Iran Net bars NYT, YouTube
p2pnet.net News:- In Iran, censorship is now the rule rather than the exception, says Reporters Without Borders.
YouTube and The New York Times have both been added to the country’s blacklist, and the English version of Wikipedia was blocked from December 1 to 3, says RWB.
“The government is trying to create a digital border to stop culture and news coming from abroad - a vision of the Net which is worrying for the country’s future,” says the press freedom group.
“But, more generally it is a threat to the worldwide web which, instead of aiding understanding between peoples could be changed into a medium of intolerance. The Iranian government policy is not an isolated case. It is getting closer and closer to that of the authorities in China, with particular stress being laid on censorship of cultural output.”
RWB says its tests confirm YouTube and the NYT have been inaccessible in Iran since December 1.
“Iranian Internet-users say that the Kurdish version of Wikipedia has been blocked by the authorities for several months.”
At the end of October, Tehran decided to ban Net connections above 128 kilobits per second.
Iran is said to now use more filtering technology to censor more sites than any country apart from China, says Pakistan Daily Times, continuing:
“Until now, targets have been mainly linked to opposition groups or those deemed ‘immoral’ under Iran’s Islamic legal code. Some news sites, such as the BBC’s Farsi service, are also blocked.”
The ban on YouTube, “reflects a growing official sensitivity to private films on the internet, an issue highlighted by a recent online video which appears to show an Iranian soap opera star having sex,” says the story, adding:
“With some 7.5 million surfers, Iran is believed to have the highest rate of web use in the Middle East after Israel. The net’s popularity has prompted an estimated 100,000 bloggers, many opposed to the Islamic regime.
“Some blogs are substitutes for Iran’s once-flourishing, but now largely suppressed, reformist press.”
Also See:
Reporters Without Borders - Youtube and New York Times sites blocked as iran steps up censorship of foreign content, December 5, 2006Pakistan Daily Times - Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites, December 5, 2006
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