I recently went on a trip to Dallas and needed WIFI (I only mention this here because Starbucks was mentioned...). Starbucks WIFI is not "free," it requires a purchase to turn it on...I found it interesting that I could hit WIFI at Krogers...LOL...no wonder Starbucks is going out of business...I probably would have bought coffee had I been able to hit their WIFI...Iran...a simple fix...offer free satellite...MTV could destroy that country faster than any UN plan.

Is the Cuban government jammming satellite signals to Iran as it did in 2003?

Larry Daley

Ron Aragon what a mind contolled fool you are. Christianity was created to control weak minded people like you, read Mirthas vs Jesus and see how this story was written hundreds of years before Jesus. Think how every conflict in this world involves who has the best invisible man.

What...no comment about the websites that the US censors &/or filters out?

The courage and fortitude displayed by the people of Iran serves as inspiration to all who's cause is just and noble.

May God give you strength and guidance during your hour of need.

I just wanted to say that Americans have no idea how much better it is to live in the States than it is to live in Tehran. I'm an Iranian American and currently residing in Tehran for family business purposes and the amount of repression here is really incredible! Death to the clerics!

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised !

Censorship in America. Believe it! Benjamin Franklin once said that people who give up their freedoms for a sense of security diserve neither. Unfortunately after 9/11 a lot of our freedoms where taken away from us. "Patriot Act" It all boils down to one thing. "People should not fear their government, Government should fear their people"

for those who have forgotten i remember what was happening 30 years ago with the Shaw and the US hostages I was in the Marine Corps at the time and we had guys lining up to go there and do what we were trained for but as we all know that was a no go. What i'm trying to say is that they made their bed 30 years ago so let them sleep in it. We went to war with Iraq their ememy who use Chem weapons against them killing thousands of Iranians do we get a thank you for that no we get lets kill US troops guys and they wont do nothing about it. They want a nuke let them they to eat that for a couple of years. Hell they guy they have in office is just another Shaw of Iran without the crown as they are learning in a couple of years they will be looking to overthrow this guy also and who will they be asking for help in doing this you guessed it the good old USA. So i saw let them eat crow for awhile this is their bed that they made.

This is truely a sad day for Iran. The people of Iran want DEMOCRACY but are not allowed to have it. They can not even fight against the government because they are prohibited from owning any kind of weapons. Guns are strictly prohibited except by the government. The people of Iran could not overthrough the government even if they wanted to without the loss of countless lives. The ruling party has complete control of the people. They live under fear of death for opposition to the ruling party. Prisons are full of political prisoners. Iran will not be able to get Democracy without outside help.

Does anyone know if satellite transmission can transmit independently of WAPs and land pipes? I sure wish whoever it was that spread the Conficker and other viruses would apply themselves to the problem of global censorship vs. freedom of information.

To All of the Iranian people protesting: The world hears you and supports you. We are so sorry that you are going through this, you have our love, respect & are in our prayers. Please keep the faith for freedom.

iran is a paradox of sorts. almost any univerisite's internet connections are available to the public at a price, and they are fast. there is hardly any filtering on these sites. even slow internet is just as effective for many purposes.

Blacklisted site. Go away or you will be tracked down and forced to accept a government bailout and then we all will own you and control you.

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sounds like the fairness doctrine

This is a problem that is as old as humanity. Those with power want to keep it, and generally are willing to do anything necessary to do so. Those without power have only the options of resisting (and if the sovereign does their job well failing in that resistance) or else submitting to the will of those in power. No matter who is in control those are the rules which they live by, or else they do not retain control long.

I just pray for the poeple of Iran. They are not going to take much more of this dictatorship.
Hopefully there will be a peacefull and humane ending to it all!

I'm iranian. the regime kill our citizen. they are realy realy murderer that you can't believe. this time the ultimate of lie and tyranny happened. we will retrieve our rights and the truth.

30 years ago a revolution took place in Iran...whether it was good or bad only the Iranian people can say. A whole generation there has come to age without knowing what it was like before. In the process, I lost a dear Iranian friend who was married to one of my cousins here. It was a sad situation and it broke the heart of my cousin. Our family lost a dearly beloved member to the "revolution". Thru the years I have followed intently the little bit of goings-on in Iran always wondering what happened to Fared. I have always prayed for his safety and that of his family. I know in my heart that he would be saddened to see what has become of his beloved Iran. But the censorship there is only a few steps ahead of what is going on here in the U.S. When it was finally acknowledged by the Bush administration that since 911 our OWN emails are being monitored for any mention of "dissent" against the policies of the government, it came as no surprise to me. WE as U.S. citizens seemed to have no qualms about giving up our rights when it came to "feeling safe". There should be no trade-off of either and I can only hope that our new administration will set things right in that regard. My heart goes out to the Iranian people...perhaps after 30 years of isolationism, they are finally going to see another "revolution" but hopefully a peaceful one.

"Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author." Good one!

The government who accuses Israel of killing Paletinian, kills his own nation while they protest against his fraud in election. We ask people all around the world to protest against Ahmadi nejad and back us (Iranians who hate Ahmadi nejad and his fraud). Ahmadi nejad has ordered collecting our satellites, filterred most of news sites, blocked our sms... We have many problem communicating each other through our cellphones, I'm afraid in the next days we won't be able to access internet. plz send our voice to people around the world. Down with Ahmadi nejad

The premise of a fragile internet responsible for the Iran slowdown indicates this reporter has no clue as to how it works.
The 6 pipes coming into Iran enter a government controlled nexus and form the total bandwidth. It's as simple as unplugging one or more fibers to reduce total by 17% each, throttle, or a combination of both. That chokes off anything going in or out. Inside, Iran has 1 govenment controlled ISP that can easily throttle, selectively block, or both on the national network. The government gets bandwidth and the opposition gets squat.
This is not an issue of fragility but one of intentional government manipulation. This is similar to what our own regime in the US is trying to slide past us in the name of security. Whos security?

Nobody should be held down by a government that stops it's people from the govenment that they want. Good luck in your fight for freedom. Governments may not agree, but people of the world unite because we are unlike govenments, we are concerned about people being humans and not being surpressed. Good Luck to the Iranian people for freedom they seek.

All hail the new Iranian Revolution!!!!!
The problem is that all government is repressive.
Bush,McCain,Clinton and Obama are all the same,just diferent faces of Fascism Today.
Why not let the big bankers fail and set up a new bank for the people,of the people and by the people???
The reason is simple....it doesnt serve the task masters who's goal is to enslave the people of this world.The way to subjegate the American people is through crushing debt!!!!!
I just hope and pray that the end Times Prophecies aren't myth.I just don't want to see the stuff hit the fan first....Iran's government was born out of Hitler's Fascism and will still be a religious fascist government anyway.It is the same all over the middle east and has been slowly taking hold here in America.
Ronald Reagan started the Fascist movement here in America under the name of new conservatism....
I had better stop before they get my number....

Big Brother is all around us . . . it's just that most of us are so used to it, it's become invisible. People, look at stop lights in your cities and tell me how many intersections have video cameras to record your daily movements? The doublespeak has BECOME this country's mantra . . . The Government uses the Media to terrify the people into compliance. As Mussolini said, many decades ago, a Fascist regime uses media-driven propaganda . . . it says the same thing with many voices.

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Big Brother is here??

the revolution won't be video-streamed

As long as the theocratic regime of mullahs and their hired thugs are in control, there is no hope! In this day and age only a secular society can confront diversities and introduce relative harmony and understanding and create a tolerating environment in which all religions, believers and non believers are respected along with secular government. I know what I am saying is unrealistic at this point. But we must start talking about it. History is moving forward and culturally, educationally, intellectually and otherwise Iranian people are ready for change! The changes advocated by different candidates are not far from each other! Don’t be fooled!

This is a time when the entire world should go "GREEN."

Yes Nathanael, they took the time to personally send you a 'trojan horse' because you think that the President isn't such a good person. I'm pretty sure the administration has much more important things to worry about, for example, the Iranian election or perhaps N. Korea's threat of nuclear war?

Someday, when all the "little" men and women in this country has enough,the people of this country will let the governent know, in no uncertain terms, that they (politicians) are here to serve us, not their own pitiful and corrupt needs.

Please support the Iranian movement against the Islamic THUGS in Iran. The Iranian people especially the youth have repeatedly shown that they don't have the same mentality toward the West as the other people in the Middle East. This movement is not about a fraudulent "selection" rather, defiant against 30 years of brutalities, repressions, executions, and inhuman treatment of a freedom seeking nation while the whole world stood silent and making deals with these thugs who run this oldest civilization. We wrote the human rights 2500 years ago and yet we have the Ahmadinejad and these Islamic thugs in 21st century.

There should be filters keeping Iranian & Korean messages off this and all other sites.

McCain,Clinton,Obama,Bush.....They're all fascists.Why give money to the bankers? Because fascism is about all the power and money in the hands of the few.....I just hope that Revelations is not a myth.....With the return of the Christ,the fall of corrupt religions and governments will be a blessing.
I just dont want to see the stuff hit the fan first..

This is incredibly unfortunate. I feel for the Iranian people, and for any people anywhere who do not enjoy freedom of political expression. Is government created to serve the people or the other way around? The people must have the freedom to shape the government, and free speech and legitimate voting results are the key to that. The situation is far worse in many countries than in the US, but there are issues here too. Least we forget, the 2000 presidential election was decided by the Supreme Court, who picked the wrong guy. When the votes were recounted they found out that Gore actually had won Florida, but SCOTUS had already decided we would declare the winner of the presidency before the recount. Additionally, look at the unbelievable amount of censorship in the comments of the NY Times, supposedly America's "paper of record." If you say anything that suggests illegal immigration isn't a good thing, that comment has only a 50% chance of appearing, particularly if you make the point effectively. Only comments that are so over the top that they portray the commenter in a negative light are allowed through. Talk about distorting the face of public opinion. I've even written their public advocate about this, only to receive an autoreply that they will not advocate for anything related to comment moderation. Censorship apparently is par for the course, even in the land of the free.

This shows that the Iranian government is unjust.

i hate ahmadinejad as an iranian girl.not only me.most of the people hate him!i dont accept him as a president.let him kill people...i really hope one day the people kill him.i havent seem a rude man like him.he says whatever he likes...he do whatever he likes...shame on him

The passive title of the article gives the false impression that something accidental, like a power outage, caused the internet to crash. A more accurate title should have been, "Theocratic dictatorship in Iran shuts down the web." The Islamo-fascist despotism violently oppressing the people Iran and threatening its neighbors should at least get tagged with censorship

To the Iranian posters - The whole world is watching. Hang in there.

Leaders of the World are understanding "Free Will" is a spiritual gift to all of us from each of our Supreme being, just apply it to your laws, and continue to encourage your beautiful youth to Love not hate, it makes you stronger, and yes it's harder but so worth it and the worlds youth is ready. They can see the worlds biggest problem so clearly and that is the loss of our beloved Earth and this is the new BATTLE.

Rose N Florida
a Grandma

an ahmadinejad in country keeps health away .

all the computer geeks should have a contest to see who can bring down the filters that these countries use to manipulate there people.come on &oogle put up the cash!these people deserve to see midget porn if they want

Sad example of what is called Islamic Republic. Freedom of conscience in Islam equates with freedom of press.

Please support the Iranian movement against the Islamic THUGS in Iran. The Iranian people especially the youth have repeatedly shown that they don't have the same mentality toward West as the other people in the Middle East. This movement is not about a fraudulent "selection" rather, defiant against 30 years of brutalities, repressions, executions, and inhuman treatment of a freedom seeking nation while the whole world stood silent and making deals with these thugs who run this oldest civilization. We wrote the human rights 2500 years ago and yet we have the Ahmadinejad and these Islamic thugs in 21st century.

"The Internet treats censorship as damage, and as such, attempts to route around it".

To wit : many helpful folks are providing automatic proxies that can be started in the VMware/Cloud environments that are in use in many business/academic settings.

http://blog.austinheap.com/2009/06/16/how-to-setup-a-proxy-for-iran-citizens-virtual-machine-disk-format/

How do you know there aren't disruptions here?

Most internet based communication mediums have the ability to be monitored and tracked... This should not be a surprise, not only is the internet as we know it fragile but our new High-Definition (HD) broadcast system also offers a much greater level of control as well.

The key to control of communications is a clear understanding of our supporting systems, processes and enabling medium. I believe the current administration effectively illustrates the power of my premise.

As mentioned in the article radio broadcast offers anonymity but fortunately or unfortunately internet based electronic communication can provide tremendous amounts of end user detail; an individuals location, time, data ownership and the ability to actually monitor the data sent and replied to without the end users knowledge.

If the Iranians understood these technologies effectively they would have been easily able to qwell and uprising and eliminate its digital history and contributes...

This is why I would argue that our focus as individuals should be to understand the various communication mediums that we use and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

It is no surprise that the Iranian government stumbled in this instance. It wasn't that they did not understand the Iranian people, they really just underestimated the power of people to leverage the technology tools against them.

Make no mistake I am sure that they and many other totalitarian governments are taking note and will be more prepared for information warfare in the future...

Ironically this underestimation of the power of technology is quite similar to how our brick and mortar retail businesses underestimated the power and scope of the internet during the Dot-Com era and now how marketing is being transformed via Web 2.0 and the social communication explosion...

Let us take note and not just appreciate the freedoms our country offers but also understand the reality of how fragile those freedoms can really be if we are when we realize that we don't really control our growing dependence on our electronic interconnectedness as a global community...

So you think the switch to HD TV was just for fun??? Just wait our turn is coming.

The same happened here in the 2000 election, but we just kept watching entertainment news on TV.

How do we know our own internet isn't being filtered and that we are only allowed access to certain information? Are we really, truly free? Do we have access to all information? I have a sneaking suspicion that we don't. We are so pacified here and lulled to sleep by endless services, goods, and amenities. They keep us fat and happy so we don't question anything. While we sleep freedom is being slowly pulled away from us. Thats why so much money has been thrown into the financial crisis. Americans ability to keep buying things was being taken away. You see, if we stop buying things and if we don't have access to luxuries we would wake up and see what is really going on. There are more of us than them and if all of us were paying attention they would not have control over us anymore. Its a scary thought. Something for everyone of you to think about.

Hamide of Qom, I could not imagine what it is like being over there right now. It is a shame you and everyone else has to go through this in your country. Keep your faith that everything will get better, becasue it will. One day.

Its Hard to belive that no need to run the country through internet, simple , there is no work for privet sector anymore. ok let themcut the internet, how long ? and finnaly what they want to do with thi people .

Saw a bunch of Left Wing and right wing malcontents in the comments...jeezus pleezus fellas! Get over the hating of each other and then worry about what going on overseas! Until then, remember, when you point your fingers at your enemies, for their sins, you got three other finger pointing right back at yourself. So examine your own sins before worrying about somebody else's. This philosophy will teach both humility and temprance to those who employ it. To those who do not, the lack of either trait speaks profoundly of their character...which, Democrat, Republican, or Socialist, is what this whole discussion is really all about. Character, or the lacking of...how sad

Revolutions usually begin by taking over broadcasts either radio or TV. The Iran leaders see what is happening and they are shutting it down the revolution is beginning over the internet. Maybe they should try the old fashion way and take over a radio or TV station. I believe the 7 deaths have raise the stakes and watch for what happens next. Blood in the streets I predict. As for the prvious poster from Iran we are sorry for what you are going through keep the peaceful demonstartions going until they give you another election with UN election monitors. We are cheering for you to succeed Americans want peace with Iran that is one of the reasons we voted for Obama.

If we comedown this time , means we will accept Dictatory .... we don't want to be like north korea.but we people don't have weapons to kill 10,15 people at a time, in fact we are human beings .. we want democracy,

Attention to all Iranian & Korean:
Tomorrow will be held football (soccer) match between South Korea v Iran in Seoul. we would like to inform all Korean and Iranian who is going to attended this match, Please carry with yourself green muffler in support of Green Movement of Iranian People who are seeking and fighting for freedom here in Iran.Please support us and let world hear us.
دوستان این مطلب را به گوش هر ایرانی و کره ای که قراراست در بازی فوتبال فردا مشارکت کند برسانید
Dear all please spread the above note to whom is going to attend tomorrow's football match between Iran v South Korea
Thank you
모든 한국인에게 고함:
내일 서울에서 한국과 이란의 축구 경기가 개최됩니다.
우리는 여기 이란에서 그들의 자유를 찾기 위해 싸우는 이란 사람들의 녹색운동의 상징인
녹색 머플러를 가지고 경기에 참석해 주길 모든 한국인과 이란인에게 부탁드립니다.
제발 우리를 지지해주세요 그리고 우리의 목소리를 들어주세요.
감사합니다.

Obama's new Internet Czar has job opens for Democratic Party Moderators on the political web forums. The job is easy. Just remove anything that is critical of Obama and replace it with post blaming George Bush and the Republican Party. Then you search thru the old post on forums and anywhere Obama mention that unemployment would go to only 8.00% if they passed his stimulus bill. You change it to 11.00%. You also get all the free koolaid to drink.

Joe Doe,

Obviously you are proud and passionate about your new Democratic president. Your inference that his policies are differnet than that of the past Republican policies are questionable; particuliarliy when it comes to Mr. Obama's redcent decision to coninue denying access to White House visitor logs. Federal court rulings informed President Bush that this was not legal. Mr. Obama had the perfect opportunity to show he was different and to make good on his acceptance speech promise that there would be transparency in his administration. Release the logs. The courts ruled that we (the public) can see who visits your home. YES WE CAN.

So, John Doe...do you have anything constructive to add to this thread about censorship? Or are you here to just bash conservatives?

The Iranian government has no choice other than to stop SMS, e-mail, site access, etc. This is because after 30 years of deception by Iranian government, people are looking for any excuse to show their anger and frustration! The reality is that these demonstration will never stop even if Ayatollah Khamenei agrees that a fraud has occurred or Mr. Moussavi is elected as a president. Because Mr. Moussavi’s election is nothing but another selection by Ayatollah Khamenei as well. It appears that Iranian are attempting to abolish the Velayateh Faghih, so the elections will never, ever turns into selections by the supreme leader.

Silverfox you are soooo right, it's only a matter of time before the same "filters" will be applied here in the "land of freedom".

ANYBODY who thinks this "Internet Czar" is here to help "the war on cyber terror" is dreamin. Like we didn't see this coming.

I can't believe we have filters here in the US. If we did, why wouldn't they filter out, and keep for themselves, the Canadian Lotto winnings I received. Or, the opportunity to buy into millions for a paltry $2000 fee in Nigeria. Or, for a small price, I can get a much bigger,,,well, it supposed to get bigger. And, another small payment will get me pharmacueticals that will help me wear it out!

I think if we had people watching us, they wouldn't let neat stuff like that get thru to us, they'd keep it themselves. Gotta go, looking at new cars I'm going to get when I get my share of the funds from Nigeria.

And, I guess I should look at some looser pants.

Since Iran began by jamming blogs with massive pageloads in order to close them down, bloggers and their readers from all over the world responded by doing the same to the Iranian government's websites, propaganda sites, and servers, and declared a "cyberwar."

On Twitter we were circulating "what to do, and what not to do" and asking people NOT to run the "massive page-load tools" people were circulating since it was slowing down ALL Iranian web traffic.

Censorship is nothing new in the US. When I was in the UK in 1982, BBC television was doing a news story about an incident in California. They even announced that it wasn't in the American press.

Nathanael,
You are NOT so important that anyone would be trying to shut you down with trojans! The republican days are over. It's OK to look up again. I think they're gone.

LMAO!!

We take our freedoms so much for granted. We need to appreciate all the wonderful freedoms and opportunities that we, as USA citizens, have that hardly anyone else in the world has.

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And we're ranting about Iranian censorship????

Those who own and control the means of communication will always control the content.

Never start an argument with a man who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the carload . . .William Randolph Hearst.

Scary. Think 1984 (the novel, not the year). I see us moving towards it everyday.

Any censorship pisses me off but this is off the charts.

Didn't the media make fun of a member a Congress a few years ago as being out of touch when he referred to the internet as a "series of pipes"?

Seems that term is used in this article.

Isn't it also in the WEST? Such as not being able to view UK sites from the US (or vice versa). Even text of UK celebrities is not viewable in some cases. So why censor simply because of geography at all?

One thing is a rouge government Big Brother, and another is the U.S. Big Brother, where the individual moderators have the last word whom to censor and whom to allow on the web! I personally believe that both forms of censorship are equally insidious and obscene. Since President Obama was elected, all vocal Republican posters have been systematically muzzled by Obama's "moderators"! In my case, I have been sent "trojan horses" to discourage me from exercising my freedom of speech! Is this any better than what Iran is doing? You tell me!

Who cares- all internet in all countries is censored to some degree. You don't believe that? Our state dept blocks access to most Cuban websites. Look it up. Censorship is all around us.

Can somebody tell how the situation is realy in America since the 911 period I am sure censorship exist here to . Lost E-mails,E-payments is now possible.Lets go back with the USPS maybe not quick but efficient.
Louis Laureyssens Deland Florida

ALL I CAN SAY IS, IM SOOO HAPPY TO BE LIVING IN AMERICA.

hello ,i am hamide in iran .in qom uni. here is very bad .all thing is sttoped. the seprate of iran . no sms, no e-mail ,no phone , all site filterred .iran is vert bad for live now...
pleas help us

shine the light

Free and fair is an English word. Whenever there is a sort of secret censor on free expression, communication and demonstration, you can't actively refer to free and fair, let alone an election.
What does the Iranian Government thinks at this time?
Defiance to international community?????? shhhhhh??

This comes as no surprise whatsoever. Whenever a country limits web or phone access they are, without a doubt, trying to hide or distort the truth because once people come to know the truth, they will stand up and demand justice.

That sucks, bro :(

I use TOR to get around my ISP, slow but works right.

No comments on this page? Not even mine? now thats funny....

Can you imagine what would happen here if internet service was disrupted nation-wide? That's the difference between here and there, shutting down our internet would be political suicide. Leaders here wouldn't even consider it.

no, really.......... Is it the incumbent or the khameni?

What about those people in Iran whose jobs depend on the internet? Wow, cut off internet service to a whole country at will? Now thats WAY too much power... who is running that country anyway?

And now WE are getting an internet "czar". Does anyone NOT believe Big Brother is here??

Not like Iran is the only offender. Austraila with its drakonian filter and unpublished blacklist, and the 11k per hyperlink to a blacklisted site fine which was reported in some papers yesterday.

this is iranian authoirities sutting things down..this is not a problem with the net as a whole.