[HCDX] SABC not clear on why access to SW Radio Africa website is restricted

["Zacharias Liangas " <greekdx@xxxxxxxxx>]

SABC not clear on why access to SW Radio Africa website is restricted
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news230407/sabc230407.htm
By Tererai Karimakwenda
23 April, 2007

Last week we reported that computers at the South Africa Broadcasting 
Corporation (SABC) were denying journalists access to SW Radio 
Africa?s website. A search for our web address returns a message that 
says ?Access to the requested URL has been denied by SABC Policy.?
Several staff members at SABC verified this last Friday and the head of 
television news, Amrat Manga, told us he was not aware of the policy 
but would investigate. A trial done by our web master also showed that 
it is our domain name that is being blocked.

On Monday we talked to Fakir Hassen who works in the IT division and 
he confirmed that SABC has what he called ?control measures? in place 
that restrict access to pornography, downloading large files and audio 
streaming. He stressed that it had nothing to do with censuring any 
radio station. Regarding written stories Hassen said: ?There is no 
problem in accessing a website that is purely word in content, if you will.. 
When it comes to audio downloads etcetera, there are restrictions 
there.?

But when we asked several employees at SABC, in different 
departments, to try and access some websites that have audio 
streaming, they told us the sites opened without a problem and allowed 
them to read the text. It is when they wanted to open the streaming that 
they were blocked. Among the sites tested were South Africa?s Radio 
702, Radio Veritas, Afrosounds FM and several websites that cover 
Zimbabwe. This indicated that there is a different reason for the 
blocking of our website.
It is not just the audio streaming that is blocked but the entire site, so 
not even the text can be read. Asked to comment on this Hassen said: 
?We are not sure exactly what is going on. The guys in that department 
are not available. Let?s wait for the experts to let us know.?

SW Radio Africa will continue to investigate this issue to determine 
exactly what is going on.

SABC has recently been highly criticised for a blacklist that came to 
light which included Zimbabwe?s Archbishop Pius Ncube, publisher 
Trevor Ncube and human rights activist Elinor Sisulu. SABC journalists 
were banned from interviewing them in any stories on Zimbabwe. An 
interview with outspoken Archbishop Pius Ncube was also edited out of 
a television story by the head of SABC news. 


http://zlgr.multiply.com (raidio monitoring site plus audio clips )
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/ (Litohoro) 321199/Tinos 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr    pictures upload 
.
on my main : www.geocities.com/zliangas 
-tty-px.html : test of various TTY programs
-ethics.htm    : greek ethics , days and institutions 
-frape.htm: the greek way of cofee !!! 
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece 
greekdx @ otenet dot gr  ---  
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop 



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