Syria 'bans iPhones' over protest footage

[onehandle]

Source: BBC

Syria has banned the iPhone, reports say, as the government tries to control information getting out of the country. In a statement apparently issued by the customs department of the Syrian finance ministry and seen by Lebanese and German media, the authorities "warn anyone against using the iPhone in Syria".

The order also apparently prohibits the import of iPhones. The UN believes 4,000 people have been killed in Syria since March.

Most international media have been banned from Syria since the uprising began, so footage of the violent crackdown has primarily come from activists filming material themselves and posting it on the internet.

If the document posted on the Lebanese news website el-Nashra is genuine, the authorities threaten confiscation and prosecution for anyone found with an iPhone.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16009975

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Steve Jobs’s Syrian-born biological father joins YouTube protest:

I am in solidarity with the Syrian people. I reject the brutality and killing that the Syrian authorities are committing against the unarmed Syrian people. And because silence is participation in this crime, I declare my participation in the Syrian Sit-in on YouTube.

http://9to5mac.com/2011/12/02/syria-bans-iphone-as-steve-jobss-biological-father-joins-youtube-protest

[tabatha]

1. reported

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2416834

[hlthe2b]

2. Are there no cell phones other than IPhones there?

really?

[onehandle]

3. "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Restricting icons did not work out well for the Empire and will not work out well for the Syrian government.

[JCMach1]

4. I would guess there are many times more Blackberries there...

Blackberry has long been the smart phone of the Middle East