Censorship in Iran
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[edit] Internet Censorship in Iran
[edit] Background
When initially introduced, the internet services provided by the government within Iran were totally open. However with the election of reformist Iranian President Khatami, and the start of the reform movement a clampdown occoured. In keeping with Khatami's efforts to facilitate the spread of information to the public and the conservative crackdown on the press many opinion formers moved online and began publishing works on the internet. This period also coincided with the rise of blogging culture in certain segments of Iranian society.
As the conservative crackdown continued many bloggers and online activists found themselves facing jail terms and abuse. Many were forced to sign agreements stopping them from writing anymore, and thousands of sites were shut down or blocked.
[edit] How the blocking works
In fact, “The Iranian government employs extensive internet filtering to block out content deemed inappropriate, according to a new report issued by the OpenNet Initiative - a partnership between the University of Toronto in Canada, Harvard Law School in the US and the University of Cambridge, UK.” The Research also demonstrated that “(…)34% of the 1465 URLs they tested were blocked, including 100% of the pornographic websites tested. (…)15% of blogs and 30% of news sites were inaccessible. Sites providing tools and information for circumventing filtering technology were also blocked in 95% of cases.” Actually “Iran has adopted this extensive filtering regime at a time of extraordinary growth in Internet usage among its citizens and a burst of growth in writing online in the Persian, Iran's sophisticated Internet censorship regime is part of a trend that the OpenNet Initiative's research has uncovered toward states focusing on blocking expression in local languages, such as Persian, and with a particular view toward clamping down on what can be published through inexpensive and popular applications, such as weblogs.” The filtering software used by Iran is developed by American for profit companies. The blocking and restriction of information is supported by internal Iranian laws such as the press law of 1986 which regulates the access to information. "Individuals who subscribe to Internet service providers (ISPs) must promise in writing not to access "non-Islamic" sites. The law requires ISPs to install filtering mechanisms that cover access to both Web sites and e-mail. Punishment for violations of content-related laws can be harsh.””
[edit] Speed Restrictions
The censorship scenario has continued to persist with the presidential election of conservative Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In October 2006, the Iranian government passed a decree forcing all ISPs to limit their download speeds to 128Kbps for all residential clients and internet cafes. Although no reason for the decree was given, it is believed that the move was designed to reduce the amount of western media (such as films and music) entering the country. [1]
[edit] Domestic Criticism
Not all the Iranian public back up the governmental decision and a petition has been developed to Stop Internet Censorship in Iran. However, the response to the free access to information request is still at an early stage (2693 signatures collected as of February 2006). The censorship scenario is expected to persist with the presidential election of the conservative candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Bibliography
- "China and Iran to Censor the Net", New Scientist 2005: 187.
- "Internet Filtering in Iran in 2004-2005: A Country Study." Open Net Initiative. 26 Feb. 2006, http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/iran/
- Knight , Will . "Iranian net censorship powered by US technology" New Scientist . 27 June 2005. 26 Feb. 2006 http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7589
- "Stop Internet censorship in Iran”, Sensor-Free Iran. 26 Feb. 2006 http://www.petitiononline.com/irancnsr/petition.html
