Products to help block web access in the Middle East made in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal writes today about U.S. companies that make web blocking and filtering software being used in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other places. The Journal says it was tech designed to keep kids in schools off porn sites, but now, “that U.S. technology is now among the tools used in the clampdowns on uprisings across the Middle East. In Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and elsewhere, bloggers have been jailed and even beaten as governments try to repress online expression.” Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is spending millions on software that can circumvent censorship and other blocking efforts online.