Wikipedia Inadvertently Blocks Qatar

Wikipedia has inadvertently blocked Qatar from editing pages thanks to the technical workings of an automated censor imposed by the sole national high speed ISP. The temporary 12 hour autoban was due to spam-abuse coming from the IP address in question, but the fact that this belongs to the country’s sole high-speed internet provider had the unintended consequence of stopping Qataris from editing the wiki. Wikipedia has since narrowed the ban down to anonymous users from the affected IP, meaning existing accounts from Qatar should now be back online. This raises a number of issues about internet connectivity in small countries and any company allowed to run ISPs in a monopoly situation — via Slashdot