The Islamic Republic government has officially ordered all broadband service providers to stop providing broadband services with a speed higher than 128kbps. I haven't heard anywhere they have announced the reason, but I think I know it: fear, great fear of their citizens. Why else they may want us not to have a high speed internet connection other than that they don't like the internet itself and they are just understanding that the internet is not something they can restrain easily. They are spending millions of dollars for all the equipment they need for filtering and controlling the internet but still it slips from their hands easily. And they have been probably thinking if we cannot control it, at least we should do our best to minimize the use of it. Then someone tells the big guy, "Hey! Take a look at this. This ADSL stuff lets them to access the enemy's media so easily and with such a high speed. You must do something about it." And then they got more afraid. The result, is another tie they are trying to fasten around the internet.
This surely annoys me and many others, but who cares. They may even get happy if this causes a few more of us leave the country. I heard Haddad-e-Adel (current head of the parliament) has said "Even if half of the 'brains' leave the country, we shouldn't worry, because the other half would be enough for us!" This is their logic, and it surely makes sense from their point of view. But they are making the same strategic mistake every dictator makes. "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers," as Princess Leia said in Star Wars and I believe this is what they are going to get.
Fear is their powerful weapon, yet they are themselves beaten by it more than anyone else.
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2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear that the government of Iran is going to try to restrict access to the Internet there. That said, this is a great post! Would you mind if I link to it from my blog? If you don't mind, then would you prefer for me to use your username or your actual first name? Please let me know. Thanks!
Thank you, Jeremiah. Surely you can link to the post if you like. Probably it would be better to use my nickname, although I have not yet decided if I'm going to make this a completely anonymous blog or not! Arresting bloggers has already happened in Iran, but even if you reveal my real name, I don't think I'm going to get into trouble unless, of course, if I'm going to get famous enough that they find me worthy of attention!
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