December 3, 2011 08:50 pm EDT

Syria bans iPhone in attempt to curb protests and silence citizen journalists

Times are tough in Syria right now, but that isn't stopping the Assad government from making things a whole lot worse. The nation's customs department, a branch of the Syrian Finance Ministry, has officially banned the iPhone in an attempt to curb citizens from sharing news and videos of the massive protests and violent crackdowns throughout the nation. For those not keeping score, foreign press have been largely barred from the nation since March, which necessitated the use of citizen journalism as a means to report news from the streets. As Syrians come to grips with new economic sanctions against the country, the banning of the iPhone is, sadly, certain to escalate the unrest.

Syria bans iPhone in attempt to curb protests and silence citizen journalists originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Haaretz ||Comments

Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/03/syria-bans-iphone-in-attempt-to-curb-protests-and-silence-citize/

View Full Article

Engadget

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget was launched in March of 2004 in partnership with the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WI

More About this Source Visit Engadget