> > http://tinyurl.com/rtk5u > > BAGHDAD (Reuters) - In the endless daily battle against the fear > and isolation of life under lock-down, the people of Baghdad have > found a way to keep their city alive: moving it online. > > Instead of enjoying an outdoor meal at one of the fish restaurants > along the Tigris embankment, 28-year-old housewife Dunya Saad > spends her evenings at the computer in her living room, chatting > with her friends on Yahoo! Messenger. > > Most of her relatives and friends live on the far side of the > Tigris, and seeing them in person is nearly impossible. > > "It's sad not to see your friends like in the good old days," she > sighed. "But online chatting has made things better." > > Since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra sparked a > wave of sectarian bloodshed, the Internet has gone from being a > hobby for tech-savvy enthusiasts to a mass replacement for the > daily interactions of city life. > > In Baghdad, shops close early. Cars are not permitted on the > streets after 9:00 p.m. Many parts of the city are completely > deserted by sunset. > > Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to move to parts > of the city where they do not know the neighbors. > > "I only go out on emergencies like attending a funeral or visiting > a doctor," said Zainab, 35, an office secretary who asked to be > identified by her first name. "Honestly, the outside craziness > freaks me out." > > She has not seen her friends for months. Instead, she meets them > over online video-conferences. > > "Most of the time we talk about the security situation. Who had > been killed, kidnapped, or recently fled the country." > > BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY > > Moving Baghdad into cyberspace has been a feat of free- market > ingenuity. > > Perhaps the hardest part is electricity. Much of Baghdad had > electricity for 12-18 hours a day before the U.S.-led invasion in > 2003. Most neighborhoods now get electricity from the grid for just > four to six hours a day. > > It means ordinary people have to know their ohms from their amperes > and their megabits from their kilohertz. > > Most middle class households now have cables snaking down the > street to a neighborhood "generator man" who gives them diesel- > generated power for a monthly fee of about $10 per ampere. Six or > seven amperes are usually enough for a computer, a TV and a fridge. > An air conditioner costs more. > > A neighborhood Internet cafe will sell a subscription for wireless > Wi-Fi access to its satellite broadband hookup for about $40 a month. > > Most Iraqis have only experienced the Internet since the fall of > Saddam Hussein in 2003. > > The ousted leader officially linked Iraq to the Web when his > government set up the State Company for Internet Services in 2000. > But private connections were banned and the only legal provider > blocked access to e-mail and chat sites. > > Today, companies have sprung up around Baghdad, taking advantage of > new broadband satellite connections that make it possible to > establish a mini internet service provider without relying on any > centralized infrastructure at all. > > Ali Youssif, whose company Infozone runs four Internet providers in > different parts of Baghdad, says he subscribes to satellite > broadband connections from firms in Kuwait and the United Arab > Emirates. > > One of his providers has a two-megabit-per-second connection -- a > similar speed to a single home's broadband link in most Western > countries -- which costs about $7,000 a month over satellite. > > It sells access to 200 subscribers across three Baghdad > neighborhoods, earning a total of about $8,000 in revenue. > > Private generators power the Wi-Fi hotspots during the day, with > batteries offering up to 200 amperes of power to keep them running > without interruption through the night. > > LOVE ONLINE > > For freelance journalist Ammar Ali, 30, the Internet is a place to > find love in a city where flirting with a woman can get a man > kidnapped or killed. > > He has only been online for about a year, but he already has a long > list of "female friends" with whom he keeps in touch on a nearly > daily basis. Some live in other neighborhoods, some in other > countries. > > "It's not like reality. But I enjoy it," he says. "It's a good > means to escape our miserable reality. At least, until a new > morning comes." > > © Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or > redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or > similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written > consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are > registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of > companies around the world.
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