DEUTSCHE WELLE: The first phase of Iran's national Internet project has already been launched in the country's government departments. Activists fear it's a step toward cutting the population off from the World Wide Web.
In the past few days, several Iranian officials have mentioned the imminent launch of "our own Internet," or what has previously been described as the "Halal Internet."
Reza Taghipour, Iran's information and communications minister, announced last week that the first phase of this nationwide project, which covers governmental institutions in 29 provinces, was set to launch on September 21. Taghipour said all Iranian universities would become part of this network by early 2013, putting Iran a step closer to disconnecting itself entirely from the global Internet.
As the news spread, government officials also announced that Iran was blocking access to Google and Gmail in reaction to the US-made anti-Islam film that has triggered protests across the Muslim world in recent weeks.
Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, an Iranian official from the online censorship department, claimed the decision had been made because of [a] request from the censorship committee. » | Farnaz Seifi / Ben Knight | Tuesday, September 25, 2012
