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December 08, 2003

Iranian censorship? Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, now based in Canada, reports that access to Google's cache has been blocked by Iran's biggest ISP - a way of stopping Iranians getting at Google's copy of sites that censors are preventing them from seeing.

Daily Summit asked an Iranian resident to try out the Google cache from a couple of ISPs (though not the one Hossein mentions). They were serving cached pages with no problem - but we'd be interested to know what you are finding if you're surfing from Iran...

Iranian Minister of Communications,Ahmad Motamedi recently said that Iranian ISPs should only block sites on an 'offical' blacklist.

But without access to a definitive blacklist, it is hard to tell which sites are being blocked legally or illegally. Furthermore, Reporters Without Borders says the Minister warned ISPs to install filters.

BBC Persian Service told us that certain sites, mainly news sites or opposition groups based abroad, have been blocked for some time. Radio Farda (also known as Radio Liberty) and the website for Voice of America were blocked at some point, for example.
Cara Swift @ December 8, 2003 04:30 PM

Comments (292)
That's a good role for dailysummit to play: getting quick feedback on restrictions, events, etc. Nice going
Steve Cisler @ December 8, 2003 07:14 PM
I live in tehran.I checked the TCI line and other isp's internet access cards.I can see google and its cache.
bahram @ December 8, 2003 09:14 PM
That is true; many of my friends in Tehran have this problem. Nobody can check all ISP or ICPs cart but various people encountered different situation in most cases they can’t see google cache or political weblogs.
crock @ December 8, 2003 09:35 PM
If we see paradoxical responses from internet users inside Iran we shouldn’t be really surprised. This again is same as other Mullahs policies; they do a random kind of actions to confuse every body and at the same time try to achieve their goals. In relation to mullahs we should always bear in mind that they govern Iran illegitimately by their arbitrary rules.
Aziz @ December 8, 2003 09:55 PM
Oh I see Aziz. So if anyone says something that doesn't fit your delusions to a T, it must be a mullah conspiracy?? Personally, I don't see any difference between the likes of you and many of the conspiracy-theory weaving idiots that rule the country.
Kambiz @ December 8, 2003 10:00 PM
Hello,

Iranian Telecom has not specificly filtered Google Cache and this is a technical fault of the writer,

There are so many pronographic and anonymizing sites based on IP addresses (And new ones every day) so the Iranian Telecom has decided to filter out URLs that are accessed by IP address.
This Internet policy asks every web site to have an official registered domain name to be accessible,
Google Cache is accessed via IP address (216.239.59.104,66.102.11.104,216.239.51.104,... depending on google datacenter) so it is filtered for Iranians behind Iranian Telecom Filtering gateway.

If you set a domain to point to one of these IPs you can access google cache by replacing the IP address with the domain name easily,

Best Regards,
Reza Hashemi @ December 8, 2003 10:04 PM
I confirm the post.very very very...
pouyan @ December 8, 2003 10:07 PM
We iranians in Iran have encountered many problems in visiting personal sites that publish in opposite to the islamic regime of Iran or its policies and it doesn't make any difference if those are personal or political sites. The biggest ISP in Iran which is called Parsonline (www.parsonline.net) has blocked the Hosseins's weblog and womeniniran.org sites without giving any acceptable reason for several times. There was a rumor that it was because of a direct order of Communication Ministry. As far as I know two webloggers have been prosecuted because of their weblog articles. Hossein belongs to the few webloggers who have the dare to write under their true name and express their opposition to the childish regime policies.
Hamid @ December 8, 2003 10:08 PM
DCI IP: 217.218.x.x, 217.219.x.x, 80.191.x.x
filter google, news.gooya, ...



Ali @ December 8, 2003 10:28 PM
I have many friends in Iran and they have told me that this is not true, almost all of them can see those above-mentioned websites without any problem, and considering that they are using a big variety of different ISPs, I guess this could not be true. I personally do not trust someone's weblog who has been always struggling with his sorrunding society.
sUm @ December 8, 2003 10:28 PM
DCI IP: 217.218.x.x, 217.219.x.x, 80.191.x.x
filter google, news.gooya, ...



Ali @ December 8, 2003 10:28 PM
They're filtering all political sites that they don't like.
Reza @ December 8, 2003 10:33 PM
Do not trust hoder, he is just seeking attention to get whatever he have not had before during his life and now by coming to Canada, he is really excited by his new enviroment!!!
Robin @ December 8, 2003 10:34 PM
Not Only Internet censorship but also today they executed two young Kurdish men in Kurdistan.
Doost @ December 8, 2003 10:47 PM
This is a real tragedy, not a psychic imaginary, censoring in Iran is like very ordinary, I mean if you do not see it you really have a major problem, I censor my name because if I do not they will do it for me, as a woman in Iran who sees rights but does not feel them I can say blocking google cache is the least important issue going on in social political level; I do not care? Yeh right but there should be some one here to care, there should be some one here to talk in the international level, we want freedom, the first thing on the need chart for human being, we want to think, we want to write and we want to BE, so no matter Hoder ( Hossein Derakhshan) tries to have his blog unblocked to have more readers and more clicks on his google adds or ever RadioFarda is concerned about being blocked because his budget would be cut if there are not enough listener, Cara Swift should be aware that Censorship exists in Iran and this not an imagination. So if you are concerned make it right not worse.
iran4dummies @ December 8, 2003 10:51 PM
I can see all the sites without any problem.
Saeed @ December 8, 2003 10:52 PM
Cencorship exists as many other problems but the way some internet-addicted people are trying to introduce it and make it bigger than other Iranian people problems, does not make any sense.
Ali @ December 8, 2003 10:58 PM
No words can describe the hell we're living in. i swear you can't live here for two weeks. internet was the only window to the world outside,and these mother ****** are closing this window to us,like the many other things they did. maybe even god does not know how we hate these akhounds. HOW SHALL WE TELL THE WORLD WE NEED HELP?? HOW CAN WE BE HEARD? HOW CAN WE SAY WE DON'T WANT THIS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC??

this society is going to explode very soon. an explosion of people,and that would destroy the whole mid east in chain. someone should stop and kick out these *******. we're dying... believe me... our souls are on fire. we've got nothing more to live for: everything's banned: happiness,music,love,internet,food courts,relation ships,choosing the future of our country,...

why God decided to born us in this hell? why shall we suffer this much? WE DON'T WANT ATOM POWER WE . the wolrd knows that these akhounds are making Nuclear bombs to protect themsleves to survive one more day,and believe me they are ready to drop those bombs on us the poor iranian citizens,to get themselves out.

Ugh... i told you. words can not tell the truth. just one word: HELP IRANIANS.
Help Us @ December 8, 2003 11:32 PM
it seems your website is getting similar to hossein derakhshan's blog!, a place for people to swear to each other and just empty their paradoxes, we call it feminine bath in Iran!!! do not pay attention to much to hoder, soon he wil ask you to put his link on your website and start devoting your life to blogging!!! just blogging!
An Iranian @ December 8, 2003 11:38 PM
he (hoder) even does not know the meaning of Chef!!! lol
An Iraninan @ December 8, 2003 11:42 PM
I'm sure that there are alot of pages and web sits on the internet which are blocked by the government and it's pretty obvious that they dont want everybod inside Iran to be informed about political movments against "MOLLAS" . I just noticed some people have put comment in here that they call Hosein a lier... i don't understand this... Hossin is doing this everything to help us out and here is what he gets???!!! I mean come on...
every body knows how much "censoring" is being done in Iran not just for internet websites, but also alot of information resources are blocked.

I perosnaly like to thank you for your consideration in understanding the importance of this sensetive isue.

cheers,

Mahbod
Mahbod @ December 9, 2003 12:01 AM
I'm not in Iran right now so I can't confirm, but I was there in the summer and various ISPs censored various websites. I remember hoder's blog was filtered by Neda, but I could access it with some other ISP's, so whether or not the DPI or the telecommunications ministry has filtered the google cache, the fact that internet censorship exists in Iran is not a matter for dispute.

The presence of an official "black list" has been admitted by the officials, and I guess that is the most important point, the details about which sites have been actually filtered is irrelevant compared to the bigger scheme.
legofish @ December 9, 2003 12:10 AM
I live in Canada, but I checked with both my sister and brother getting connected to internet from two different locations in Tehran. They have difficulty accessing to Google's Cache. Also, there is a huge list of (mostly political or critical social) websites that they can not view.

Sincerely,

Rahi Azimi
Rahi Azimi @ December 9, 2003 12:59 AM
I hate to interject in this, but I was wondering - is it possible that this could be an infrastructure issue as well? Granted, it may or may not be something that is being taken advantage of, but not too long ago India was censoring all of YahooGroups ((tm), I suppose) because of infrastructure issues.

I don't know the politics involved, but I do believe that every country has it's own 'censorship', whether meant or not. Just trying to make sure that this is not a technical issue.
Taran @ December 9, 2003 01:54 AM
Well, I left Iran to study in Canada three months ago. Before that I used to write in Gireh Blog Society at http://www.gireh.com/. I used to access internet from Sharif University of Technology which I happened to be an advisor myself in the Computing Center. So I never had accessing political sites myself. Sharif Univesity used to censor sexy sites. But I have checked from my friends homes that they usually can't access gireh.com. As another example, my friend Omid Milani's blog has been censored. It's at http://omid.khushe.org/weblog now. Well, the whole Khushe.org is actually censored. It's an online political magazine after all.

Should you need more information, feel free to contact me. By the way, Hoder is doing a great job. It's pretty easy not doing anything and not getting blamed. The hard thing is to do something, no matter get blamed or not.
Behdad Esfahbod @ December 9, 2003 02:06 AM
Some of my relatives who live in Iran have been saying since a few months ago that their access to some non-political websites (e.g. Google Cache), along with political/pornographic ones, had been blocked. This could be a technical issue. They might have mistakenly censored some other websites while trying to censor those they believe are politically/socially inappropriate for internet users. However, as one of the comments states, they have some arbitrary rules that would let them censor websites that aren't supposed to be censored. In other words, there might be a blacklist other than the one announced publicly.
What strikes me the most is the presence of IRI delegates in The World Summit on Information Society. I strongly believe freedom of speech is an essential part of any "Information Society" and all participant countries must obey this principle. What Hoder is trying to do is make you put some conditions in place for a country like Iran and force it to loosen some of its restrictions on the media particularly the internet.
His intention must be appreciated.
Mohammad Shahi @ December 9, 2003 03:45 AM
i line in qazvin . any ISP in qazvin i tested.
http://khabar.gooya.com and a few weblog not available . this massage : access denied from ITC iran .
example of weblog : fozool.blogspot.com
shemr.blogspot.com , hoder.com
and IRAN ITC closed google cash
bahar @ December 9, 2003 04:56 AM
I have no problem with any wbsites from Tehran, I guess these are mostly rumors.
P.S. I have tried more than 10 different ISP internet cards.
Mahmood @ December 9, 2003 05:10 AM
I live in Tehran,and I cant C google`s cache, www.hoder.com, news.gooya.com and . . .
:: Arash :: @ December 9, 2003 05:16 AM
I can see google and all of the other websites from Iran.
yours,
Sina @ December 9, 2003 05:17 AM
I,also, can see all the sites without any problem.THIS IS a web propaganda,only.

mirabbas @ December 9, 2003 05:18 AM
I live in Mashhad . and i cant see news.gooya.com
and khabar.gooya.com ,Google's cache and........
Hessam @ December 9, 2003 05:23 AM
"... have many friends in Iran ","I checked with both my sister ... ","Some of my relatives ..."!!
------
NO! I live in tehran,NOW.There is no filtering over google's cache!
bahman @ December 9, 2003 05:27 AM
I think hossein derakhshan and others do not know how internet explorer works.!I see google's cache madam!
babam @ December 9, 2003 05:37 AM
Before this, using some special links could help us to cross the filters and reach the address we needed. But recently we even can not do that.
It's interesting actually, the so-called islamic government has no problem with porno sites. There are pop ups and endless junk mails flooding our mailboxes giving info about sex industry and pornography. But whatever related to political sites, news sites have problems. Funny to say, even for accessing to www.guardian.co.uk, I face a filter.
mah @ December 9, 2003 05:49 AM
I have no problem with google and other websites,
Ramin @ December 9, 2003 06:29 AM
kidding!!!
Maryam @ December 9, 2003 06:36 AM
I live in shiraz.I checked by SUMS.AC.IR.I can not see google and its cache.

hamid @ December 9, 2003 06:51 AM
Please visit this adress:
http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:eVgmh-mDR48J:www.imperial.ac.uk/mechanicalengineering/people/list.pdf&hl=fa&ie=UTF-8

Amin @ December 9, 2003 06:54 AM
i am at the moment in iran so surely can confirm that there is a vast censorship about net what is funny you easly can surf porongraphic sites like playboy but no access to political sites or informative sites such as :i.hoder.com
news.gooya.com,
iran-emrooz.de , noproxy.com ,silentsurf.com , anonymouse.ws etc
the ISP that i use is easy card www.123ezcall.com
but the isps varies dramaticly .

majid nourizad @ December 9, 2003 07:18 AM
It's a real torment, we live in Iran with many economical and political pressures, and now after 25 years facing & suffering , recently goverment wants to put us in more pressure by sensor of our cultural & political oponion even over the internet!

It is a truth, there are many things that cann't be told by us over newspapers or internet but their existance are undeniable & they should be solved as soon as possible.

Ameneh Ghorbani @ December 9, 2003 08:54 AM
We are living under many censorings. We are victims of censoring!!!
Kaveh @ December 9, 2003 09:11 AM
its right. for example www.cekaf.com ( its for study sex) www.kaafar.com ( its religius sit) and .........
javad @ December 9, 2003 09:17 AM
I live in tehran and i can't access some political and fun sites,but i can see google.


ali @ December 9, 2003 09:32 AM
I live in Teh. the capital city of Iran, as some other countries we could not access pornographic websites, but this is not the main problem, the problem is that, many ISPs restrict our access to lots of political and religious web pages by force of our government.

We only ask you to ask them why did they do like this?
This is against human rights and so on...
Amir @ December 9, 2003 09:58 AM
censorship in iran is real, i think your embassy in tehran can make you confident!
Pooya @ December 9, 2003 10:14 AM
i live in shiraz , political sites were blocked by goverment , like, gooya.com , hoder.com , and free sites like geocity , i had some data in geocity and it is not political it is personal but they were blocked (http://www.geocities.com/weblog_kooche/pic.htm)

arash @ December 9, 2003 11:15 AM
i live in tehran. in my country surfing the net in a big disaster and many political websites are banned.
samad @ December 9, 2003 11:23 AM
I am not living in Iran, but since recently a lot of my friends in Iran ask me to send them links and ways that can help them get through filters, I think there must be something wrong.

fozul @ December 9, 2003 11:33 AM
i live in shiraz , political sites were blocked by goverment , like, gooya.com , hoder.com , and free sites like geocity , i had some data in geocity and it is not political it is personal but they were blocked (http://www.geocities.com/weblog_kooche/pic.htm)
ali reza @ December 9, 2003 11:44 AM
i live in Tehran now i try to view some page but i cant then i have to use anti filter for it.
this isp that i use in my office has problem but i havent any problen with my isp in home,
mana @ December 9, 2003 12:06 PM
that,s right
the big universities such tehran university that they have their own internet services blocked some most popular plotical sites(Radiofarda,Sobhaneh,.....).
mehdi @ December 9, 2003 12:25 PM
I use an ISP connected through DCI. Hossein's right in his point about google's cached pages. DCI seems to be using ingenius methods to filter content beyond any known official blacklist such as, filtering based on content rating to effectively block access to sexually explicit sites and filtering based on DNS names.

Nersi @ December 9, 2003 12:30 PM
Lets See The True Face !

http://members.lycos.co.uk/pblog/pic/200.JPG

BTW: Screenshot From One ISP in Esfehan
Ali Parsa @ December 9, 2003 01:03 PM
That's true.I'm using TCI (Telecommunication Company of Iran)Line and I Cheked This Page's cache On Google.You can see This pictureof Result.

yashar @ December 9, 2003 01:06 PM
I am really concerned why you western journalists do try to treat all of the countries based on your predefined and well stablished rules.
Censorship in Iran does not need to be invistagted so detailed like asking for ISP s that have blocked Google's cache. Just see how many Iranians dare to write on their own weblogs with their real names. even those who live outside of Iran.It is really funny.
Whatever I wanna write in my four weblogs about all my hobby which are quite simple, basic and natural, I realize that I will have problem on return to Iran.
Censorship in Iran has passed those boundries you are trying to approve.It is too obvious. cann't you see it. you really need that much documents to approve this issue? do u really enjoy that Mullahs play not only with your politicians but with you journalists as well? they have frightened Iranians so that they censor themselves.you need more powerful documents?
Don't let Mullahs to play with you please.the rules they follow in the game is different from yours.It is quite easy for them to block Google's cach and many other websites through different ISPs, opening them in critical times like now,laughing at you (and us as well) who are trying to find documents, speaking ambigiously in different occasions about nonsense issues like blacklist and so on and putting some comments here insulting Hossein Derakhshan whoes way of thinking and writing, I beleive is what most of the Iranian young internet users do.

Just open your eyes!
Masoud @ December 9, 2003 01:14 PM
That's so fun! Many of us even could not have access to our weblogs... If in a url the term "sex" appears, it will be filtered, even if the site is about sex in insects, or a mail from our friends!! so are "nude", "nudity" and so on ...
Hamid @ December 9, 2003 01:17 PM
i was reading the comments as what suprised me was that most of readers know who is lier here. yup they are right your website is just getting similar to hoseein's blog :)) totally useless :))
mm @ December 9, 2003 01:55 PM
Persian Blacklist:

*.4rah.org
*.abanar.com
*.abnus.de
*.alefbe.com
*.alijavadi.com
*.anjomanazadi.org
*.ariaye.com
*.asre-nou.net
*.avayeashena.com
*.avayezan.com
*.banisadr.com.fr
*.azadegy.de
*.bnporg.com
*.cekaf.com
*.chebayadkard.com
*.chekhabar.com
*.cjb.net
*.cmi-fl.com
*.daadnameh.org
*.dayani.de
*.derafsh-kaviyani.com
*.dfofd.de
*.didgah.org.uk
*.dpip.org
*.efsha.info
*.eksir.com
*.etehadchap.com
*.etehadefedaian.org
*.fadaian.org
*.farahpahlavi.org
*.farsijoke.com
*.farsnews.com
*.forouharha.com
*.geocities.com
*.golshan.com
*.khabar.gooya.com
*.hadeseh.com
*.hasanpix.com
*.hashariha.com
*.hemid.com
*.homa.org
*.i-w-o.org
*.internationalistworkers.org
*.iran-chabar.de
*.iran-e-azad.org
*.iran-e-sabz.org
*.iran-emrooz.de
*.iran-jommelli.com
*.iran-nabard.com
*.iranian-fedaii.de
*.iranianvoice.org
*.iranjavan.de
*.iranspiegel.de
*.irantestimony.com
*.irtvberlin.de
*.irtvradioberlin.com
*.jaamjam.com
*.jawanan.org
*.jebhe.org
*.jebhemelli.org
*.jomhouri.com
*.jonbesh-iran.com
*.jonge-khabar.com
*.jonge-seda.com
*.kaafar.com
*.kargar.org
*.kargaran.org
*.kasravi.info
*.kayhanlondon.com
*.khavaran.com
*.khonj.org
*.komala.org
*.kvinnonet.org
*.latroiona.com
*.liga-iran.de
*.m-hekmat.com
*.manshoor.org
*.mashrooteh.org
*.mihan.net
*.mojahed.org
*.mojahedin.org
*.naghed.com
*.nehzatetashyealavi.com
*.nejat.info
*.newiran.de
*.newiran.net
*.nitv.tv
*.noandishan.org
*.omeed.org
*.omid57.com
*.p3rsian.com
*.panahjoo.com
*.panjereh.org
*.parsplanet.net
*.pdk-iran.org
*.peiknet.com
*.persiandaily.com
*.radio-international.org
*.radioazadi.org
*.radiofarda.com
*.radiofarda.org
*.radiozagros.com
*.radis.org
*.rahe-azadi.com
*.rahekargar.net
*.rahetude.de
*.rawanshenasi.de
*.refrandom.com
*.rezapahlavi.org
*.rezapahlavi.com
*.roozi.com
*.roshangari.com
*.rowzane.com
*.saghf.com
*.samaa.org
*.sarbedaran.org
*.seghe.com
*.sh-shafa.com
*.sharareha.com
*.siahkal.com
*.siasate-kargari.com
*.simaiesocialism.com
*.smtohidi.org
*.sobhiran.com
*.taktaz.com
*.tapesh.com
*.tarhino.com
*.topsites24.net
*.toufan.org
*.trife.com
*.tudehpartyiran.org
*.tvs.se
*.vahdat.org
*.workertoday.com
*.wpiran.org
*.wsu-iran.org
*.yahoo4ir.com
*.yaqoot.com
*.zakeri.org

+ all Adult/Sexually Explicit
+ all Remote Proxies
Rad Danesh @ December 9, 2003 02:09 PM
+ all free hostings:

*.tk (195.20.32.86)
*.tripod.com (209.202.196.70)
*.netfirms.com (209.171.43.28)
*.ifrance.com (62.39.122.10 ~ 62.39.122.30)
*.web1000.com (66.28.153. 25,27,36)
*.150m.com (209.63.57.10)

*.8m.com (208.185.127.169)
*.8m.net (208.185.127.169)
*.8k.com (208.185.127.169)
*.4mg.com (208.185.127.169)
*.s5.com (208.185.127.169)
*.4t.com (208.185.127.169)
*.itgo.com (208.185.127.169)
*.iwarp.com (208.185.127.169)

*.20m.com (208.185.127.162)
Rad Danesh @ December 9, 2003 02:17 PM
it is really funny !! ofcourse there is a vast censorship about internet in iran like theother issues. the funniest part : access to poronographic sites such as playboy is permmited but to informative domains as mentioned in above list forbbiden. from the point of my view iranian government doesn't care about values and morals but just blocking which annoays them!!!!!!!!
majid nourizad @ December 9, 2003 02:20 PM
Is there somebody to help up , we want a free internet , NOT a prison !!!

HELP US , do you heard ?

HELP

I don't say lie , our internet is under censoring

I want to view news sites !!!

HEELLLPPP !!!!!
Pejman @ December 9, 2003 03:16 PM
it is not true, I can see all the websites I guess this is another propaganda made by some stupid websites so-called weblogs!!! (what is a weblog? just waste the time, right?!)
Bijan @ December 9, 2003 03:17 PM
I have tried many ISPs without any problem seeing GOOGLE and other websites, I guess you should check the source of your article, Iranian weblogs are really notrious for their wrong news.
Samuel @ December 9, 2003 03:27 PM
Please spreas the word!
our fellow Iranians are blocked in Iran and their acccess to the only source of information- the Internet- is a also restricted
Me @ December 9, 2003 03:31 PM
your news are not true, I can use all my internet cards to see websites.
Nima @ December 9, 2003 03:41 PM
you can find some more infos hyperlink
fozul @ December 9, 2003 03:44 PM
I can see google and also all the porno websites!!!
Mina @ December 9, 2003 03:49 PM
it is totally wrong, what the hell means they have blocked Google's chache? cyber world is getting really unreliable.
Jim @ December 9, 2003 04:01 PM
i am bahman,i live in mashhad and i can't access to political site like gooya , roshangari , radiofarda,....
and the other site like geocities,google cache,...
and all site that write above "Persian Blacklist".

bahman @ December 9, 2003 04:02 PM
Dear Cara,
just take a look at these addresses to see all of this is a big hoax in a persian version. google is not blocked, it is a TROJAN called " Trojan.Qhosts " makes people unable to see the google cach.

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100719.htm


http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.removal.tool.html
Shimoo @ December 9, 2003 04:32 PM
I live in Tehran and I have no problem by my own ISP but when I tried to access via another connection I realized that cash of google among with many other ways of access to certain sites was blocked But I should add it is not a problem in case of my own provider and many other ones
behnam @ December 9, 2003 04:41 PM
A trojan caused!
http://weblog.netkadeh.com/?pdate=13820918#1162988
nima @ December 9, 2003 04:43 PM
NO!
I have no problem by my own ISP!
hamed @ December 9, 2003 04:47 PM
We can see google and his cashe and all of the other websites from Iran.
yours,

hamed @ December 9, 2003 04:51 PM
Whilst we welcome open debate on any of our posts, we do remind you that Daily Summit reserves the right to remove any comments which use defamatory, libellous, racist, sexist or otherwise offensive language. For that reason, some of the comments posted on this thread have been edited or removed.
Jane Frewer @ December 9, 2003 04:53 PM
why you say that?
that's not at all true!!!
I have no problom!!!
khashaiar @ December 9, 2003 04:56 PM
It all seems funny to me. The international community has no sensense whatsoever of what is going on in Iran. If you have money you can do everything, absolutely anything, you want. I am not that fool to name the names that you can pay them to get free access unlimited access to porno sites or sattelite TV. Unisex indoor pools is not rare also. However, political sites that disclose the corruption of insiders is a big no no.
Just for a simple test I ask Mr. Motamedi that whether he will agree not to block a website that I will launch allocated to the detailed documents of bribery cases while he was in charge of Iranian Center for Scientific and Indusrial Research and he launches another website for answering to my allegations and documents.
Nader @ December 9, 2003 05:00 PM
you must translate persian weblog of hossein derakhshan for knoing what happend!
alfred @ December 9, 2003 05:03 PM
Hi, just read here--> http://update.blogsky.com/?PostId=27 to find more about filtering in IRAN. :)
Reza @ December 9, 2003 05:39 PM
there are many site particularly political site that are filterd in iran
but the site that are filtered are different from different ISP that you get servise
abas @ December 9, 2003 06:59 PM
Anoher big hoax by a big hoaxian!
iranianinshiraz @ December 9, 2003 07:18 PM
Yes, It's true. Internet providers in Iran have blocked many political and news sites, and some of them also blocked Google Cache...
Mohammad @ December 9, 2003 07:32 PM
Hoder and his friends such as aliparvaresh.com since 1 years ago say that google is banned!.But i do not know why no one can see banned cache except hoder.In other words hoder is a real joker can affect iranian weblog community by his funny jokes.you will see that he will reject his notes about google next month!
bozghale @ December 9, 2003 07:34 PM
It is absolutely an untrue and misleading report. I live in Tehran and I have access both to google and most of other websites that mentioned to be on an "Official Blacklist".As far as I found out, many of my friends are in the same situation as mine.
mehran @ December 9, 2003 07:38 PM
It is absolutely an untrue and misleading report. I live in Tehran and I have access both to google and most of other websites that mentioned to be on an "Official Blacklist".As far as I found out, many of my friends are in the same situation as mine.
mehran @ December 9, 2003 07:42 PM
Yes, I've seem so many blocked pages.
Amin @ December 9, 2003 07:42 PM
It is absolutely an untrue and misleading report. I live in Tehran and I have access both to google and most of other websites that mentioned to be on an "Official Blacklist".As far as I found out, many of my friends are in the same situation as mine.
mehran @ December 9, 2003 07:45 PM
Yes, I've seem so many blocked pages.
Amin @ December 9, 2003 07:45 PM
Come get your daily dose of funny jokes here :
i.hoder.com!
shamsollah @ December 9, 2003 07:46 PM
Dear madam!
I love hoder and read his weblog .
but in this matter i think hoder has a great small mistake!
Reggards
sara
sara @ December 9, 2003 07:56 PM
Come get your daily dose of funny jokes here :
i.hoder.com!
shamsollah @ December 9, 2003 07:56 PM
Why am I Surprised?!
Not only google alos sex.com has not been blocked!
Hoder, Stop joking!
tabrizi @ December 9, 2003 08:00 PM
I see google's cache.but sex.com and oter porn sites are banned.
ali @ December 9, 2003 08:04 PM
also,i can see google.com.but xxx sites are blocked bye them.
ahmad @ December 9, 2003 08:06 PM
Hi, I'm the technical manager of an ISP in Iran, and above 'Persian Blacklist' is TRUE, but also there is some ISP's in here that do not use the TCI services, and this is a risk, cause if you want to have an ISP in Iran, you MUST use TCI bandwidth, otherwise you don't have the Licence of doing it.
So if you have any IP in 217.218 ~ 217.219 range, your access is filtered, simply try to trace a banned site, you see something like this:

Router#tracerout www.mihan.net
Tracing the route to www.mihan.net (213.30.153.18)

1 217.218.0.253 420 msec 365 msec 312 msec
2 217.218.158.41 1627 msec 389 msec 321 msec
3 217.218.158.42 2941 msec 1190 msec 453 msec
4 217.218.127.97 184 msec 341 msec 252 msec
5 217.218.127.65 389 msec 276 msec 321 msec
6 * * *
7 * * *
8 * * *
9 * * *

Bye.
Rad Danesh @ December 9, 2003 08:24 PM
Hi everybody there.
It's true. Iran government impose a filtering to internet websites, such as xxx, opposition, news sites,....I think they are specially worried about opposition and speech freedom that may be destroy their power on iranian people. I cannot see these sites for example: radiofarda, news.gooya, nourizadeh.com,....I hope to see freedom one day in our country. Bye
mehrdad @ December 9, 2003 08:24 PM
Hoder is just looking for attention that is why he has asked you to edit comments because he knows how disliked he is. yours.
Sima @ December 9, 2003 08:29 PM
I can see all the websites from Iran, please do not attention to iranian weblogs to much, they are just spreading hoaxes and lies around the cyber space. their leader is also hossein derakhshooon.
BYE.
Dariush Kabir @ December 9, 2003 08:34 PM
I have no problem with accessing different websites, by the way I have tried many differnet internet cards.
Raha @ December 9, 2003 08:42 PM
Believe me, most of the people who talk about Iranian censorships and restrictions do not realy live in Iran. Their informations come from some propaganda sources like Hossein's weblog who himself hasn't been in Iran for two years and his recent reports on censorship in internet come from some false comments in his weblog.
Shahram @ December 9, 2003 08:59 PM
Hoder does not know how IE works.type the google ,search and click the cache.you will get what you want.Is google filtered in canada,hoder?
hador @ December 9, 2003 09:00 PM
Censorship in the internet !?

Yes it realy exist ...
If you are interested ...
Ask TCI about that ....

Ali Chelchele @ December 9, 2003 09:05 PM
Check out this website for more news and reports on Iranian Net censorship:
stop.censoring.us
Mohammad Maghami @ December 9, 2003 09:07 PM
Come on!!! don't make a big thing out of nothing.
Filtering websites in Iran is restricted to some porn sites, that's it.
farhad @ December 9, 2003 09:11 PM
I live in Iran and i cannot see Google cache and many other sites.
I tried with 5 ISP's but all was same.
The only thing that you see while accessing thies sites is a page that saies "Access Denied"
Ali @ December 9, 2003 09:21 PM
It is not true. I have access to many of those mentioned websites, even to the porn ones.To be honest, I am watching the the Paris Hilton Sex video tape right now.
reza @ December 9, 2003 09:31 PM
goozidi too pite are baba
dfd @ December 9, 2003 09:43 PM
Everyone in iran have problem with goverment
all broadcast ways filtering heavily
eblis @ December 9, 2003 09:44 PM
test
Abi @ December 9, 2003 09:59 PM
Don't mislead people with this false reports. Mr Derakhshan is too illiterate to be the Iranian internet surfers' representative. He just want to be in the centre of attention.
hadi @ December 9, 2003 10:12 PM
I can see all the internet websites from Tehran.
Mehdi @ December 9, 2003 10:19 PM
there is no problem in my internet connection, I guess it is a rumor started by Derakhshan.
Mehrdad @ December 9, 2003 10:24 PM
please do something against internet censoring in iran.if you dont belive please go to news.gooya.com and see by your eyes.
stop censoring us for god sake.
amir @ December 9, 2003 10:26 PM
I know hoder will say : sorry it was a mistake.so , Madam ! you would not qoute such lies on the world summit weblog.
akhbar @ December 9, 2003 10:26 PM
that's wrong. no blockin here in Tehran at alllllll1!!!!!

Joojeh @ December 9, 2003 10:27 PM
someone say to me why i can see the filtered pages!.my computer show all of them.i live tehran.

ashkaboos2 @ December 9, 2003 10:33 PM
I can see all the websites, again another lie by hoder.
Mirza @ December 9, 2003 11:01 PM
believe methere is no filtering in iran, I have a question: have you tried to translate derakhshan's stuff at least for once to English? they are all crab he is insulting all the people, their beliefs, religion and everything. if you give him just one cup of beer he is ready to do whaever you ask him instead. that what he writes everyday in his so called weblog. please do not be neutral. he is insulting us and at the same time playing with you. please find soemone to translate thos stupid stuff for you. appreciated.
Rahban @ December 9, 2003 11:11 PM
GUYS,
SUSPECT THE IRANIAN GROUP IN YOUR MEETING, THEY DON'T DESRVE TO ATTEND IN YOUR MEETINGS...SEND THEM BACK THE PLACE THEY ARE BLONG TO..THE PLACE THAT THEY CONTROL THE BASIC THINGS SUCH AS " GOOGLE CATCH"...SUCH DUMASSES!
PRINCE OF PERSIA @ December 9, 2003 11:16 PM
I have no problem to see different websites at all. thanks for your attention but I guess it is better to focus on economical problems if you are really interested.
Alireza @ December 9, 2003 11:17 PM
Ok.sexy sites are fitered.
mano @ December 9, 2003 11:22 PM
your news source is wrong we ( I mean me and my friends) have no prblem access to all the internet sites. right now I am visiting ampland which is a porno site!!! ;)
cheers,

Behnood
Behnood @ December 9, 2003 11:23 PM
I can see them but adult sites, again another hoax by hoder.

shabzadeh @ December 9, 2003 11:26 PM
I am an ISP manager in tehran.DCI - Data communication of iran that belongs to TCI(Telecommunication company of iran) HAS NOT BANNED GOOGLE OR POP POLITICAL SITES.They blocked PORN sites.THEY USE a FILTERING SOFTWARE THAT BLOCKS SEXY CONTENT NOT BLACKLIST.
mahdi zarrabi @ December 9, 2003 11:33 PM
I wish they could reveal commentators IP addresses to see how many of them who say 'there is no censorship at all' are actually one or two persons.
Hamid @ December 9, 2003 11:37 PM
Many of politic sites are FILTER_DENIED (it is the message i get from my isp (www.parstech.net) )
some sites like : www.peiknet.com
and it is strange some sites are not politic and are not about porn but are FILTER_DENIED..
but i've not problem with google cache.
bahareh @ December 9, 2003 11:37 PM
many site in iran are close but we can use the http://www.anonymizer.com/ forsee them.I hope this comment help you to understand in iran(islamic republic) freedom is forbiden thing.
ali @ December 10, 2003 12:03 AM
Hi ,
I can browse XXX sites without any problems but
when I try to read social or political web sites or some popular blogs ,I am redirected to this page : http://62.220.100.204/sorry3.html

you can contact administrators of major internet connection providers in tehran to get more information about their censorship rules
( www.azad-net.net , www.afranet.com ,
www.idehnegar.net.ir , www.parsonline.com ,
www.psanetworks.com , www.tstonline.com ,
www.parstelecomco.com , www.chapar.net ,
www.dpi.net.ir , www.avabar.net ,
www.soroushnet.com , www.shabakieh.net ,
www.faran.com , www.aftab.ws ,
www.accir.com , www.petro-com.com ,
www.neda.net , www.takta.net
)
note :
some of these ICPs (for ex. idehnegar and takta) are not commercial companies.They are managed managed by iran intelligence agencies to sniff users' online info)

Regards ,
Mehdy
---------
Mehdy @ December 10, 2003 12:05 AM
Derakhshan is right, unfortunately nowadays we have alot of problems, to access some political and social websites,
when I'm surfing, most of the time, I face
"Access Denied"...
we are suffering form censorship
Marjan @ December 10, 2003 12:18 AM
Most of the ports are closed, we can't use MSN Messanger, ICQ, Kazaa and other applications that use ports other than the default 80 port.
Saeed @ December 10, 2003 12:22 AM
I have no problem to access any internet site. I tried 3 different ISPs.
ALi @ December 10, 2003 12:29 AM
What you have heard about the censorship in Iran is absolutely correct. for year they have been censoring media, TV channels, radio stations, newpapers etc etc. they have even blocked sattelite TV channels. their most recent censorship is restricting the Internet access and blocking the websites which have been the only source of info for people living inside Iran. this is a reality and needs immidiate reaction from the international community. Mullahs are restricting Iranian people.
Mehrdad @ December 10, 2003 12:32 AM
Neda Network is leading the Internet censorship in Iran, while they call it Protection. Protection from what?

Read here: http://www.neda.net.ir/about/ceo_interview.shtml

No one can protect people from eachother, this is a total censorship system. Stupid minds still think that they are able to move us back to the medieval ages. No one is able to stop the technology, and our rights. We are not Arabian, we are Persian; a different nation. Regards, Sepideh.
Sepideh @ December 10, 2003 12:39 AM
It does not matter if some X website is blocked or not at this moment. it's about the massive censoreship they've been applying to everything. can you believe they censore even live football matches? (because of some woman in the crowd....).
it is really discusting,just like the face of Mullahs themselves. and now these stone-age creatures (with tubes over their head and long hair on their nasty faces) have found internet and wanna take a shit out of it just like the way they did to TV,Satelite,Newspapers and magazines and PEOPLE. do you know how many intelectual and artist people these Mullahs have killed? HITLER was a saint compared to these bastards.

sooner or later they are going to completely filter internet in iran,and that will be the end for young generation. World will see how addiction and porn will rise to the sky in iran,cause we will have nothing else to do.

an old slogan says 'Freedom is not an offer,you must fight and take it yourself'. so we are about it.
Arash Kashani @ December 10, 2003 12:52 AM
some weblogs are banded and i can`t read them , at some times , all or special weblogs are banded , but some special sexy weblogs still remain !
a weblog writer @ December 10, 2003 01:27 AM
Seems like people are not on the same page as to whether or not certain websites are being blocked. I am not living in Iran and cannot confirm or deny any of that and I do not intend to do so.

However, as far as filtering is concerned, I think it is quite right for the Iranian governement to restrict access to the porn websites. It is not restriction of personal rights. Given the Iranian culture, mindset and way of life, these websites are threatening, dangerous and highly immoral. Any scientific poll done in Iran should affirm that. Regarding the filtering that is applied to political websites, I am dead against it though. You cannot shut your opponents up. That is wrong and they should not do that.

Iranian politicians are always a little bit late in coming to terms with the fact on the ground. They react and update themselves sluggishly. Nevertheless, they are not a total fool like Sadam was. So I am optimistic they will positively answer this call.

Thanks all
vahid @ December 10, 2003 02:15 AM
It seems to me that for iranian government filtering the internet while lying to the world is very important(breach of non proliferation treaty or sign of additional protocol is not long ago and is a paradigm for internet too}
Their filtering system based on two main case first data which bought by iran telecommunication ministry from foreign company(for example flag company which is connected to iran via fiber optics from fojeireh uae ).
this data is sold to main isp's through main cities.This data is mainly subjected to filtering firstly because it is consumed in main cities and capital & second centralized filtering to all is possible .
The second part of data is being baught individually by isp's around the country from satellites which is lesser in quantity (in my guess 1/3 of all and subjected to compulsory filtering by isp's based on a monthly list which is declared to them by government.
some isp's like neda.net/ parsonline.net/accir.com and many others fearful of radical policy of communication ministry (in case of access to anti government political sites ) have their own filtering lists plus that declared to them so it is not very odd to see even google cache is filtered recently!.
Add to these their filtering process is unique too. If they want to filter a url, they close the IP completely and subsequently all the related urls belong to that server even they are not political are filtered!!
ali @ December 10, 2003 03:10 AM
I have the access to all internet sites. nothing is blocked here in north of Tehran.
Mehrnoosh @ December 10, 2003 03:46 AM
there is no website blocked with my ISP, ADARAYANEH from Karaj.
Hamid @ December 10, 2003 03:49 AM
I am writing from Tehran, till now I have had no problem visiting websites. goodbye.
Ramin @ December 10, 2003 03:54 AM
I do not live in Iran. But I easily can believe that, it's not something strange of Iran's Government!!

They have made a big prison with 70 million prisoners and they treat them as they wish...
captain @ December 10, 2003 04:15 AM
I live in Tehran. Most of the ICPs have to filtered some special adult's sites, but some of them filtered some sites like i.hoder.com or news.gooya.com or sobhaneh.com and many general and useful sites . I don't know why?
Ali @ December 10, 2003 04:30 AM
MY ISP HAS NOT FILTERED ANY WEBSITES SO I AM HAPPY!!!!
SHAHOO @ December 10, 2003 04:40 AM
I can see all the websites from Isfahan, Iran.
saeed @ December 10, 2003 04:49 AM
Censorship has always been a lifstyle in iran. a way of restricting the free information flow. it covers books, papers, even public media and any means of public communications. naturally it covers internet and web logs as well. but altogether its not that serious for weblogs and internet. they have set up a black list of the so called prohibited sites. the list may also be modified/updated with respect to the current issues.
on the other hand this restriction seems to be different from time to time and from one isp to another.
finally, cesore is an ugly phenomenon, neither acceptable nor justifiable by no means but its noteworthy to say some blogers who get their main traffic from inside of iran are trying to make a big deal out of this issue in order to draw more attention to their weblogs.
Rahmat @ December 10, 2003 05:02 AM
Filtering the web is against human rights and freedom. That's disgusting... Iranian goverment should be pressed to stop it.
Hamed @ December 10, 2003 05:10 AM
Our governers are all some crazy peole who don't know anything about the Internet and even technology. The world they are living in is limited in and surronded by their sick beliefs which have made them completely far from the real life.
farid @ December 10, 2003 05:11 AM
Unfortunately censorship is still going on, about 3 weeks ago Iranian Telecommunication company purchased powerful hardware equipment and also some software to block some internet sites, as an administrator I noticed the block my site, called them and the open my IP address, but many of Iranian news and political sites are blocked, in addition to that many of Iran's private internet providers, having their own filtering systems to avoid any trouble from the government.
10 days ago Iranian minister of Telecom, said that the government uses NEW methods for filtering Internet.

Amir khan @ December 10, 2003 05:39 AM
I have not seen any problem with my internet. all working fine.all the best
Sheida @ December 10, 2003 05:44 AM
Mrs Swift
> Hi !
> I read a summery from your paper about internet in iran.
> I am a profesinal intenet man in iran.
> I must be say that you in last month we have many many limitions in
> iran.
> We can go to our favorite site 9 about poletic and news) only with
> anomizer , like
> that www.zendegan.com.please pay attentiion to this problem and change
> your idea about internet to iran.
> sincerelly yours
> saeed shafiee
saeed sha @ December 10, 2003 06:02 AM
Internet censorship in Iran began about some months ago.during the first year of Internet in Iran there were no filtering but after sudden increase in political websites and weblogs and with pressure of hardliners,government decided to filter them.in the first phase just some big ISPs were filtering the sites and smaller ones didnt use any filtering softwares but recently the pressure grew more and this resulted to more censorship on net.
one must know that again in this case,nothing is related to president khatami and his cabinet.the filtering is done by powerful council of cultural revolutionary council which its ordered it approved directly by supreme leader.now judiciary is directing the filtering on net and minsiter of post and telecomunication has no right in this case.
i would suggest to use the same method as it was used against china 2 years ago when the red government started to block websites like bbc and google.
speak to ben edelman from harvard to set up the system to watch on internet censorship in Iran,i think it is a good way.
and if you wanna talk to iranian team in geneve,talk to mr.jahangard he's the special advisor to president on Internet,he is not satisfied with internet censorship but cant do much.also talk to IRIB's represntitves.the islamic republic broadcasting has a very special and unique role in resticting the internet.once they wanted to have the control of internet in Iran.
you must be confused by now.we have 2 governments,one that everyone sees and theother who has the power in shadow.the best one can do is to bring that shadow to light.

p.s.
about filtering there are still some isps without filtering,and also there are some users who use satilte for direct connections.right now the only sites which are unreachable are just some political websites(all iranian websites).i've tested this with several connections from differnet isps.

p.s.2
Iran is going the same way with china on internet censorship.i believe pressure can halt it.
journalist @ December 10, 2003 06:12 AM
Hi
I live in Tehran. I can't see some website such as gooyanews, radiofarda.com,iran-emrooz.de,...
but I can see these sites by using no proxy sites.
Ganji @ December 10, 2003 06:25 AM
some of ISPs have banned the political websites like gooya.com, iran-emrooz.de, hoder.com and etc. but you can visit the sexual & pornographic sites with no problem.
mohammad @ December 10, 2003 06:34 AM
that's true; in iran, many weblogs and indipendent news websites are filtered under peressur og government.
reza @ December 10, 2003 06:48 AM
In Iran all the subdomains of tripod have closed.
homayun @ December 10, 2003 06:51 AM
Unfortunately there are lots of cencorship in Iran for filtering the websites.
you can go into the sites only with Anonymizer or simulator and sometimes they don't work.
Ali @ December 10, 2003 06:51 AM
I can open any website with different ISPs. it is a hoax.
Banoo @ December 10, 2003 07:19 AM
President khatami is the chief of IRAN's SUPREME COUNCIL OF CULTURAL REVOLUTION and the decision to censor INTERNET is made in this council. Don't believe his charming words. He is responsible foe all censorship done.
cyrus @ December 10, 2003 07:44 AM
I've checked the Google cache with a few internet pre-paid cards which use TCI lines, but there was no problem acccessing the cache.
But there is no real law about net filtering in iran...they - governors - block political matters and leave porn open. Filtering and blocking in iran, isn't for the sake of the people privacy and security, it has other reasons such as political or geopolitical matters.
By the way, thanks for your interest in Iran cybersphere, but sometimes the real voice of iranian users must be found among iranian INSIDE iran.

Shervin Afshar @ December 10, 2003 08:11 AM
Nowadays, In ISP/ICP markets, it is not the quality of service or technical support attracting the market and users but that's "not having the filter".

Some ISPs use satellite dishes or other technical methods to bypass the filter for their users and increase their sales.

This is just a game. They are playing with ISPs/ICPs and people.
nima @ December 10, 2003 08:15 AM
Looks like as the result of the strong pressure, TCI has opened up the Google Cache without further detail.

More: http://stop.censoring.us
Mani @ December 10, 2003 08:19 AM
I have no problem with visiting different websites.
Rahim @ December 10, 2003 08:21 AM
i have a friend that his ISP has censored this site too,but its in mashad not tehran.
arash @ December 10, 2003 08:43 AM
to be honest, my ISP dosnt filter even the site u call black list,
bahram @ December 10, 2003 08:48 AM
Google cache is filtered, which is really annoying. They block plenty of useful links, for the sake of some few "not for sure immoral" ones. This is not fair. The right of having information is lost.
Ali Matini @ December 10, 2003 09:10 AM
I live outside of Iran. However, as I asked some of my friends inside Iran, several sites (mainly political sites) have been censored by official organizations.
ahmad @ December 10, 2003 09:15 AM
Some of the big ISPs in Iran belong to huge organizations such as IRIB (Iranian TV and Radio) that are not under control of the government and therefore not obeying its censorship policies and blacklists. They are under direct control of the Supreme Leader and no one can question their decisions.

So they don't have any fear of being closed down or fined. That's why many can still access the blacklisted websites.

Takta (an IRIB backed ISP): http://www.takta.net/
Naser @ December 10, 2003 09:32 AM
STOP CENSORSHIP !
It's tragedy to breath in 21th Century and live in middle ages of information censorship of Iran Telecom company.
This is to request all concering international societies to put the pressure to stop IRAN TELECOM!
Please help us to feel free...

Kasra @ December 10, 2003 09:42 AM
they censored even a labor and staff site this site ( www.alsite.persianblog.com ) is not political nor sexy we dont know why they filtered this site .
little staff @ December 10, 2003 09:51 AM
that's funny that some people say MY ISP doesn't filter anything.
It is not important what your ISP does.
The important subject is that there are some ISPs in Iran which filter general sites and all of us are sure about it.
I can remember the week in june when I couldn't see none of weblogs!!.
It has repeated again and again evrytime governer feels danger!!and we,as visitors can't do anything about that!!
katayoon @ December 10, 2003 09:51 AM
Last week I wanted to visit Mr Derakhshan's website with ParsOnLine ISP, but It was filtered..there was a picture of a big red hand and this word:Forbidden
Now I use another isp,,it's ok
zeitoon @ December 10, 2003 09:54 AM
thats not true i check it now
Ehsan @ December 10, 2003 09:57 AM
I am a sudent in .... university(I can't write it's name), I use internet in unversity and in my university there is no censorship in any foramt. But my freinds who use the the net cards from ISPs (like pars on line, alborz, Segal net, ...)says their conecction to many sites is forbbiden.

reza @ December 10, 2003 09:58 AM
I cheked it! about 100 of above comments is sent from outside of IRAN!! there might be some filtering against porno sights .but more or less this type of filtering is done all over the world.you also may do this for your family ya!!
EBRAHIM @ December 10, 2003 10:18 AM
yesterday I wanted to visit Mr Derakhshan's website with ParsOnLine ISP, but It was filtered..there was a picture of a big red hand and this word:Forbidden
emma @ December 10, 2003 11:04 AM
The censorship is true.Most ISPs (not all of them) have been forced to apply censorship. Unfortunately, the number of ISPs that are doing this is growing every day, and access to many internet sites is forbidden. I live in Tehran and this is the situation tn the capital city of this country. In the provinces, the situation is even worse. Many ISPs were forced to ask the name and address of their customers so that they can give this information to the police and/or officials, if they asked them to.
amin @ December 10, 2003 11:28 AM
Hi,
I love cekaf website, but this awful regim doesn;t let young people to learmn about sexuality.
cekaf is my favour site.
we must get rid of relogion diktaturship.
we want freedom!!!!!
A young Girl @ December 10, 2003 12:33 PM
It seems that only the ISPs using gov. internet services, and those who are close allies of the conservative goverenment, block opposition websites and weblogs. The funny is, that this government claims it is fighting with immoral content on the net; but there are nearly no porno sites blocked by the government.
Omid Bamdad @ December 10, 2003 12:37 PM
I can not see http://khabar.gooya.com/
Bahareh @ December 10, 2003 01:05 PM
We want sex.Public sex is a human right.DO NOT FILTER SEXY SITES.
tehranian @ December 10, 2003 01:17 PM
From the first sites which I know that the government or some part of it censored was nabavionline.com, a polite humour critical site.
Central management and rulling in Iran is very weak and many persons from different parts of government are able to rule their desired instructions for some parts.And It's the reason you hear inconsistent news from Iran. Many of Iranian Governers but not all of them believe in filtering of political and anti-religion sites and they look to west culture as an attack to local culture which should be kept safe by establishment of a kind of wall all around the country, and many who demonstrate themselves to west as liberal people, do different in their behaviour inside of country.
Ali @ December 10, 2003 01:32 PM
I think most of People in Iran has problem with censorship. Even the semiofficial site Baztab which is related to Rezai the strong military man of regim confessed this problem in a persian report.
Behrouz @ December 10, 2003 01:46 PM
Some large ISPs,have filtered some Iranian sites.
These are which, I myself encountered with their filtering;
http://www.sobhaneh.com/
http://news.gooya.com/
http://www.radiofarda.org/
and some others.

ST @ December 10, 2003 01:49 PM
I am a software engineer and know many ways to bypass these damn filterings. But I think it is a great insultation. Thes censorships will be my first reason to leave my nice country.
Saeid @ December 10, 2003 02:45 PM
Hi,

I maintain a tutorial on getting around Internetfilters all over the world:

HOWTO bypass Internet Censorship - http://blocks.orcon.net.nz/

regards,
Freerk
Freerk @ December 10, 2003 03:12 PM
hi.
Im an iranian blogger and want to say that in iran flitering of google cache in happened random in isps..
in iran speed of connection is very bad and in day of students -16 tir-in dissconnected
saeed e digar @ December 10, 2003 03:39 PM
I'm in Tehran and I can't access to the Gooyanews(http://news.gooya.com) ( one of the most important websites about Iran)I use Parsonline Isp which is dependent to Iranian Goverment,Also They filtered www.AKUNEWS.com another Iranian site( it belongs to iranian students)and many other opposition sites.The goverment doesn't want we access to internet freely.
Ariobarzan Irani @ December 10, 2003 04:15 PM
Hi,
your news are right.Goverment ask from ISPs to filter some sites(they have a list) & ISPs are closing them. bout some small ISPs are not under controled yet & do not filter all sites.
the most filter sites are poltical not sexual that goverment say that!
thanks from Iran to u if u can ask Iran goverment about their lies on filtering.they always say they filter sex sites but they do not! they filter poltical sites.

thanks again

Saeed @ December 10, 2003 04:22 PM
Binding of web sites in Iran make most Internet users of Iran crazy.( I live in Iran)
It's started to filter prono web sites, but it's concentrated more on political and broadcating ones.it's not a unique filtering system here and depending to ISPs the filtered site be changed.
in this case we should use ANONOMAYZERS to treating with them which is not so easy.I have problem to view "www.radiofarda.com" and "www.emrooz.de" and many other web sites.
Massoud @ December 10, 2003 04:25 PM
i can see google cache. but some other sites (commonly with sexual contents) are censored.i have found out that different isps have different limitations for users.but what all have somthing in common :the message shown when trying to access censored sites that says this site is filtered by Iran Telecomunicaiton Company
amin @ December 10, 2003 05:34 PM
I can not see the google's cache from 3 ISP that I cheked. but other 2 ISP didnt filter it.
I think that 3 ISP use TCI line.
hamid @ December 10, 2003 05:42 PM
Filter Overriding is so easy,They konw but they do this bullshit to show their idiocy!


Anoush @ December 10, 2003 05:47 PM
Yes. Some URLs have been blocked by Iran government, but weather is not so foggy that some of my fellows express.
Indead, a large part of Internet users in Iran are children and young adults who are under 18, while it is still not usuall to specify some internet services for them. So iranian government -which leads by reformists- is compelled to block some URLs which are related to pronography or child abuse (similar to some services in Western countries).
However, as you know it is not a good solution, but there is not any other one right now, in this situations.
My wife and me, as a couple who have 2 young cildrens, support blocking of some URLs by the government and also waiting for a better way to have young people immune of bad effects of Internet.
P.S: Google cashe is not blocked as Hoder says and also none of opposite political sites are not blocked.
pashahani @ December 10, 2003 06:03 PM
I don't know what the world thinking? our dictator government always think internet in iran is a illegal matter. I will be not surprised if this site banned within 2 or 3 days.
saeed @ December 10, 2003 06:22 PM
I can see all the websites with different ISPs.
Raham @ December 10, 2003 06:25 PM
my internet is working fine I can see even porno sites easily. I am using PARS ONLINE ISP.
Shahed @ December 10, 2003 06:56 PM
I tried different ISPs, none of them seems to filter any website. truly yours, kamran
kamran @ December 10, 2003 07:05 PM
Question: Why hasn't Iran censored THIS site?

I'd think that if they were actively censoring things with such vigor, they would censor this discussion.

Question: How many people who posted here are actually posting from Iran?
Taran @ December 10, 2003 07:12 PM
Hi
Although enough people have described about bad situation of filtering in Iran , I think I should join them. We are all tired. Every day the number of filtered site and weblog grow and we can't do anything,do we? but you I don't know.

looty @ December 10, 2003 07:19 PM
i have had many problems becouse of filtering in Iran . i live in Tehran and almost all off the ISP here are having to use filter . for example I myself tried : Pars on line , Alborz and Datak .
some of sansoored sites are :
sobhaneh.com
hoder.com
and many others.

foroogh @ December 10, 2003 07:20 PM
Hi
Although enough people have described about bad situation of filtering in Iran , I think I should join them. We are all tired. Every day the number of filtered site and weblog grow and we can't do anything,can we? but you I don't know.

looty @ December 10, 2003 07:22 PM
That is not important if you can see now the google cach! Nothing in Iran is on base of logic! They have done it, maybe not more now! But our freedom is more important than the google cach for some days! We need our freedom in internet! we want to speak! WE WANT TO SAY EVERYTHING! they do not allow us! Who can help us? We can not write it in newspapers, we do not hear it from radio and no programm in TV says something about that! We have just internet. We can write in our weblog, we can at least read something from freedom in internet. the only world without any limit! But not hear in iran! We have Limit! Even in internet! help us! Do not allow them to do it further with us.
Amir @ December 10, 2003 07:31 PM
I calculate the percent of using porn sites in Iran . based on our ISP log files there is 15% of web requests are contain PORN urls for 24 hours . as you can see it is very small for the whole requests . also there is so many VCD , Satellite Channels , ... that everyone can access to porn moviez and picture cheaper than selling an Internet Card with this high internet rate in iran .
so they spend so much money to prevent accessing this 15% and they don't spend this money to learn using the internet in the TV or ... .
after these kind of actions all people that don't familiar with internet thinks that the internet is equals to PORN channels .
An ISP Admin @ December 10, 2003 09:11 PM
I must tell sorry the many of site and weblog are filtering ..sorry sorry sorry
naz @ December 10, 2003 09:16 PM
The government have blocked many websites. You will encounter with this message when you try to open forbbiden websites:"Access to this site has been denied by Data Communication Company of Iran DCI"
Behra Behman @ December 10, 2003 09:49 PM
it is not true, we can see all the websites.
Afshin @ December 10, 2003 09:58 PM
cheked it! about 70% of above comments is sent from outside of IRAN!!see your software's IPs. there might be some filtering against porno sights .but more or less this type of filtering is done all over the world.you also may do this for your family ya!!
shabnam @ December 10, 2003 10:03 PM
it is not true, we can see all the websites.
Afshin @ December 10, 2003 10:03 PM
it seems there is no firm policy about this matter in iran. some ISP`s are filtering some sites. others filter different ones. they filtered voa news, radiofarda, and offcource google cash
ehsan @ December 10, 2003 11:05 PM
hi,
That's right.I don't know what can i say.
please try to open these weblogs:
http://www.shemr.blogspot.com
http://www.shaytan3000.blogspot.com
http://www.resaleh.blogspot.com
http://www.rahbarkhodam.blogspot.com
lida hakhamanesh @ December 10, 2003 11:19 PM
most ISPs have blocked a big group of websites, including News sites and some Weblogs beside anything related to sex
mohammad @ December 10, 2003 11:48 PM
I have access to all websites, do not trust hoder please he tries to be important though he is not.
Sahand @ December 11, 2003 12:11 AM
I have no prblem with my ISP. I am writing from Tehran.
Bijan @ December 11, 2003 01:15 AM
For sure Iran officials are censoring the internet! it's more than obvious. I had a personal webpage on geocities.com, it's a shame to say that I could not reach that with the service of a number of ISPs! Actually all www.geocities.com, *.8m.com, silent surfers, and a lot more of sites were censored by individual ISPs! For example IROST is one of the major internet service providers for academic institutes (including universities) in Iran and it censored all the above mentioned sites! What is now more important than before is that the government is afraid of the information flow the Iranian inside iran can receive from internet so they try to produce a unified list of websites (most of them political! rather than adult sites!) and make ISPs ban those with the use of filtering devices that government paied a lot for. On the other hand one should notice that this censorship is not just conducted on internet! a few month ago Iran officials start to broadcast microwave over a few parts of big cities like Tehran to prevent the satellite TVs! As all know these microwaves are the worst thing ever for human health but they do that just to block the INFORMATION FLOW!

Amir @ December 11, 2003 02:46 AM
Dear Ms. Cara

I live in the US since 3 years ago. Since I have lots of friends and ex-classmates back home in major universities, I am concerned about net censorship in Iran. Here are some info about it:

1. First of all this SUMMIT site was banned from some users (around 10 of my friends) living in Tabriz and Tehran. I just asked them to put their comments in here, but they couldn't arrive to this site. It was at around 1:00am GMT on Wednesday December 10, 2003. My guess is the people who are responsible - whether Iranian Telecom Company or some other state agencies - have banned this site after some days of putting comments here. Although she tried different sites that are famous for breaking filters, but it didn't work. The funniest part is accordance to them: 'THEY filter some sites, WE use some breaking filter addresses, after some time, again THEY filter those breaking-filter sites and this story goes on'. So I am putting this comment on their behalf.
2. There are lots of political websites, weblogs, news sites which are banned. Here are some small portion of them:
http://www.gooya.com
http://www.jonge-khabar.com
http://www.iran-nabard.com
http://www.kargar.org
http://www.fadai.org
http://www.tudeh.org
http://www.didgah.com , ... and so on.
3. Even some personal free websites such as 'geocities' are banned:
http://www.geocities.com/hashte_mars/

4. There are some porn sites that are banned and some others that are not. It seems
that the ones that are kind of known are banned.

5. In conclusion, it seems that 'THEY' have some people who check everyday for any sort of sound which is not in their harmony to ban them, and there is no special rule for this banning.

6. After all, it might seem useless to point out these banned sites, but we really believe that this canal is the only way to get free information through. WE – people of Iran who have access to Internet – insistently want you to put your special force and effort on Iranian government to stop blocking the canal to the free world, to stop threatening us. I do believe that if you are really honest in 'the right for free speech for everyone', you need to spread our voice to the news and put pressure on the Iranian representive in the summit.

Truly
Setareh
Setareh @ December 11, 2003 02:58 AM
I guess most of the above comments are written by hossein derakhshan, you do not know how much he deforms the reality. now I am writing from Tehran and my ISP has nNO FILTERING.
Rad @ December 11, 2003 04:18 AM
I have no problem with my internet connection. my city is TABRIZ from north in Iran. ghorbanoloom
MAJID @ December 11, 2003 04:23 AM
I am an Iranian communication engineer now based in Canada (same as Hoder!). I left Iran just few months ago; So my information about Iran in new & newly updated.
I should say that the backbone of data communication (Internet) is completely controled by government in Iran. So we have no private data connection to internet in Iran, except some small ISP's which are not indepent from the government at all. They just rent some bandwidth from the government and offer service to their customers. All the central limitations on Internet ,therefore, is imposed to all private ISP's automatically!
Almost no cable network is installed in Iran, and there are no DSL routers; So the majority of people have no access to high speed connection and the only available link are dial up connections.
As mentioned in most of the comments, filtering & censorship of Internet is mainly related to the websites opposing Islamic Republic of Iran from political point of view and criticizing the theocratic structure of government in Iran. Prohibitting access to porno sites & moral concerns are just excuses for blocking the population to have access to truth in free world. This is not the first time Islamic Republic of Iran masks its autocratic nature behind the face of defending morality.

Sherry @ December 11, 2003 04:34 AM
I live in karaj and there is no problem with my ISP.I have seen no filtering.but i have to mention that my isp does not use ITC services.
I checke all URLs called black list and they were in order.
farough @ December 11, 2003 04:54 AM
I cannot view Google page through my ISP (www.faraco.com). It seems that the Iranian government has a hit list of sites which includes most of news sites, especially Persian ones. The government is in love with the methods that China has been carrying on. I have this sinister feeling that blocking Google by my ISP is a sign of a tyrannical censorship in all Iranian ISPs in the near future.
Bardiaa @ December 11, 2003 05:19 AM
but my friends recently have told me their internet connection is not filtered surprisingly! so I guess it was just a rumor by hoder.
sherry @ December 11, 2003 06:05 AM
do not take hosseind derakhshan seriously please his only complain is his website. he is seeking more visitors that's it. believe me I am writing from Tehran, we have NO filtering. bye.
Saman @ December 11, 2003 08:03 AM
I live in tehran an i use pars online internety service but not blocked google cash and website for Voice of America ....

but iranian people have many problem access internet.censoring in Iran on of problem
ghajar @ December 11, 2003 08:04 AM
do not take hosseind derakhshan seriously please his only complain is his website. he is seeking more visitors that's it. believe me I am writing from Tehran, we have NO filtering. bye.
Saman @ December 11, 2003 08:08 AM
my ISP (Morva net) has not filtered any website.
Ali @ December 11, 2003 08:14 AM
I'm writing this message from Tehran, I can say that I have checked so many ISP's. There is an alert when you want to see some political, porno sites and many weblogs that says this site is blocked and you can't reach it. Note: It's not for all ISP's yet (maybe about 80% of them use filters) and the site that you do'nt have access to see it probably you can see it by have a acount from another ISP that uses filtration. But it seems they are improving their filters. Yesterday I passed filters by using www.sedayema.com but now it's blocked!
Hooman Abootorabi @ December 11, 2003 08:17 AM
filtering is getting more and more terrible.
they told in TV that censor is for sexual and brutal sites only .but we san't surf political and news sites or anything that related to religion.
I think internatianal observation or such thing like that may be useful for us.
hamed @ December 11, 2003 09:18 AM
http://khabar.gooya.com/
is not available
omid @ December 11, 2003 10:35 AM
My friends in iran told me access to http://i.hoder.com/ and Google's cache of this site have been restricted by iranian famous ISP .
Mohammad @ December 11, 2003 11:11 AM
Let us know what you would like Cara to ask Khatami this evening.

We'd also like to know your thoughts on these remarks...
David Steven @ December 11, 2003 12:43 PM
I live in Tehran. Two of the ISPs I have tried have blocked http://news.gooya.com and http://i.hoder.com (the pages I regularly visit.) But yesterday I connected to the internet with one of my friends' internet account from a different ISP, and I could visit any pages I wanted.

I guess it differs from ISP to ISP. Some of them are under close supervision of the Ministry of Communications and therefore they should obey what the Ministry say, some have their own equipments and do whatever they want to.

However, based on the news about one ISP that my friend works for, I can strongly claim that they get service from the Ministry of Communications, and this ministry has blocked many servers' IPs to block one of the websites getting hosted on that server, and therefore all the websites on that server are blocked so far.

This is something that happened to a feminist website a few months ago. The IP of www.womeniniran.com 's server had been blocked by the Ministry, and therefore many websites getting hosted on that server including www.cappuccinomag.com and www.tehranavenue.com had been blocked too. None of the above, even www.womeniniran.com had to be blocked, because they are all none-political none-opposition none-porno websites. Fortunately they haven't been blocked since then (after of course they all changed their servers!)

Khorshid Khanoom @ December 11, 2003 12:49 PM
Please ask Khatami who is responsible for censorship in Iran? The answer would be Persian Telecom. Then ask him is it the freedom of speech that you promised when you were running for election or was it just another fake to show a good face of Islam and the regime?
Censoring somebody's ideas is worse than killing him. Why do you do it?
Tell him for us (Persian folks) that we want to be free.
Hamed @ December 11, 2003 01:11 PM
Dear Sir,i can not see the reason for blocking the archive of Hamshahri newspaper and ...
Try to understand that if the people are wise enough to vote for u ,surely they are wise enough to understand what is good and what is bad, so let them freely surfing the webs
afarin @ December 11, 2003 01:42 PM
I have used different ISPs last month and NONE of them have blocked any website. thanks.
Mehdi @ December 11, 2003 04:47 PM
it is not true, I am writing from Tehran. there is no filtering here. goodbye.
Noorhood @ December 11, 2003 05:42 PM
Hossein Derakhshan is quite right.Recently I could not visit his weblog"Editor:Myself".It is kind of forbidden site;why?
E. @ December 11, 2003 06:39 PM
stop filtering
khp @ December 11, 2003 07:01 PM
we can see all the websites.
Khashayar @ December 11, 2003 07:44 PM
The president's remarks are now online - have a look. More to come.
David Steven @ December 11, 2003 07:47 PM
it is not true, I am writing from Tehran. there is no filtering here
stop filtering in iran
qqqqqq @ December 11, 2003 08:23 PM
hoder is just trying for himself not Iran. I can see all the websites with my ISP (Parsonline)
Mahsa @ December 11, 2003 08:24 PM
At first the iranian censor goverment started to practice filtering a huge list of websites through govermental ISPs. Some parts of the list were published on the web including several types of websites with different subjects which they just wouldn't like people to visit! It was a real tragedy. For too many times I had to change my ISP and seek another ISPs which had not yet installed those severe filters. But sadly since a few weeks ago the last ISPs have been told to to that and now it's almost impossible in iran to access internet without facing severe filters. At first I used those kind of proxy spinning websites in order to reach my favourite sites but since most of those sites also have been filtered, Now I'm using an advanced software working with java called "JAP" (Downloaded from: http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de )which brings you anonimity and power of passing filters at the same time if installed and used properly and is almost impossible to be blocked. At least I can proudly say that I have done my best in order not to give up against their funny restricting deicions. But lets not forget that I'm one of those few 5% who are doing this...I'm wondering what the others do about it. It's so sad. We want to be free to decide, Free to recognize and chose our way. We don't need no one to do it for us.
Arash Anghaie @ December 11, 2003 09:50 PM
there is no filtering in Tehran. they are just trying to cheat you.
Ahmed @ December 11, 2003 09:55 PM
In my ISP(Alborz) there seems to be some filtering hours,I mean in early hours of afternoon they fliter news and antifiltering sites ,but you can access those in the morning..really sorry for them and Islamic Republic of Iran's Government.Shame on them..........
A D @ December 11, 2003 10:12 PM
Well , just want to say that the people are not crazy to come here and waste their time for telling lies! if they say they can't access some sites , they really can't! and there's no logical explanation about some comments saying "there is no filtering in Tehran. THEY are just trying to cheat you"!! OK , if you don't have filters , Lucky you! but why you're trying to say that the others are lier?!!

...whatever...i've been using so many proxies and some sites like http://www.anonymization.net for increasing my security while i'm surfing the Internet...but now they've blocked all those sites...what should i do now?! ... and why they've blocked news sites? is it something bad for people to read the news?!!

...i'm sorry for my terrible english!
Farhad p @ December 11, 2003 11:10 PM
I can see all the websites, no problem with any ISPs.
Goozideh @ December 11, 2003 11:34 PM
I am writing from Mashhad, I think thre is no filtering in mu city I do not know about other cities. I can see all the websites.
mashti @ December 12, 2003 05:53 AM
i live in zahedan.i can't see so many sites i need.i checked all ISPs."ACCESS DENIED"

sepehr @ December 12, 2003 07:59 AM
i live in zahedan.i can't see so many sites i need.i checked all ISPs."ACCESS DENIED"

sepehr @ December 12, 2003 08:01 AM
They have filtered everythings...khatami says that they have filtered only erotic websites but we can not see even "persian google" here in Iran...
kave @ December 12, 2003 08:12 AM
They have filtered everythings...khatami says that they have filtered only erotic websites but we can not see even "persian google" here in Iran...
fghgh @ December 12, 2003 08:42 AM
Freedom for Iranians, Now~!
Lift Internet censorship Now~!
f14 pilot @ December 12, 2003 10:34 AM
I am an Iranian, We do not have access to any News webpages here. We do not have access to our favorite news webpages.

Please help us, Please remove internet censorship.

downer911 @ December 12, 2003 10:40 AM
I can give a list of websites being filtered in city of Tehran.
www.iranemrooz.de
www.cekaf.com
www.gooya.com
www.akunews.com
www.mihan.net
www.rezapahlavi.org
www.guardster.com
All geocities webpages and links.
khashayar @ December 12, 2003 10:47 AM
Please HELP us to topple these mad mullahs in Iran. We do not want them any more! All we need is democracy, freedom and rights to live.
The free world should do something. Thanks!

a_girl @ December 12, 2003 10:59 AM
Yes, many political and non-political websites are blocked. The people who have commented that everything is OK with all the ISP's, are lying.

Peace
Omid
Omid @ December 12, 2003 12:10 PM
Yes, many political and non-political websites are blocked. The people who have commented that everything is OK with all the ISP's, are lying.

Peace
Omid
Omid @ December 12, 2003 12:11 PM
That is true; many of my friends in Tehran have this problem. Nobody can check all ISP or ICPs cart but various people encountered different situation in most cases they can’t see google cache or political weblogs & also
that,s right
the big universities such tehran university that they have their own internet services blocked some most popular plotical sites(Radiofarda,Sobhaneh,.....).

delnevis @ December 12, 2003 12:12 PM
Yes, many political and non-political websites are blocked. The people who have commented that everything is OK with all the ISP's, are lying.

Peace
Omid
Omid @ December 12, 2003 12:16 PM
my opinion is like some comments for example:
the big universities such tehran university that they have their own internet services blocked some most popular plotical sites(Radiofarda,Sobhaneh,....
delnevis @ December 12, 2003 12:21 PM
Yes, many political and non-political websites are blocked. The people who have commented that everything is OK with all the ISP's, are lying.

Peace
Omid
Omid @ December 12, 2003 12:22 PM
my opinion is like some comments for example:
That is true; many of my friends in Tehran have this problem. Nobody can check all ISP or ICPs cart but various people encountered different situation in most cases they can’t see google cache or political weblogs & also
that,s right
the big universities such tehran university that they have their own internet services blocked some most popular plotical sites(Radiofarda,Sobhaneh,.....).
delnevis @ December 12, 2003 12:29 PM
I see that the BBC is reporting today that President Khatami is admitting that some websites are being blocked. He says that only 240 pornographic and immoral sites are filtered. He is quoted saying "all political sites are free."

BBC report

Does anyone believe this?
Jim Elve @ December 12, 2003 02:26 PM
Mmmm, I have to say that those people denying internet censorship are mere liars.
Do Mullahs know any thing about internet?

Freedom @ December 12, 2003 03:35 PM
well , i don't belive that there are only 240 pornographic sites over the internet!!
Farhad @ December 12, 2003 04:32 PM
I am using differnet ISPs, none of the webssites are filtered even porno sites. bye.
dalileh @ December 12, 2003 05:22 PM
Opposit to what Mr. Khatami in his interview with Euro News said, I should say that certain sites, mainly news sites related to opposition groups, have been blocked by Iranian government like: Iran Khabar, Radio Farda, Gooya News, Irane Emrooz. It is very clear that Mr Khatami lies in this case.
Moreover, a number of weblogs have also been blocked.
Jamshid Nezhad @ December 12, 2003 06:25 PM
do not belive most of the above comments, hoder is writing all of them.
heder @ December 12, 2003 07:01 PM
My personal site is blocked. I use FaraAndish.com ISP based in Kermanshah - Iran. I have just 2-3 lines in my site about myself. As many as of sexy and porn sites that I examined with my ISP (except one strange) are free to access. I do not examined political sites.

------- I HATE FILTERING -------
afshar @ December 12, 2003 10:46 PM
there is no filtering in Tehran now. I have used different ISPs.
Sahand @ December 12, 2003 10:52 PM
Many political sites, and weblogs are filtered! Even I know a political weblog author in Iran who has been threatened to murdur by governmentals.
But almost all of porn sites are accessable in Iran (that is what governmentals saied they filter).
Amir @ December 13, 2003 04:08 AM
http://society.gireh.com/article.php?story=20030514063127157
Nobody @ December 13, 2003 04:12 AM
there is very bad cencor even in none sex sites with all isp's..

foe example this sites :

http://mscracks.com
http://www.crackway.com/
http://anycracks.com/
http://bestserials.com/


Ehsan @ December 13, 2003 05:26 AM
hi :)
Many political sites, and weblogs are filtered! Even I know a political weblog author in Iran who has been threatened to murdur by governmentals.
But almost all of porn sites are accessable in Iran (that is what governmentals saied they filter).foe example this sites :
http://voanews.com/Persian/contact.cfm
http://radiofarda.com
http://news.gooya.com
http://iran-emrooz.de
&.....
& all Unfillterin&proxy site's...
there is very bad ... :(
Babak from Tabriz-IR @ December 13, 2003 09:26 AM
I have read through many of the postings here, and I sympathize with those who cannot access certain websites (without the knowledge of anonymizers). If you do not experience this, how are you to say that another's experience is a lie? Ask yourself if certain books, television stations, or newspapers are also not available to you in Iran. Do you think that you might face persecution for accessing them, even if they are available?

Knowledge, wisdom, ideas...these are all transmitted through written word. Whether you should believe those words is your choice...the choice which Allah gives you. Even the Qu'ran is written of words, though. What should you do if the Qu'ran is denied your reading by a man's law? Well I do not need to tell you. Knowing this about Islam, I interpret this to mean the persuit of knowledge, wisdom, progress and equality in our society are the hallmarks of Islamic life. Allah gives us this freedom alone, not the laws of a government. The message which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) transmitted to us was given at a particular time, and so it is expressed as only it could be consciously expressed, in words. Words, though, are only an "official signature" away from man's law. Islam has laws for the believers, but these are accepted by each Muslim in their own heart (their own submission)...they are not to be imposed upon non-believers. Following Islamic law is a choice which Allah gives to you, not which a man forces upon you.

He could neither read nor write, though, so we must know from this that the goodness of Allah is communicated without writing, without legalisms, and without the judgement of any but Allah. Allah gives us all we need to lead a fruitful life from the beginning. So, too, Allah gives us the choice to betray that life and face our own judgement. The Qu'ran is only there to remind you of what you may have forgotten...it is a message without time, buried in your soul.

Human progress requires dignity, not fear. To stare at a burning torch and call for everyone to look away, lest it blind them is utter folly. Perhaps the torch has alighted other things and you must put the fire out (with your knowledge). But also that torch may light up the darkness and show you the message for which you have been seeking all along.
tarik @ December 14, 2003 01:06 AM
www.haftegi.com
mansoor @ December 14, 2003 02:02 AM
I am an American living in Middle-East.
I have my sympathy with those Iranians who want to topple their mad regime.
We are beside them and will help them to achieve their goals to get to their own freedom.
Our task in free world is to help them in any way we can.

Thank you all.
Marshal
Marshal V. King @ December 14, 2003 09:34 AM
The Importance is that Iranian Government apply censorship with excuse of avoiding porno websites, but the most censored websites are political, weblogs , news agencies , such as folows:
www.gooya.com ( news section )
http://zakeri.org
www.iran-emrooz.de
www.iran-chabar.de


and many so on .......
eloyweblogger @ December 14, 2003 02:00 PM
masood
masood @ December 16, 2003 08:45 AM
I'm a university student ,21 years old and living in Tehran. every day I see new sites that they dont like so filter it . They don't want anyone to say a word against them. I am sorry for ourself becaus no one can help us , it was our fathers fault .
morteza @ December 19, 2003 12:44 AM
i'm a persian
i'm very angry for filtering the internet in iran
i'm a computer student but i cant use fully internet for read the lasted news of computer study

is anybody to help us

thanks

iman @ December 19, 2003 05:26 AM
Hi
i want to say that the filtering problem is true
but not tehran this problem is only for little city such as kermanshah and broudjerd and many more please help us about this very bad conflict that can destroy all of best site of iran and many other .
Drive D @ December 22, 2003 10:21 AM
I hope the problems can be resolved. Censure is very bad thing. Iran - as each country- don't have to suffer any censure or filter!!!
Clandestina @ December 22, 2003 11:29 AM
i confirm this matter (iran's goverment close some weblog) but it's a natural right for goverments to close and destroy any dangerious site... (such as new nazists' sites.
be aware of do any action against our goverment rights, we provide it!

note: my weblog was closed 2 weeks withuot any reason but i can understand how difficult to determine if it is good or not for my goverment...
seyedALI @ December 24, 2003 01:12 AM
www.taktaz.com
majid @ January 13, 2004 07:29 AM
I hope the problems can be resolved. Censure is very bad thing. Iran - as each country- don't have to suffer any censure or filter!!!
Prepaid Long Distance Phone Cards @ January 20, 2004 08:14 PM
Human progress requires dignity, not fear. To stare at a burning torch and call for everyone to look away, lest it blind them is utter folly. Perhaps the torch has alighted other things and you must put the fire out (with your knowledge). But also that torch may light up the darkness and show you the message for which you have been seeking all along.
calling cards @ January 20, 2004 08:15 PM
Can some of the Iranians in here tell me if faithfreedom.org has been blocked as well?
Thanks for the information.
A Friend @ January 23, 2004 08:30 PM
A handful of Iranian sites abroad have most of the market share. These sites are based in the BENELUX countries and basically have a monopolized the market. They work very closely with entertainment portals in Canada and the US to control the traffic flow. This isn't very healthy at all. Hence the independent sites are often overlooked. I think that the filtering is probably a blessing to the smaller sites.

See here:
Pars Times News
Q @ February 17, 2004 06:51 AM
salam man dost daram ba shoma ertebat dashte basham lotfan baraye man befrestid news and khabar
mehdi @ February 27, 2004 04:16 AM
Hello,
I just got back from Iran this week and I was pleased to see the peace and freedom there. I also see the Government opening doors to the west. I salute them.
Best wishes,
Barry O’Connell

JBOC @ May 3, 2004 04:05 PM


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