Iran bans YouTube, Facebook

Arien
By Arien

TEHRAN: Iran has blocked access to more than five million Internet sites, whose content is mostly perceived as immoral and anti-social, a judiciary
official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"The enemies seek to assault our religious identity by exploiting the Internet," Abdolsamad Khoram Abadi, an advisor to Iran's prosecutor general, was quoted by Kargozaran newspaper as saying.

The Internet "inflicts social, political, economic and moral damage, which is worrying," he said, adding that "social vice caused by the Internet is more than that by the satellite network," Mehr news agency reported.

With about 21 million users, the Internet is widely popular in Iran, which information ministry officials say ranks among the top 20 user countries.

In recent years, Internet service providers have been told to block access to political, human rights and women's sites and weblogs expressing dissent or deemed to be pornographic and anti-Islamic.

The ban has also targeted such popular social networking sites as Facebook and YouTube, as well as news sites.

Iran's reformist press was hit by a massive crackdown in 2000, and many journalists turned to blogging after their publications were shut down.

The closures have continued under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected in 2005, and have targeted newspapers and other media, including web sites and news agencies, of all political persuasions.

Conservatives have also warned against "cyber imperialism" targeting developing countries.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3733257.cms?TOI_mostemailed

By anonymous• 14 Dec 2008 15:08
anonymous

rami-leb, you're talking about Qatar, right?

By Gypsy• 14 Dec 2008 15:05
Gypsy

Facebook is "anti-social?" but it's a social networking site!

By alsboy• 14 Dec 2008 15:03
alsboy

Wondering 'y' iran did do that long time back. They (Iran) are quite famous in shutting down or banning any kind of amusements or things that bring a smile on people's face.

Expected move...!!!

By anonymous• 14 Dec 2008 14:34
anonymous

Gee... Imagine living in a country where the government blocks access to the internet. How repressive.

By realsomeone• 14 Dec 2008 14:23
realsomeone

We usually used to get western propogana ... are we getting indian propoganda now?

Qoute "Shahrzad I live in Iran right now and i use both Youtube and Facebook without any issue everyday. Who says they're filtered?"

Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!

- Jalaluddin al-Rumi

By britexpat• 14 Dec 2008 14:21
britexpat

Good to hear from you ..

Does this mean that this is more "Dis-information" ??

By ONEmakikomoto• 14 Dec 2008 14:19
ONEmakikomoto

living without youtube is like living under the rocks (...sorta)

_________________

veni, vidi, vici.

By realsomeone• 14 Dec 2008 14:15
realsomeone

terrible idea..atleast i could have agreed with facebook but youtube...noway. there are usefull content in there.

Poverty is not for the sake of hardship. No, it is there because nothing exists but God. Poverty unlocks the door -- what a blessed key!

- Jalaluddin al-Rumi

By Shahrzad• 14 Dec 2008 14:09
Shahrzad

I live in Iran right now and i use both Youtube and Facebook without any issue everyday. Who says they're filtered?

By Norther• 25 Nov 2008 14:51
Norther

people should be allowed to see and view whatever they want, screw this system where govt. decides for you. this frustrates me soo much. this is what makes terrorists and people antagonistic.

this is one man who has an opinion and the power to change something to suit his view. the power to ''block'' should be given to the community nt sum faggot who thinks he knows best.

if i knew all the emails of the people in iran, i'd send them my vpn software to unblock everything!!!!

stupid bastards...

By Platao36• 24 Nov 2008 14:10
Platao36

wITHOUT INTENDING TO ATTACK ANYONE, sorry caps, this is what happens when people mix up politics with religion.

Only God Can Judge Me

الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي

I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer

أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ

By greentea• 23 Nov 2008 19:46
greentea

Iran is moving backwards...

is it really because it is "anti-islamic" or just the fear that people will become "anti-gov"?

By SmK1361• 23 Nov 2008 19:43
SmK1361

i hope they will put an end to all these fnatic ideas...

or they will be like Shah De Iran,,, King Reza Shah Pahlavi  

 

No man is above the law and no man below it.

By baldrick2dogs• 23 Nov 2008 19:07
baldrick2dogs

another step back into the dark ages :o(

Did you Google it first?

By qatar.living• 23 Nov 2008 19:03
qatar.living

Hail Qtel...for not blocking all those sites

By who.am.i• 23 Nov 2008 17:11
who.am.i

anyway, what's 5 million compared to billions of webpages. ;o

i hope QL is not one of those 5m sites.

QL doesn't corrupt people's mind, does it?

cheers,

paul

By Arien• 23 Nov 2008 16:53
Arien

The idea was rather blocking the blogs which spread after the reformist press carckdown..

______________________________________________

Live,

Let Live,

& Help Live..

By britexpat• 23 Nov 2008 16:42
britexpat

Save the population from being corrupted..

By who.am.i• 23 Nov 2008 16:38
who.am.i

5 Million Sites? WOW! for what? to make their people ignorant? they have to open their eyes and be reasonable. well, i can understand if they blocked pornographic materials.

maybe i should call mark zuckerberg. ;-)

cheers,

paul

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