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Internet

Does Nationality Really Matter?

wifi

Will I get slower WiFi as an expat?

Update: For those arguing that this is “just for research” purposes, replace the nationality question with one asking if you’re Sunni or Shia or if you’re straight, gay or bi or if you’re white, black, colored or whatever… Would that be ok even if it’s “just for statistics”? Obviously not and asking if I’m Kuwaiti or an expat is exactly the same thing. It’s invasive and it’s promoting segregation and all just for free wifi.

113 replies on “Does Nationality Really Matter?”

and then do what with those stats? start saying that expats are the reason the internet there is slow charging expats fees? 😛

They didn’t ask you for a map of your family lineage or what degree SPF your skin color requires or your marital status-they are just collecting extremely basic data. If anything, your commentary could easily be interpreted as racist itself. A question on nationality appears on Heathrow Airport’s Wi-Fi…are they not racist because it is in London and is not Kuwait? Are Kuwaitis so naturally stereotyped as racist that even Kuwaiti private companies who follow the same practices implemented in the rest of the world have racist intentions in doing so?

And what about when people get curious and tick ‘Kuwaiti’ when they’re not ? ..That’s a very pointless survey.

I guess their thought process went like this –

We are giving Free wifi….But nothing in life is free…So let’s ask people to pay with their privacy!!!

I certainly hope checking ‘other’ would not entail slower internet service, and a practical experiment would provide the required results.

These questions are regularly put to survey the internet users at this location, to better understand the demographic nature of the visitors of a certain place or the users of a certain provider. It would, presumably, also create adverts that are relevant to the user as she is surfing the web. And hence, the age and gender questions.

But then again, inherent racism seems to be a given to a large portion of the Kuwaiti society, and it may be as you said.

its the new form of making additional money, just sell these collected information to marketing and mailing companies… good money for these databases.

Are you Sunni or Shia btw? I’m just asking for statistical reasons.

Did my question sound less discriminating or invasive because I said it’s just for statistics?

dude, but they did not ask if you are sunni or shia or if you’re gay or not or whatever racist/sexist/etc question you have in mind.

why do you feel asking for one’s nationality is invasive to privacy ? anyway if you are that paranoid provide false info.

as usual your logic is invalid. replace the question with, who’s your daddy?

Actually, I think the phone number and email are worse than asking about ones nationality.

So you would be fine if they asked you about your religious sect?

We already have a major divide between Kuwaitis and expats why keep encouraging that?

but they didn’t ask about religious sect. I agree with you, its not ok to ask squestions like ones religion, sexual orientation, etc.

you are comparing two different information, on basis that both invade privacy, which I disagree with you in the provided content, in some situations it might be inappropriate to ask about ones nationality.

to be honest I think the question could have retrieved equivalent information if they rephrased the question to “are you a local citizen?” or ” are you a local/permanent resident?” but honestly I don’t see it a big deal.

now what really annoyes me is when you enroll your child to school they ask in the forms about your 3 year old child religion. I just wanted to take my kid to school and let them ask the kid that question.

Actually, depends.

Consider this:
David (I’m coming up with this name) is running a free WiFi service throughout AlJamal Mall (I came up with that). David wants to know what demography is using the service most and what is the dominating kind of traffic. This will provide me with data to improve service (Or, ahem, know where to charge more).

Like, if subscribers are mostly expats (not locals) and the dominating traffic is facebook. That means that most Kuwaitis rely on their data and since subscribers aren’t consuming a lot of bandwidth, I can go easy on bandwidth rental.

What if the majority were Kuwaitis taking silly selfies while fattening themselves with bad cheesecake factory cheesecakes? That could indicate that Kuwaitis are a bunch of sillies that don’t take advantage of their good mobile data package and they like food and selfies; provide better wifi coverage near restaurants and make sure routes to snapchat\instagram are fast.

Or, what if expats are the majority of subscribers and VoIP traffic is dominating the bandwidth? That means expats are taking advantage of technology for better communication which means I’ll have to rent more bandwidth and perhaps set a small price for using this wifi.

That’s because we’re in a mall.

Shia, Sunni questions for statistical reasons aren’t odd, really. In this context, they’re wrong, because a mall-wifi doesn’t care whats your religious background because it doesn’t influence your behavior compared to where you come from (A muslim and a christian from Lebanon, for example, have almost identical behavior, while a Lebanese behaves different than a Kuwaiti regardless of that Kuwaiti is Sunni or Shia; we all like cupcakes and take selfies with them).

Yes, although it’s obviously promoting a bias towards expats, if you clearly mention it’s for the mall statistics questions like “Are you gay/bi? Sunni/Shia? Kuwaiti/Other?” sound less discriminating to me and I’ll give them a pass. They should have had placed these questions under a separate, optional section on the page.

It’s just a terribly awkward placement and context to ask.

An option for “do not wish to disclose” would be helpful.

Again as somebody mentioned its for research.

e.g. We have a rough idea of how many residents/expats are in the country. What percentage frequent the mall.

Yes ideally this should not make much difference to the end service you provide, but it helps identify customer mind set. Providing products & services in a retail environment will obviously vary depending on the persons origin (and that’s a fact).

I don’t think any harm or ill intention was meant in it, so I think this is a question of being easily offended by reading too much into it (but again that’s your opinion so fair enough).

I completely agree that this could be used for the wrong purposes and it is placed in surveys where it is not really of point sometimes!

But in this case it really is harmless, and not exclusive to Kuwait, they do it in all the mall wifi access here in Dubai and it really is just for their annual stats of (bla bla bla amount of Kuwaitis were in the mall this year versus bla bla amount of expats) which are stats blogs like yourself and others sometimes share and are quite interesting sometimes…

They could change it though by having a drop down list with all the countries listed so each visitor can specify instead of making it a Kuwaiti vs others thing…

Same as (again blogs and news sites and others) that have stat trackers and show where their followers are from in the world, etc!!

If they’re using this question for other purposes then..boo lol

They give a list of nationalities to choose from!
Which goes to my point in my comment about how Avenues could change it…

Maybe you could reach out to them this could be an easy fix!!?

Im not sure why you are offended , if you think answering this question would effect your privacy go ahead and choose kuwaiti.

they just need to know the percentage of locals against foreigners visiting the mall and if males or females are the frequent visitors.

just take it easy man

I agree with you completely Mark.

As a half Kuwaiti from my moms side I am not legally Kuwaiti and this is pretty offensive because i am unnecessarily reminded yet again that i am not Kuwaiti every single day.

This could be offensive to bedoon as well…

Even if it was for research then thats pretty discriminating research. Im a human just like everybody else…

what people dont understand is that nationality for some is just checking kuwaiti without even thinking twice. Some people dont want to be reminded they dont belong here by filling out these forms.

Mark, nobody will truly understand except for people who have been discriminated against because of their nationality. It hurts the most when you’re treated like crap even when you’re half kuwaiti but oh well…

Listen, the problem is not that they’re asking for your nationality, the question is basically “Kuwaiti or less-important-something-else”.

If it’s for stats purposes (that they’d want to sell), surely the shopping habits of the Indian community is different to the habits of the British one.

I’m pretty sure we have a lot of social media users from Zain around. Why not one of them come up and answer with the rationale behind this retarded set of questions for wifi?

Its shocking how immature you become over time. I think your actions and opinions trace back to the mass deportations. Stop complaining shut your mouth and go on with your business. You have no right to complain about petty things especially when its not your country

Trust me, I hate controversial posts on my blog, I post them because I have to not because I want to. It puts me in a bad mood, I become grumpy all day and it stresses me out. I just gave a sultan center cashier so much attitude and then went on Twitter to rant to sultan about how messed up their cashier system is.

Traffic wise these posts have no effect on it and I’ll share the stats tomorrow to show you. It’s the same readers who are getting involved in these discussion, controversial posts don’t necessarily attract new visitors. My things to do this weekend posts on the other hand is the number 1 post for attracting new visitors.

Everyone is frustrated but insulting each other will not solve any thing it will make things worse, I wish that everyone becomes happy and relaxed, what is happening here and on other social networks makes me so sad

Why do you find an open discussion on a sensitive subject sad? On the contrary because of social media we are now all able to discuss sensitive topics with each other.

I welcome open responsible and respectful discussion on any subject, what is happening now a days is the opposite, it’s only raising more hate among each other

It’s ironic coming from you since you’re the one who has posted the most aggressive comment here. Scroll down a bit and you can read your comment in which you say and I quote:

“This expats vs. Kuwaiti thing was invented in your head”

“expacts will not be allowed to own their own houses in Kuwait, no free education for all and you will not be treated equally to Kuwaitis”

That is not a responsible or respectful comment.

Ha ha ha trying to put me in a corner?! Not gona happen now to reply to you tell me
Where is the disrespect in these comments?! Where is the aggressiveness?! These comments are facts and a reality check to you and others

You would love to try Srilanka’s airport Wi-Fi, as they ask for your name and passport number prior to accessing their complimentary Wi-Fi 😀

LTE is avalable on most common mans phone and avenues thinks abt free wifi…. oh btw u get it only after u do the questionnaire….
Catch up kuwait…. catch up…. 80% countries have free wifi….

I guess being used to these kind of questionares in the USA it is hard to see what the fuss is about. In the USA they will ask if your Sunni, Shia, Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish etc. Or if your Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Arab etc. Or they will ask if your single, married, gay, straight, or other… But since its in Kuwait then yeah I guess it HAS to be a privacy thing because Kuwait is bad… (Hopes the sarcasm shows.)

I don’t know what you’re smoking, but in the US they don’t ask you those stupid questions to access free wi-fi in a mall.
Stop making shit up.

I said they have many questionares like this. I did not say they ask them to set up free wifi. But let me ask you AJ. Have you ever live in the USA? Because in Kentucky when I got my drivers liscence they had the same questionare and when I got my drivers licsence in Massachusetts they did too. They even asked at Bed Bath and Beyond and many other retail stores.

The world is getting so sensitive.
I’m Buddhist Jew, Black , Asian , Sunni Irani Bedoon.

FIGHT ME.

But in all seriousness… Bad move by Zain, why would you do a survey for Wi-fi?

I agree, I do believe the world is too sensitive and I was having this discussion with someone regarding pedophile jokes (cough cough Louie CK cough cough) and comedy and I was literally saying everyone is being too sensitive about it and that everyone is just too sensitive.

When I was in the States a couple of weeks back I took part in black sensitivity Q&A where we all watched a film depicting black life and then had a discussion. You know what I was thinking? #firstworldproblems that’s what. There problems look so petty, I told my friend they should see how they treat expats Kuwait and how much segregation and favoritism there is for one race over the other here.

Generally I’m not sensitive regarding anything except for this expats vs Kuwaiti situation. A friend was telling me they’re proposing that the new Jaber hospital be just for Kuwaitis. Like come on….

Update: just to clarify the film I watched and the discussions afterwards sounded petty.
The film was about a bunch of students, black, half white half black, an Asian, a white person that thought she was black or something like that etc.. and the problems they were sharing were just like I have too many black friends or everyone thinks I like fried chicken (hilarious moment cuz there was a group of black students behind me killing a box of fried chicken) or this girl complaining they call her a halfsie. Situations that must be meaningful to them but seemed superficial compared to the issues we face in Kuwait or in the Arab world INCLUDING Lebanon who are an extremely racist society.

Update2: the film was called “I’m not racist… Am I?” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3387244/

Mark, have you ever seen how South Americans are treated in the USA? How they pay them a third of what they pay everyone else to do the jobs Americans dont want to do? How they get beat by their employers if they dont do what they are told and are too afraid to go to the authorities because they might lose their visas? How the maids are raped and tortured and if they report it to the police their employers will rape and torture their childreb because they dont just bring the maid in the US. They also bring the children of the maid in order to have leverage.
As for the whole expat v Kuwaiti situation it runs deeper than just expat v Kuwaiti. When I worked Security for Sultan Center I got to see things from and interesting point of view. I got to see the Expat v Expat situation as well. I saw how the Arabs treated the Asians like crap and how they Indians treated the Filipinos like crap and everyone treated the Nepalis and Bengalis like crap.

I love how you’re using the treatment of illegal immigrants in the States as an example of how expats aren’t treated in Kuwait even though some of your examples do apply in Kuwait.

I love how you’re trying to use the mistreatment of immigrants in the USA to justify the mistreatment of expats in kuwait

This expats vs. Kuwaiti thing was invented in your head and then to this blog and now it every where, wake up buddy Kuwait is for Kuwaitis, expacts will not be allowed to own their own houses in Kuwait, no free education for all and you will not be treated equally to Kuwaitis in every single benefit no matter how hard you try and no matter how many insults you and your commenters throw at Kuwait and Kuwaitis kapish? Comprende??? You are not helping with this at all you are making it worse and both sides are really pissed at what you are doing

Why do you expect to be treated like a human when you’re travelling in other countries? Hypocrite.
(look that up in a dictionary because 9 year olds don’t know this word)

I’m being treated like royalty whenever and wherever I travel 🙂 didn’t complain at all 😉 and I believe you totaly misinterpreted my comments and didn’t understand what I was trying to say or mean, but go ahead insult me more and insult my intelligence I understand why you need to do that

You’re an insulting ignorant racist. Good luck washing your own clothes and educating your own children when the expats piss off.

Lol. But then that very same kuwait wants to take or rather reduce the amount of money the expats send back home… coz that money actually belongs to Kuwait.

And at the same time there is no decent way to invest here, so whats an expat to do? Spend on ever increasing rent, buy new car every 5 years as old ones will not be allowed on the streets or get fines for it, buy a new iphone/samsung every 6 months, pay health insurance but get treated at private hospitals coz public ones are “over crowded” etc etc etc….

/soapbox

Black problems in the US is a first world problem? A first world problem is complaining that a restaurant gives you too much food, racism isn’t a first world problem, especially when people are dying because of it.

I don’t know why it has to be compared. The way some expats are treated here sucks, the way some black people in the US are being treated also sucks. Saying one is a first world problem over the other defeats the purpose for equality for all.

I guess it comes down to the fact that many expats will always deny that things are just as bad and can be worse in other countries to include first world countries. I have met many Indians and Arabs who have NEVER lived in the USA deny that we have ghettos there and they MOST Americans do NOT live in the lap of luxory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQfg52m0-4o

First world problems, my tuchus. Sandra Bland getting shot because she took a wrong turn, Eric Garner being suffocated because he was selling Marlboro cigarettes without a license, an 11 year old boy in North Carolina being tased and choked by 40 year old officers because he was “misbehaving” on a bus, cops torturing a black man to death by shocking his genitalia AFTER he was arrested, 14 police officers harassing and brutalizing a one-legged homeless man.

I can give twenty, literally, twenty more examples and by the way, this all happened just this year. Just this year.

First world problems….here’s the thing people, America is a third world country . It is the only industrialized, Western nation that does not offer universal healthcare. 20,000 Americans die each year because they’re uninsured.

I’ve heard of that film, it doesn’t address any of the hard-hitting issues African Americans and Hispanics face on the daily in America.

“I’m Not Racist….Am I?” explores microaggression. Look up that word if you don’t know what it means.

I don’t really think that the US is a first world country anymore. Have you ever flown American Airlines? First world countries do not have national carriers like this and they are slowly loosing credibility in global channels because of a weak foreign policy. A whole new subject!

Your mobile carrier, your Internet provider, your bank all know your age, nationality, gender, Civil ID number, and address. They also have a nice color portrait of you. Why not whine about it?

By using a free WiFi service you agree to the provider’s conditions as long as they are within the law. It’s free to you, but to them it’s not, so they must get something in return. It could be advertising, or in this case, some basic info about you.

Like others have said, it’s probably for the Mall’s own use to gauge consumer behavior, mall traffic and the like. If you disagree and believe it’s an evil conspiracy to track expats, then refrain from using it and the paranoia will dissipate in no time.

What kind of research or statistics are they trying to collect ?

For arguments sake, let’s say it is research based. How is it useful ? What exactly can they do with it ?

Also, what if an expat chooses Kuwaiti, or a male chooses female, or a different age bracket. The “research” becomes inaccurate.

This was probably done without much thinking put into it.

Personally I wish they would ask ethnicity beacuse I would like to see more Latin American products but companies are afraid to bring them because they feel that there is no market based on census. The problem with the census is that they only ask for citizenship and when it comes to Americans many are ethically Latin american.

I was going to say from your posts that you’re a butthurt latin american, then I went to your blog and it’s full of passive aggressive “white americans hate latin americans”. Take a chill pill

its probably one operator, Zain in this case, trying to find out the gender and nationality of their competitions customers.

Mark I have to call you out on the comment as an extreme overreaction. Nationality should be fine, I get asked that abroad to in germany by Telekom in Amsterdam in airports, you work in advertisements they could use the information to direct which ads they will promote or what demographic to target.
Sunning Shia would be fine if it was something g you could connect and say it’s relatable for appropriate uses. Now if they didn’t give you free WiFi based on your nationality that would be an issue.

Any question that can lead to a form of discrimination is unacceptable (nationality, age, gender, religion, etc). If the company is ‘collecting data’ then they need to choose questions relating to their service, ie. ‘is this your first time using our service?’ or ‘what service do you normally use?’, etc.

Many people are abandoning Linkedin for similar reasons; a photo can result in discrimination from the hiring manager.

People are not using LinkedIn because it has become a dating website and has been infiltrated by the Nigerian hustlers.

Yo, I don’t know what you’re complaining about, the service is free for all consumers. Use it if you want, and DONT if you don’t. Go on with your day, move on, use your phones Internet and look away. Instead of appreciating free public wifi that can save your ass when your bill is overdue or internet plan is acting up, you complain about a harmless question asking if someone’s Kuwaiti or not in KUWAIT… GASP! How scandalous.

Go to places in the States that you put up on a grand pedestal and see how they treat some expats. Not everyone is welcoming and accepting to other nationalities there and many other places in the world. Then come and talk to me above your expat divide rant. You place problems where there are none. I see no issue if I was in the states, which I lived in for four years, and came across a poll or questionnaire asking me if I was an American citizen or “other”. Who cares. I’d choose other and go on with my day. You and your paranoia! Not everyone is out to get you, you’re not that important. الي على راسه بطحه يحسس عليها

now you listen very carefully okay buddy, “if you dont like it then leave go back to garbage land called lebanon or immagrate to germany like the rest of your people, im tired of reading negative stuff u post here and trust me the people that say to you dont worry mark we will watch ur back will not very soon and ur company will close” so next time when u complain u will learn to shut ur mouth or leave end of story,,,its a god damn research stupid leb

It’s these small things that matter…
If the internet is free, why would it matter who is using it.
Small things build up to a big thought or mind set.
If you kept reading Kuwait – Non Kuwaiti or things that differentiate … you will end up with discriminative thinking

Bottom-line is this, historically when a dominant nationality feels that they have ‘lost control’ of their society they automatically attack the nearest ‘underdog’ in Kuwait’s case it is the expat. It is so pathetic listening to Kuwaitis constantly complain about their government but are afraid to raise their voices to change the situation. Further what will eventually happen is this ‘expat’ war that Kuwaitis are waging will backfire on themselves, actually it already is in the business market. You will notice that when there is an expansion plan in the GCC, companies generally opt out of going to Kuwait – they will go to Saudi, Oman, Qatar, but not Kuwait. Kuwait will never advance until they adapt a more ‘inclusive’ policy like the UAE.

Alright so yesterday there was a text that went viral on whatsapp and popped up in one of the groups I am in. It was to make Jaber Hospital exclusive for Kuwaitis. I fought it so hard and highlighted how inhummane, racist and stupid that was. I went on for a good hour defending our expatriate community. How people left there countries for a better opportunity and came to Kuwait to make a living. Something any Kuwaiti would have done if we weren’t in such a good financial position (oil). I also highlighted how we should be more welcoming to non Kuwaitis and how a lot of the jobs done by non Kuwaitis. From teachers, to doctors, engineers, entertainment, cleaning the streets, everything! We are dependent on expats and regardless, someone gets a job and moves to Kuwait, how is that bad for you as a Kuwaiti is beyond me!

I swear I even almost started a new message and wanted to forward/share to fight the other one. This kind of stupidity is what keeps us behind and makes us the worlds unfriendliest, least attractive country to live in etc.. I think its being proud and patriotic which evolved into something ugly!

That being said, I think there is nothing wrong with asking if someone was Kuwaiti or not. Actually, what if this data was being collected to justify a project specifically made for expats. I remember a marketing campaign that was targeting the Hispanic population in California where they realized that those who speak Spanish as there first language, prefer ads that are in Spanish and accordingaly the campaing was planned.

It would have been better if the question was what nationality are you rather than saying Kuwaiti/non Kuwaiti but still, this isn’t really that bad? What if the question was residency type and the answer was national/expat? Would you have been okay with that?

regarding your update, I think you went a bit extreme with assumptions. Gender, nationality etc are all important demographics for marketing research to better develop the service in future. kuwaiti or non kuwaiti, there is no dicrimintaion in Wifi speed or capacity.
Other acts against expats from bad people around kuwait (that can happen in all countries) might have played a great role in your views and post.

I think that a place like the avenues should be hungry for Data! nationality is an important variable that can help enhance the service provided, if found correlated with another variable.

Why dont you flip the case,Now that the avenues know you are an expat, they might consider you are using apps like viber/facetime to call your family, then as an expat they can provide you with extra speed/capacity. this is just an example. If I am giving free Wifi im a Mall I own, yes I would like to know as much information as i can, and analyse it before I pay thousands of KWDs to “Instagram/snapchat celebrities” without planning effectively.

Nice topic, enjoyed it.

Thanks

Well, yes mark it is just for statistics. Why else would u think that they are asking for this?
In european countries and the us asking if yr black or white is a norm. I dont get why you are making it seem like a problem where theres actually no problem.

LOL, how typical of Kuwait.

Mark you should be ashamed of yourself for asking such an obvious question. This is Kuwait. Discrimination is a way of life. I’ve seen you in person…you’re white as snow and you will probably get away easily with most things. Try being brown and from South Asia.

Bottom line is, Kuwaitis and Kuwait laws are mostly just plain idiotic, racist and discriminatory.

And you’re hateful, pathetic and jealous. And yes, we are better than you if that’s your attitude and rationale. Plus, it’s our country we can act and do as we please. If we don’t do whatever we want in our own country…. then where can we be ourselves?! God! Many Americans, not all, think they’re self righteous and that they are at the top of the world’s totem poll, but no one gives them any flak. Yet we are seen as the devils spawn. You seem like a miserable troll, I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with you on a daily. And if you’re residing in Kuwait, yes we don’t want you – please get out. Now. We don’t have time for negative idiots who are all for the benefits when they’re free but are so hateful towards our generous country. Bye Felicia!

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