[IP] Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf@sethf.com>
Date: June 22, 2009 4:32:34 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: WSJ: Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology

[For IP, if worthy - this is a great overview of the extent of
national censorware, and the involvement of various big corporations]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html
Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology

European Gear Used in Vast Effort to Monitor Communications
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS in New York and LORETTA CHAO in Beijing

  The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European
  telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated
  mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it
  to examine the content of individual online communications on a
  massive scale.

[big snip]

  The Australian government is experimenting with Web-site filtering
  to protect its youth from online pornography, an undertaking that
  has triggered criticism that it amounts to government-backed
  censorship.

  Content inspection and filtering technology are already common
  among corporations, schools and other institutions, as part of
  efforts to block spam and viruses, as well as to ensure that
  employees and students comply with computer-use guidelines.
  Families use filtering on their home computers to protect their
  children from undesirable sites, such as pornography and gambling.

  Internet censoring in Iran was developed with the initial
  justification of blocking online pornography, among other material
  considered offensive by the regime, according to those who have
  studied the country's censoring.

[much more in full article]




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