Iraq has access to the Internet, but the government owned and operated uruklink.net has only about 12,000 customers (all government approved officials and scientists). Iraq has installed the best content filters and anti-intrusion software it can get its hands on. Nevertheless, the Iraqi Internet infrastructure is thought to be the focus of a lot of interest by foreign intelligence agencies (especially American and Israeli). Iraq set up it's Internet access in 2000, driven by the need to let key people gain access to what was obviously a powerful tool. The government also set up Internet Centers, where citizens could send or receive email messages for fifteen cents each, or spend an hour surfing the web for a buck. Iraqi content filters have sealed off huge portions of the Internet, and lately, the Iraqis are not permitting email to go to, or come from, American based ISPs.