Iran moves to ease Internet censorship via ‘smart filtering’
Censorship has eased somewhat since Hassan Rouhani was elected last year
Iran plans to loosen Internet censorship by introducing “smart filtering” which only keeps out sites the Islamic government considers immoral, Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said on Wednesday.
Internet use is high in Iran, partly because many young Iranians turn to it to bypass an official ban on Western cultural products, and Tehran occasionally filters popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Censorship has eased somewhat since Hassan Rouhani was elected last year on a moderate platform the “smart filter” initiative seemed to reflect.
“We have signed agreements with three universities and research institutes to develop smart filtering to block only depraved and immoral sites, but allowing access to other pages,”
Vaezi said, without naming the organizations involved.
“Smart filtering is used for specific targets only and presently the project is undergoing experiments,” he was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying to journalists.
The minister did not make clear what would be considered depraved and immoral, but the terms are frequently used by Iranian clerics to mean anything from pictures of women in revealing Western clothing to outright pornography.
But he did brush aside rumors that Tehran would start filtering the latest teen fad, the WhatsApp Messenger instant messaging service. “What is being said about this matter is mainly non-sense - propaganda,” he said.
The Mehr report did not mention the latest Internet fad, a Facebook page where women post pictures of themselves without their obligatory headscarf.
Like satellite television and music videos in earlier decades, cyberspace has been a controversial phenomenon in the Islamic republic, both out of political and moral concerns.
Many in the conservative clerical establishment long opposed its introduction into Iran and, since its debut, have demanded tighter supervision.
Their offensive peaked during a crackdown on freedom of speech in the wake of mass protests against former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection in 2009.
Many bloggers were jailed and at least one person was sentenced to death for running what was called a “promiscuous” website. Two years ago, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei set up a supervisory board to monitor Internet access.
-
Iran detains reformist journalist
Journalist Serajeddin Mirdamadi was accused of plotting against Iran’s ruling clerics Print -
Report: Iran president vetoes WhatsApp ban
Access to social networks are routinely blocked by Iranian authorities, as are other websites considered un-Islamic or detrimental to the regime Digital -
Iran’s ‘Halal’ version of the Internet
This week, Iran’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has taken robust and unprecedented actions regarding the use of the ... Media -
‘Technical glitch’ behind Iran unrestricted internet access
A technical glitch allowed some Iranians temporary access to banned social networking websites Facebook and Twitter, an Iranian Internet official said ... Digital -
Iran’s internet in nationwide ‘coma’ as presidential polls loom
Access to internet in Iran is being increasingly stifled as next month’s presidential elections loom, users and experts have said. Although ... World News -
Internet ayatollah Irans supreme leader likes Facebook
Facebook - banned in Iran due to its use by activists to rally government opponents in 2009 - has an unlikely new member: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali ... Life