Just as the United States starts shaking off SOPA, Iran started implementing their ultimate goal of establishing a national private intranet, which will require citizens to submit their name and surname, father’s name, national code, zip code, and telephone contact.
The government has already started to crack down throughout the country, requiring all Internet cafes to abide by specific rules, like cafes having to install a surveillance camera setup, along with a close watch at what people are using the services to do on the web via personal information gathering.
CNET reports, “Iranians have [said] that during the intranet tests this week, Internet connections have slowed down and Websites have been blocked. Access to VPNs (virtual private networks) Iranians use to access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have also been affected[.]”
Other rules include limited Internet use, “computers at Internet service providers (cafes) should be necessarily limited in user mode [...] [and] [...] [m]anagement of working hours in offices, Internet cafes are required every day to check computer systems for the software installation KEY LOGGER.”
Reasoning behind this step towards a nationalized web surfing intranet is to build one that is “halal,” or more pure – expected to be fully developed in March. This phenomenon, known as the “Great Firewall,” is assimilating worldwide; China, India, and Libya are also moving towards extreme censorship to target activists and forbid objectionable content.
(via CNET)
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to print out Facebook, a UK online cartridge retailer has done the research for you. Their survey found that just a year’s worth of Facebook status updates (with 800 million users posting once a day) will be the equivalent of 11.5 billion sheets of paper.
