remotely deployed to “combat zones,” it’s going to kill all the wrong people. If you’ve ever been to Lebanon or Palestine, you’d realize just why this is such a ridiculous deception: there are no “combat zones,” just combatants amongst civillians. All of them are next-door-neighbors, fathers, brothers, children. They’re not fighting against an army, they’re fighting against armed citizens and rebels. There’s a big difference.

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