Iranian internet

About a month ago I saw a documentary about North Korea and the atmosphere there, how do people behave, what are the streets like. The Koreans don’t go out, they have no kind of social life or any other interaction with their fellow countryman. Not to even talk about censorship of all kind of information. All in all, one could get a pretty good feeling about the current state of the country.

Well, then I thought that no country can come even close to that kind of censorship. Hopefully, I am wrong but for the looks of it - Iran is going to limit the usage and content of Internet to its people. Access to Facebook and Twitter are being reduced and there are talkings that they are even going to build their own “Internet” (it’d be actually an intranet). 

I don’t read newspapers that often, maybe sometimes when my dad pops over and suggests an article to read - I get most of my information over the Internet. So, to put the Iranian situation into perspective - if they are planning on limiting access to information on the internet and to censor everything, I think that that scenario it’s actually not that really different from what the North Koreans did. Yes, the media is different, but the point is the same. 

On the other side, there is one little difference. The Iranians have been using Internet (real Internet) for ages and they know what’s it like to live in a “free” world where you can access all information at a seconds notice. They have felt it, they have tried it. On the other side, the Koreans didn’t have the chance of being able to try “freedom” - they don’t know what it means. With that difference, I don’t think the Iranian leadership will be able to carry through with its plan. 

I know that some demonstrations in Iran took place last year and that they’d been brutally squashed, but I think that if this intentions get realized - the demonstrations are gonna become a reality. We’ll wait and see! ;)

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Written on January 10th, 2012 by Marko Srsan