Cyrus Farivar

May 30, 2011

A ‘Halal’ Internet

The Wall Street Journal and other sources are reporting on the government of Iran's plans to create its own internet. The regime already controls the speed of its internet, keeping it artificially low. Since 2005, they have also been planning to create a closed internet, a la China and other repressive governments, with content controlled by various ministries and with separate e-commerce access.Current head of economic affairs in Iran, Ali Aghamohammadi says:“We can describe it as a genuinely ‘halal’ network aimed at Muslims on a ethical and moral level.”Read the full post.
January 14, 2011

The Great Persian Firewall

Via Cyrus Farivar, we learn that The Tor Project is reporting that the "Great Persian Firewall" is preventing people in Iran from connecting to circumvention tools such as Tor. The Tor Project reports:
Over the past 48 hours it seems the Great Persian Firewall is updating to attempt to block a number of circumvention tools, including Tor. Iranians and their diaspora have been reporting to us that Tor, Hot Spot Shield, UltraSurf, and Freegate are all experiencing connectivity problems from inside Iran to the outside world.
Read more on their site.