Iran Blocks, Unblocks Access to Google 197
morpheus83 writes "Iran has blocked access to the Google search engine and its Gmail email service as part of a clampdown on material deemed to be offensive. Hamid Shahriari, the secretary of Iran's National Council of Information did not explain why the sites were being blocked. Google, Gmail and several other foreign sites appeared to be inaccessible to Iranian users from Monday morning. Iran has tough censorship on cultural products and internet access, banning thousands of websites and blogs containing sexual and politically critical material as well as women's rights and social networking sites." That didn't take long. Iran has now
unblocked Google claiming the censorship was an error.
Censorship is the last resort of a failing regime (Score:5, Insightful)
How stupid are these governments - really. Do they honestly believe that the problems of their country can be solved by stopping someone having a GMail account, or preventing them looking up camel porn on google?
Iran is in a desperate attempt to return to old school biblical times (great if you are not a woman - "Iran has tough censorship on internet access
Information needs to be free (Score:5, Insightful)
Iran, you might have a culture that demands things, but if you force them onto your population, you will create resentment, resentment becomes anger, and anger begets revolution. Remember the Shah? The current government is running along the same path, and will meet with the same end.
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:5, Insightful)
Fact A: The US has a history of stereotyping other cultures
Fact B: The US executive administration wants to go to war with Iran.
False Conclusion C: We are not allowed to paint Iran as bigoted, sexist or totalitarian.
The fact that the US has problems does not correlate to Iran being pure as the wind-driven snow. In fact with all of our problems, I'd much rather live here we have the opportunity to fix our problems.
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:5, Insightful)
Oddly enough, I find it hard to be sympathetic toward a country that hosts a Holocaust Denial [go.com] seminar. Maybe I really am part of the problem.
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:2, Insightful)
Women are not equal under Iran's constitution, adopted in 1979 after the revolution that overthrew Shah Reza Pahlavi. The constitution mandates that the legal code adhere to Sharia law, the Islamic moral code based on the Koran. Article IV of that constitution states: "all civil, penal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria."
-msnbc.com
With that being said, Iran is a hell of a lot better then Saudi Arabia (a country, interestingly, that we're much friendlier with, but then again they don't have a nutcase for a leader) when it comes to racism and sexism, but anyone who thinks that Iran isn't sexist really needs to pull their head out of... the sand.
For the record, I'm personally starting to think that we should just stay the hell out of the Middle East and Israel all together, and just let them finish what they've been trying to do to each other for the past few millenium.
Re:Unblocked (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That's the least of the problems with Iran toda (Score:3, Insightful)
"Iran should stop executing children"
Bad, but we try an increasing number of childern as adults, and states keep lowering the age at which children can be tried as adults.
"Iran hangs three in south-west"
We are in good company here, not only do we execute plenty of people, but don't we have the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world?
"Western countries on Thursday voiced concern at the rising number of executions in Iran"
Didn't Bush and Texas execute a horrific number in his term as governer?
Most of the rest of the statements on this site are about public hangings. At least they have the honesty to execute people in public, in this country we hide from our executions, so people never really 'know' in a gut sense what they are paying for.
To quote Jesus:(approx.)
"Remove the beam from your own eye before you worry about the splinter in your neighbors eye"
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That's the least of the problems with Iran toda (Score:2, Insightful)
I realize you're stupid, but execute doesn't mean the same thing as incarcerate.
"but don't we have the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world?"
No. No, "we" don't.
I realize drawing moral equivalence between Iran and the US is what keeps you people going, but pretending what happens here is as horrific as what happens in Iran is unrealistic and intentionally inaccurate.
Why do you go so far out of your way to make the things that happen here look as bad as what happens there? Why are you so insistent on peddling such intellectual dishonesty to further your agenda?
unless iran deserves to be tarred (Score:4, Insightful)
now judge the government of iran on the basis of those criticisms
in other words, on the basis of the principles on which you vocally criticize the west, you should be loudly criticizing tehran
"And if you buy into any of this at all, you're the problem with this country."
ok, there's a criticism of yours: the drumbeat up to war, the propagandizing of a populace towards conflict
dude!
ever since 1979, the government of iran has been on propaganda full alert about demonizing the decadent immoral great satan of the west. constant rhetoric, demonstrations, down with the great satan. all through the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s
so on YOUR BASIS for criticizing the west: dmeonization of another people for a drumbeat up to war, on YOUR BASIS!: tehran comes out orders of magnitude worse than any criticism you could level at london, paris, washington dc, etc
using YOUR RATIONALE, you should be 10-100x angrier at tehran than any government in the west
so go to the front of the line sir, and hurl some of your venom at tehran, unless you want to forfeit your claim to intellectual honesty
Re:trying to care ... trying to care ... fail! (Score:3, Insightful)
You are naive if you think that the affairs of other countries do not impact your life. Censorship of the Internet, even when it occurs locally, becomes a global issue... because the Internet is global. Being aware of what's going on throughout the world is important in a variety of ways--not the least of which being that it gives you much better perspective on issues within your own country.
If you find stories about other countries to be boring, then by all means do not read them. I, for one, read with a keen interest about all manner of international events. Whether they occur in Iran, Canada, the US, Germany, or anywhere else, they may be of interest to me. If they are tech-related, then they are certainly in keeping with the stated goal of Slashdot: "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters."
the greatest irony (Score:3, Insightful)
this should teach something the current crop of violently militant religious fundamentalists who wish to link religion and government throughout the muslim world: religion and government don't mix. i don't care what your sharia law says about that, this fact is something no religious-political text can overcome: you can't impose religious passion
religious passion is something that grows organically, from within. but when you try to enforce religion, you only cause people's passions to unite against religion
imagine that
Re:Censorship is the last resort of a failing regi (Score:4, Insightful)
"I heard on Al Jazeera last week, from an American protesting in Washington, that there are a large contingent of the population is is pro-peace, and who are looking for better relations with the rest of the world. But if that's the case, why has there been no real groundswell to remove the current government?"
I'm looking at this from an outsiders perspective, but it seems to me that in both countries (United States and Iran), there are a reasonable, sane majority of people just trying to get on with their lives, who are being pushed into war by a vocal, fundamentalist minority.
Rational people on both side look out, and see only the extremists. Joe Washington doesn't want war but everything he hears regarding Iran is negative - they want to wipe out Israel, they want to build nukes. Joe Tehran has a generally pacifist outlook too, but when he reads about America, it is usually because of attrocities like Abu Ghraib, or some other massacre. Time passes, and the crazies on both sides get louder and louder, while the rational people - constantly exposed to this propaganda, start to feel that even though they want peace, the "other side" is giving them no choice but to go to war.
Re:Censorship is the last resort of a failing regi (Score:3, Insightful)
It sounds like you have the mistaken notion that the US is some benevolent "peace keeper". However the vast majority of the time (every single US involvement except for serbia) was unwanted intervention to support either US ideology or US economy. standing up for themselves... I'm sure most nations would prefer if the US just went back to their pre WWII isolationism. How about the US grows some brains and stop jumping in where they aren't needed (Iraq) and actually interfere where they could help (Durfur).
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:3, Insightful)
I was in America visiting family when the mass-media collectively decided they 'hated' the French, and between the outright bigotry of the right wing Radio, and the 'jokes' of the Television comedians very very few people actually addressed what the French government had said..
It's like a positive feedback cycle whereby a couple of people start to get a few cheap laughs and suddenly it's 'ok' to do so, so every one does else joins in, because we all know it's easier to point and laugh at someone who's been stereotyped as different than it is to actually be creative. The same thing has happened with Steven Hawking in the UK where a few jokes were well received because people laughed whilst asking disbelievingly "Can they say that?", whereas now they're so ubiquitous its just become a game of laugh at the disabled guy.
Anyway, I digress. My point is that if people really want to change things then they should be formulating arguments against why "bigotry, sexism and totalitarianism" are bad things, because although it seems obvious to us it's useless unless you can put it in a social or historical context. Some will claim that there's a 'politically-correct' conspiracy to stop people from having fun, but I don't buy it. Surely, when the majority of sheep in a given culture turn irrationally against a population (read:not a political viewpoint but a diverse group of people) it is the job of the intelligent people (which, I'm sure if you asked 1000 /.ers, at least 999 of them would think they were) to stand as the voice of reason. I wouldn't expect any less of intelligent Iranians in this position as I would of intelligent Americans
Or maybe I'm just naive..
Re:Still not tagged with "Nazis" and "gestapo"?! (Score:3, Insightful)
2. Iranian laws don't affect American rights,. People are going to focus on the laws that affect them directly.
Also, you can't use Slashdot as a good gauge. The Gaussian bulk of people here are narcissistic technogeeks who desperately and continually seek a reason to feel superior. You don't get that same self righteous buzz criticizing people in another hemisphere as you get calling your fellow citizens idiots because they bought a Tivo instead of investing thirty-twelveteen hours setting up MythTV.
Re:unless iran deserves to be tarred (Score:3, Insightful)
"Welcome to the desert of the real." -- Morpheus
That's so pathetic.
That's reality. Life and the world will never be perfect. The best you can do is be less imperfect than anyone else.
There's also the fact that much of what is being said about Iran (the government) is fairly accurate.
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:2, Insightful)
Why do you attribute an argument to him that he never made?
"The veil thing happens to be part of the religion, So you don't want freedom of religion.. if it differs from yours."
And if you're a woman who isn't muslim, what then? Is it still about freedom of religion when you can't opt out?
So you don't want freedom of religion... at all.
is the west superior to the rest of the world? (Score:3, Insightful)
but you apparently do
if the world is ever to achieve peace, then every government in the world must be judged according to the same standards... sooner, rather than later, for the sake of peace
and when you begin to do that, and ONLY when you begin to do that, do you begin to move towards world peace. but if you continue to think of the west as somehow (ridiculously) "superior" to other parts of the world, then in your own mind you perpetuate the cycle of violence, by positing an "us" versus a "them"
no: i don't believe in that. i believe in all humanity being equal. and when you do that, yes, comparing london or paris or washington dc to tehran or dhaka or la paz is not only normal, it is also the only morally and intellectual defensible way you can look at the world
in a way, by saying what you just said above, you reveal a subtle form of racism/ ethnocentrism that is in fact the cause of the problems we see in this world. and so comparing the west to iran is NOT in any way bad, it is, in fact, a step forward in progress, in your mentality about how to think of the world, how to properly frame your worldview. you talk about falling standards. when i see london compared to tehran, i in fact see increasing standards
all world governments must be held accountable to the same standard. to hold the west in a special "superior" light is a subtle form of ethnocentrism/ racism, a vestige of colonialism in YOUR mind. it is a sort of condescension and patronization/ paternalism: the west is the "daddy" and the other parts of the world are "children" that can't be held to the same standard
bullshit
i, as an american, when i look to an iranian, see my equal, in rights AND responsibilies. in THIS way, i see the totalitarian theocracy in tehran as woefully inadequate, because the iranians, as my brothers and sisters, deserve better. but in a colonial mindset, other people in the west say we shouldn't be judging the iranian government
isn't that funny: the condemnation of tehran is an act of soldarity with universal human standards, and the call to lay off tehran by westerners is an act of ethnocentrism/ colonialism/ racism
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, due to the fact that the US is partly responsible for the current Iranian government (Operation Ajax blowout with the Shah) I would have to say us Americans are part of the problem. We replaced a socialism sympathizer with a dictator who brutally ruled his people and then we get all uppity when he gets replaced by a theocratic revolution. Then we back Saddam in hopes that he'll take care of the problem and it all goes to hell.
Things would have been find and we wouldn't be talking about Iran's nuclear program today had we not interfered with a legal election.
Speaking of which, in theory, 9/11 would have never happened because we wouldn't have been arming Saddam against the theocratic Iran which later lead to the invasion of Kuwait which lead to Osama getting all pissy about American bases in Saudi Arabia.
This is what we call "blowback". We've been over there for 50 years interfering, overthrowing people, supporting dictators, and selling weapons to everyone and you wonder why they hate us.
I don't approve of Holocaust denying and hope that Israel will be recognized as a sovereign nation by all, but to say we didn't make this bed in Iran and share some responsibility of it is just not learning history correctly.
Re:You can't "slap a Jap" anymore (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Armed Citizens In the Modern World (Score:4, Insightful)
supplied tank, stopping the entire Iranian Army from running down protesters that "grew some balls".
The Iranians are quite capable of overthrowing a government. They did so relatively recently (1979ish) when they overthrew the CIA-coup-installed US-backed douche Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (aka the "Shah").
Sadly the revolutionary forces had too many religious wackos and too few young liberal students and the poor bastards got stuck with a theocracy/democracy/republic. Kinda like the USA but with a different(worse; ya, i said it**) religion.
There is of course very little chance of another revolution soon because no sane person would overthrow their own government while it is under imminent threat of invasion/pre-emptive nuclear attack.
In fact, there is nothing quite like an irrational, powerful and belligerent enemy to strengthen the position of a bad government.
** just to be clear, all religions suck-ass and have no business anywhere near a government.