Iran building a private, isolated Internet, but can it shut out the world?
Posted in: Government & Policy at 11/04/2012 17:21
Can a country succeed in building its own Internet, essentially a nationwide intranet cut off from the rest of the online world?
That could be what Iran is planning to do, in an effort to create what's been called a "Halal" Internet free of what it deems offensive content and Western influence, and on which it would be easier to identify and track users.
To read this Government Computer News report in full, see:
gcn.com/articles/2012/04/10/iran-building-separate-isolated-internet.aspx
Also see:
Why Iran May Never Create a "Closed Internet"
Will Iran shutting down global Internet connections by August--as has been widely reported in recent days--and create a "clean Internet" that only dishes up government-controlled content and government-run email?
There are indications these reports are based on a hoax, or at best reflect some misunderstanding of what was reported by internal news services in Iran. Either way, the Iranian regime is clearly a leading Internet repressor, made even more paranoid by events in Egypt and Tunesia. So the reports raise the question of whether such a draconian move is actually possible.
www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/27718/
