Facebook Banned in Iran?
Some (apparently not all) Iranian ISPs added Facebook to their growing list of blocked sites, which includes YouTube, Flickr, and the NYTimes. These sites are blocked by some of Iran’s internet services; not all. According to Mohammad, “some ISPs may block some sites without it being ruled out by administration,” therefore making it either temporary or unofficial.
HAMSA’s “C.R.I.M.E” reports the following:
As millions of students around the world return to campus, most look forward to re-connecting with classmates via the popular Facebook.com networking site. But if the regime in Iran has its way, Iranian students will be blocked from joining.
Facebook.com has become the definitive online networking site for students, with personal pages linking friends and classmates. The site increasingly defines campus life in America and abroad, enabling people to socialize, organize, and form communities.
But Iran’s censors block the most popular online networking sites, fearing that virtual organizing could help opposition movements. So if you are a student in Iran, your web browser cannot access Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and popular blogging sites like PersianBlog. Still, enterprising Iranians have figured out ways around the web filters and access various networking sites via web proxies.
One young woman – who accesses Facebook.com via a proxy server – explains the power of the site: “In these networks you can express yourself however you like…Whereas outside your home in the streets it is necessary to present yourself in such a way that nobody will hassle you.”
One sign of successful student networking: there is now a Facebook group dedicated to ending Internet censorship in Iran.
With WordPress banned in Turkey, and now Iranian ISPs banning access to Facebook as well as numerous social networking sites, what should we expect next? Will the blogosphere’s outcry help lift any of these bans the way it helped lift the ban on YouTube in Morocco and Turkey?
Fortunately, many Iranians already know their way around proxies and alternatives to censored sites on the internet. However the ban (which, again, is supposedly unofficial) will be very inconvenient and will significantly cut Iran’s traffic on Facebook.
For those interested, you can check out this Internet Censorship Explorer.
And finally, can someone honestly explain why this message is posted as the front page on “Stop Censoring Us:”
Dear Readers,
Internet censorship exists in Iran, as it does in many other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East.
But it has recently become another pretext for the American Empire to further demonise the government of Iran.
Despite all problems and challenges, I believe that Islamic Republic is a legitimate, sovereign and democratic system and I reject any attempts to participate in such nasty demonising campaigns, which ultimately try to justify the Western intervention.
So, are all Iranian bloggers advocating for free speech and human rights conspiracy theorists serving the “West” then? Interesting. This is almost as funny as people associating our cyber activism at Mideast Youth with Zionism.
Human rights and free speech are both universal. They are not and were never a product of the “West.” It is something we all have a right to regardless of race, religion, and culture. Thus any association with “Western agents” is completely irrelevant. It is sad to see such a great domain go to waste like this.
Join the Conversation
Esra’a:
you have access to many Iranians, then it would have been much better if you had checked the case with one or two.
your post, and that article as well, was a kihd of surprise for me, because I checked NYTimes and Youtube just today, also Flicker yesterday; and facebook is my 2nd email: I check it every time I come online. none of these sites are blocked.
but indeed filtering doesnt follow the same pattern for all Iranian users: a special committee determines those sites which should be blocked, and all ISPs should block these sites for their users. it happens sometimes that a site is in the official list of filtering, but some ISPs still provide access to it; or on the other hand a site is removed from that list, but some ISPs still block access to it. then it might be possible that some users find these sites blocked, and some others not.
by the way, during past months, some news were released several times that for example Youtube is blocked, but they were almost wrong.
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Actually, I am talking to an Iranian right now on MSN, and she confirms to me that Flickr for her is blocked.
Esther’s blog is blocked to some people (David, an author here in Tehran, has no access to it.) But to other friends in Iran, it shows up fine. Are these people lying, then? Of course not, they simply use different tools than you.
So these articles are not entirely wrong, and we should not dismiss these sources right away if they are indeed banned by some ISPs.
I told you what happens in filtering process. add to the above matters the other fact that some ISPs may block some sites without it being ruled out by administration.
The only thing I wanted to say is that: yes, Youtube (or other famous sites you mentioned) may be blocked by some ISPs, but they are not officially blocked.
(Esther’s blog is blocked officially)
twitter is censored in UAE
Amna, so is Flickr apparently. Some schools banned Facebook and MySpace but only because it was distracting – it had nothing to do with free speech.
Bahrain had Google Earth blocked, but I can access it fine now. I think it was lifted due to the international backlash.
I just saw the “Against internet censorship and filtering in Iran” Facebook group, the creators and officers are all based in the USA for school. So, I am wondering if it is safe to fully rely on the information which may or may not be up to date or entirely accurate.
I’ll edit the post accordingly.
Mohammad and some other people are using Internet through their Islamic schools (They have had access to Internet when Internet wasn’t popular in Iran through their dedicated systems) and some universities which they can access to almost everything but for people who uses ISPs most websites are censored.
I am 100% sure that YouTube, Orkut, myspace and so many other social networks and news sites are censored and almost any blog that has anything against IRI and most dating sites.
Facebook is partially censored through some ISPs you can access but some others no. I am not sure about Flickr and the NYTimes.
I wonder if Iran has the Persian Jewish Youth date site officially blocked.
Very informative article…thanks! I’m just glad that the youth are nearly always smarter than those trying to censor the internet. Ultimately the most serious problem will be when corporations like google use their technical expertise to work against democracy. This may be the most diabolical enemy of all.
gary
I don’t think “view from iran” is officially blocked since we still get a lot of visitors from Iran. I think that it is one of the many unofficially blocked sites that some over zealous isps go after.
Part of me understands HD’s argument on “stop censoring us.” While most of us are dedicated to human rights, it is disturbing to see the reporting of abuses used as an excuse to attack a nation. There needs to some balance between attention to abuses and attention to how that reporting is being used to justify calls to war.
I agree with you Tori. But HD referred to the IRI as a legitimate and democratic system which to me seems to be his way of justifying some of its human rights abuses. I didn’t say we should undermine Iran at every opportunity; he has the right to stand up for his country. It’s not right however to come off like an apologist who associates human rights activism with a support of Western conspiracies against the Middle East. In his introduction, the implication seems to be that just because other Middle Eastern countries do it (censor and disrespect human rights) it’s okay for Iran to get away with such abuse. It’s not a just or fair approach. Nor is it fair to excuse human rights activism as an extension of the “Western cause.” We aren’t traitors for fighting corruption. We are as loyal to our countries as he is.
What you, and maybe HD, are referring to are US-based organizations using these things as excuses to intervene, which is indeed very manipulative. I wholeheartedly agree with you and this is why we refuse sponsorship/affiliation with such groups.
I think it is very unfair and dangerous however if people continue associating all of us with the West merely because we chose to fight back against any form of corruption within this region, whether be it censorship or minority rights. You all know how most of us are against the US intervention in Iraq and how we would staunchly be against any form of further intervention within the Middle East, especially Iran. Just because we care about civil rights in this region and so-called “Western” values (they are universal, NOT Western) does not mean that we support Western or US intervention. Therefore I find what HD said slightly misleading.
I reply in this emotional manner because I have been called a traitor and a US-spy when I’ve never even been to the U.S or been directly associated with any of its organizations. I do not work for any American companies or people. I am an independent activist who many consider a traitor or an agent of the West simply because I stood up for what I think is right. Is that fair? It’s outrageous what we are being put through.
Esra,
You do an outstanding job of defining your quest for human rights. And as you so elegantly explain, the West certainly has no monopoly on human rights (in fact they can be the worst abusers). But every once in a while I want to remind your audience that not everybody living in the “West” supports our policies, myself included. Even in a democracy we don’t always get our own way. Sadly no system of government is perfect.
gary
Sure, look who signed the page, the author is famous to praise the IRI regime. Saadati defines his blog cycle in Price of baseless accusations as:
but hossein
Also hossein in stop.censoring.us wrote:
Obviously the author is still living in Westophobia.
to Fariborz and other conspiracy theorists, albeit in the form of enligtened people:
when I was a student in Isfahan University of Technology, I had accedd to broad-band internet; right now, I use dial-up connection, like most of the people in Iran. and the name of that ISP I use its services is Jahanonline.
to Esra’a:
persianjewishyouth was not blocked for me, as well as myspace. but orkut was blocked.
another point:
the simplest form of an anti-filter is a simple php file that everybody can put it in his/her own website, and then this anti-filter will provide access to all-over the web for you. the only thing you should pay attention to is that you should never make your anti-filter’s address public: as long as just you or some of your close friends use it, officials will never find it. I have that php file as well, and have made and anti-filter with it on my own website, though you cant find any link to its page on other pages of the site. this way, even some people create a simple website just to use it as an anti-filter, and it costs them about 20$ a year… um, nice!
if anybody is eager to have that file, email me: mo.memarian@gmail.com
another matter, Esra’a:
That site’s description of HD’s case was good enough. dont bother urself. you are doing a good job here
Is IRI ” Legitimate, Democratic…”?
The article criticised a little aspect of IRI’s censorship on the websites to play down the nature of the regime in general and particularly against the whole media in Iran. Many “outsider”, not from opposition because they were long ago abolished newspapers are shut down and some of their journalists are in prisons. Some of them are facing heavy charges for “being the enemy of Islam”.
In 5 Aug. (IPS) The wave of executions in the Islamic Republic of Iranian has now reached the Iranian media, as on 16 July 2007, two Kurdish journalists, Mr. Adnan Hassanpour and Mr. Abdolvahed (Hiva) Boutimar were sentenced to death by an Islamic tribunal in Marivan, a Kurdish city in the north-west Iran.
Death sentence for “profane” writers and journalists is reminiscent of Khomeini’s death fatwa on Anglo-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie more than a decade ago. The two Kurdish journalists are in fact the first Iranian journalists being accused of “Mohareb”.
Last year, another IRI’s senior cleric, Sheikh Fazel Lankarani, issued a death fatwa on an Azeri journalist, Rafiq Taqi, because of his “profane” article “humiliating Prophet Mohammad”.
The article by considering the IRI a “legitimate, democratic…regime” is an insult and slap in the face of millions of Iranian who suffer from the totalitarian IRI.
The Islamic regime is ruled by a non elected supreme leader, Velayet e faghih and some pre-selected “insider” Islamists who are selected by the Council of Guardian for a show-election for all key positions.
The constitution and judiciary are based on the archaic Sharia, Islamic laws, allowing stoning, amputation, lashing and any humiliated act of violence, international recognised illegal.
Furthermore the IRI is a clear misogynous regime, where its female apologists have no more right than the half of that of a man only if they are clad in Islamic hijab.
I wonder if the article can also go further to recognise , Nazi regime or Apartheid regime “democratic and legitimate” regime.
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Jahanshah,
as long as people like Mullahs, clergies, muftis and so on are spending Iranian’s money to develop supporter (Islamic/fanatic) we will see lots of people who praise their dictatorship regime and their approach towards people.
Fariborz
I am shocked when some people irresponsibly, unwillingly or purposely pass a judgement on the IRI without seeing the IRI’s crimes on our people and its obvious illegitimacy.
Here, the media play a crucial role, we have to post materials to neutralise some IRI’s influential efforts in this site.
Jahanshah,
Agree.
Jahanshah:
try to be less foggy, more straightforward.
What sites does Bahrain block? and why?
A lot of news about Iran, its big brother policies, its anti-bahai stance etc.
How about spreding the butter evenly over the toast and giving other countries in the region the same attention.
You could start off with Bahrain, I am sure there lots to say there. *cough*
Really interesting all this about facebook banned in Iran. I didn’t know until a day ago when my friend, who is visiting her relatives in Iran told me that couldn’t have access to the site in Iran.
This seems to be kind of contradictory from what my friend has told me. However, its sad to see that a country that claims to be a free country, that has women rights and son on, really does this kind of things.
wow.
I am wondering if, after all these months since this post was published, Mohammad can still access Facebook?
Facebook is not filtered right now, but it is very common that the same website gets filtered and then it is not,there is not a specific guideline to make one understand why a website is filtered and why it is not. Flicker is filtered in Tehran, but in some cities down south one can view flter. I guess it also depends on the policies that the serevice providers have in mind to the costumers.
this is crazyness
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