Porn, Death, and the Internet in Iran
Summary: Iran continues to close it doors to the Internet while alienating the rest of the world with its proposed execution of a Web developer, saber rattling, and Internet censorship.
Google statistics show Iran still censoring Gmail.
What is it with Iran? Do they want to alienate the entire world? As Violet Blue reports, Iran is getting ready to execute Web developer Saeed Malekpour for allegedly building and maintaining porn websites. What he really did was help write a script that's part of generic Web photo uploader. At the same time, Iran boasts of further nuclear enrichment advances; seems to be attempting terrorist attacks; and is saber rattling in Persian Gulf. What do Iranian citizens think about this? It's hard to say. Iran is continuing to censor the Internet.
For more than a week now, Iran has locked down almost all Internet services that use the HTTPS protocol for security. Google has confirmed that Iran started blocking such services as Gmail and YouTube starting on February 10th. This may have been to stop protests on the anniversary of the arrest of Green movement leaders Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi on February 14th for contesting the results of the disputed 2009 presidential vote. In addition, Iran will be holding parliamentary elections on March 2nd.
Iran makes no pretense about trying to censor the Internet. Government officials say, for example, that Google offers Iranians “online criminal content." Amin Sabeti, a British Iranian IT blogger, said the Iranian government wanted to create its own version of the Internet because it viewed the Internet as an enemy. According to the New York Times, Mr. Sabeti said, “One of the members of Iran’s Internet filtering council said Google is using SSL and we cannot monitor it, therefore we’ve blocked Gmail and Google’s services.”
Indeed they are. Google Transparency Reports for Gmail in Iran shows that while some e-mail started flowing again by February 12 . However, even now, Iran's Gmail traffic is far below its normal rates.
Besides using a firewall to block traffic, Iran has taken more direct action against Internet users. Public Internet sites, such as coffee houses, are also being clamped down on. The Wall Street Journal reports that in January the Iranian government ordered Internet cafes to “install security cameras, start collecting detailed personal information on customers and document users' online footprints.”
Iranian Internet users are fighting back as best they can. According to AnchorFree, creators of HotSpot Shield, a virtual private network (VPN) service designed to “designed specifically to get around dynamic blocking, or play the cat and mouse game with censors,” such as those now being used in the Iranian national firewall, they've seen a ten fold increase in Iranian users since July 2011 "from about 35,000 to 366,000 today. AnchorFree is also on track to do about 30 percent more pageviews in Iran this month vs. last. What's interesting is that AnchorFree isn't doing any paid marketing in that region, so this growth has been completely viral, with users either forwarding software to each other or getting it from third-party sites that haven't been blocked.”
So, as ever, the Internet is routing around damage. In this case, the damage caused by government censorship. That won't do Malekpour any good though. He seems destined to be executed shortly for creating an image upload program that just happens to be used by some porn sites.
On the outside looking in, we can only speculate what Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks he's doing. Perhaps by trying to make the rest of the world Iran's enemy he hopes to preserve his own power. Certainly by trying to cut off the Iranian people's access to the Internet, he's doing his best to keep his people from realizing how Iran is becoming see as a barbarian state that would execute innocents in the name of anti-pornographic censorship.
Related Stories:
Iran’s Deadly Cyber Police: Indefinite Detention and Execution for Netizens
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Talkback
You do realize Steven ...
Ahmadinejad is second banana...
...and responsible for administering the day to day affairs of the government. That would not make him a figurehead.
The message is
RE: The message is
The US military might and influence has advanced A lot since...
Governments attempting to block access to websites is wrong?
Don't tell me that your country is above the law and that your sh*t doesn't stink. because we've all seen your dirty laundry and it aint pretty. Some of your country's dirty tricks over the years rival what we are seeing in Iran and if you think you live in a free democratic country take another look at all the government run agencies (U.S.) and their rights. In short, your government doesn't need proof to record all of your telphone and electronic activity, it doesn't need proof to confiscate your property or freeze your bank accounts and it certainly doesn't need proof to drag you off to an unknown location for intensive 'discussion' and a good healthy dose of water boarding.
Your economy tanks and takes half the world with it, all because your greedy bankers cant keep a lid on their lending. and instead of sending them to jail, you buy out their debts and give them healthy bonus'.
U.S. = Red neck lunatic control freaks.
Yep...
The point is - let people communicate
AnchorFree