Make sure you read tonight’s issue of Le Mauricien. There will be an article about Facebook that will be quite interesting for Mauritian Facebookers.

Arrived in the office with this IM from a friend:

“Extrait d’un texte à paraitre cet aprem…”

“Le gouvernement, à travers l’Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA), a demandé hier aux fournisseurs d’accès Internet de bloquer l’accès au public à ce site prisé par beaucoup d’internautes mauriciens, le jugeant rempli de propos diffamatoires. Dans le communiqué, on peut lire que le site « is currently hosting contents of defamatory nature », d’où la décision de faire bloquer l’accès à ce site […]”

Next, in my mailbox:

Hi eddy,

Can u by any chance access facebook?

Clive.

Well, Clive, I’m sorry to inform you that Facebook has been banned by ISPs in Mauritius at our government’s request. Apparently, our great leader feels insecure after becoming aware of a fake profile of him on the site, and his first reaction is to inflict a punishment on the whole country without regard to the impact on progress and how Mauritius is viewed.

So, who’s up for a Google bomb on “Navin Ramgoolam”? Would that result in the ban of Google and the whole Internet?

Eddy Young