Iran human rights chief talks Internet, compares filter-evaders to thieves
The secretary of the Islamic Republic’s judiciary human rights staff gives insight into regime views of the Internet and its future in Iran. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the secretary of the judiciary...
View ArticleIran Cyber Front: Culture minister signals possible changes in Iran’s cyber...
Could the Islamic Republic of Iran be taking a new approach to cyberspace, and some media freedoms more broadly? It is perhaps too soon to tell, but recent comments by the Minister of Culture and...
View ArticleIran blocks WhatsApp under Hassan Rouhani’s watch
WhatsApp, the popular mobile telephone texting and voice chat app, has been blocked in Iran. While the official reason cited by Iranian officials has been WhatsApp’s recent purchase by Facebook, the...
View ArticleWhatsApp ban update: Rouhani administration clashes with Internet censor
The saga over the banning of the popular smart phone application WhatsApp in Iran enters a new phase as the Hassan Rouhani administration clashes with the Working Group on Detecting Criminal Content...
View ArticleRouhani and Iranian conservatives’ battle over cyberspace escalates
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s recent speech on cyber-freedoms is significant and unprecedented in the Islamic Republic. But he will have to go beyond mere words to prove his administration’s...
View ArticleIran Cyber Front: The battle over WhatsApp, Viber, and Tango
In a mark of the ongoing struggle between President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected on a platform of reform over one year ago, and conservative adversaries who dominate much of the Iranian political...
View ArticleIran communication ministry’s terrifying proposals for changing Iranian...
Iranian Internet users could soon be forced to give up their online anonymity and restricted to content based on their professional identity, if proposals by Iran’s communication ministry is realised....
View ArticleIranian move to filter Gmail reflects attacks on Google and freedom of speech...
Could the filtering of Gmail in Iran this week mean that phase two of the Islamic Republic’s “national information network” (NIN) project is on the way? Last week the Iranian government implemented...
View ArticleIran Cyber Front: Khamenei likes Facebook
On 13 December 2013, the official website of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Center for Preserving and Publishing the Works of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, created a...
View ArticleIran Cyber Front: Rouhani’s cyber promises – Can, will he deliver?
Even before his surprise win in the 2013 Iranian presidential campaign, Hassan Rouhani had given indications that, if elected, he intended to improve Internet conditions in Iran. It wasn’t only Rouhani...
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