Trying to hold back the Atlantic with a mop
The Iranian authorities are attempting something similar, as the Grauniad notes.
Their latest bright idea is to limit internet connection speeds to 128KB - still double the speed of dial up (shudder...). The writer notes "The move by Iran's telecommunications regulator will make it more difficult to download foreign music, films and television programmes, which the authorities blame for undermining Islamic culture among the younger generation. It will also impede efforts by political opposition groups to organise by uploading information on to the net".
Also, and rather worryingly, "Scores of websites and blogs are censored using hi-tech US-made filtering equipment. Iran filters more websites than any other country apart from China. High-speed links can be used with anti-filtering devices to access filtered sites". (my emphasis).
Given the US restrictions on trade with Iran, I do wonder how this came to pass.
I wish the Iranian people every success in securing for themselves a more open society, and can only sympathise with them in their current ordeal. Much like 'Mighy Oak of the Carpathians' Nicolae Ceaucescu's Romania, I suspect it is a case of kiss the hand you cannot bite. Meanwhile, I think that the internet will end up breaking the regimes of some of the vile thugs in Asia and Africa in the way that photocopiers and fax machines did in the '80s. I remember reading about samizdat in the Soviet Union - people would borrow one chapter of a book at a time, and then type out the chapter themselves in order to keep the circulation going. Information, as they say, wants to be free.
Their latest bright idea is to limit internet connection speeds to 128KB - still double the speed of dial up (shudder...). The writer notes "The move by Iran's telecommunications regulator will make it more difficult to download foreign music, films and television programmes, which the authorities blame for undermining Islamic culture among the younger generation. It will also impede efforts by political opposition groups to organise by uploading information on to the net".
Also, and rather worryingly, "Scores of websites and blogs are censored using hi-tech US-made filtering equipment. Iran filters more websites than any other country apart from China. High-speed links can be used with anti-filtering devices to access filtered sites". (my emphasis).
Given the US restrictions on trade with Iran, I do wonder how this came to pass.
I wish the Iranian people every success in securing for themselves a more open society, and can only sympathise with them in their current ordeal. Much like 'Mighy Oak of the Carpathians' Nicolae Ceaucescu's Romania, I suspect it is a case of kiss the hand you cannot bite. Meanwhile, I think that the internet will end up breaking the regimes of some of the vile thugs in Asia and Africa in the way that photocopiers and fax machines did in the '80s. I remember reading about samizdat in the Soviet Union - people would borrow one chapter of a book at a time, and then type out the chapter themselves in order to keep the circulation going. Information, as they say, wants to be free.
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on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 8:28 am.
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too true C,too true.peace through porn!!!
You never know, do you? I suppose it means that the average Iranian has a clue as to what his or her spouse looks like. I think it was Ruskin who freaked out when he saw his wife unclothed for the first time.
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