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As far as the recent cable cuts go, what I am about to say is a conspiracy fantasy: I don't believe the U.S. is about to attack Iran. But if it were to do so, cutting off Internet might make good sense.

A couple of years ago, I attended a talk given by Iranian blogger Hossein Derakshan. He suggested that war with Iran would be much more politically difficult than the war with Iraq, because Iranian bloggers would tell the world about the suffering on the ground. And blogging is extremely popular in Iran. So, if the U.S. were to attack Iran, the aim might not be to censor what Iranians see of the rest of the world, but what the rest of the world sees happening in Iran.

There's some interesting discussion on Bruce Schneier's blog. I'm hoping Global Guerrillas will return to the topic also.

A few months ago Hossein Derakhshan made a visit to Israel. This means he probably won't be going back to Iran in the near future.

Based on the assumption that the information in the article at (http://hoder.com/weblog/archives/013115.shtml) is true, I think this kind of thing happening in the world should be a kick in the pants to democracies around the world; "Yes, look, it really does happen - some governments attempt to suppress the **FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION** between citizens and the rest of the world." Seeing this should make us ever vigilant with our own governments to make sure we never give them the power to censor us!

Canada recently concluded a supreme court case where the Little Sisters Bookstore fought the good fight and beat back the darkness http://www.littlesistersbookstore.com/court.asp

Americans, watch out for that Patriot Act! http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

Remember Jefferson: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!"

No, really. It is!

I highly recommend Hoder's blog about anything Iranian. He pretty much started blogging in Iran, and now there are a huge community of bloggers there.

I highly recommend Hoder's blog about anything Iranian. He pretty much started blogging in Iran, and now there are a huge community of bloggers there.

Well, yes, Iran has probably among the more vibrant blogging communities in the world. I follow a few Iranian blogs regularily. Hoder is a good starting point. And authorities are cracking down on it, pissing all the kids off. Iran is strange, on one hand, the majority of the people are highly educated, they understand democracy, and there are lots of good people in higher positions, in universities, for example. So, if one were to start a democratic revolution in the Middle East, what one should do is start cooperation with the progressive forces in Iran. Contrary to Iraq, you could actually come with a lot of support to people without aiding the mullahs. A good example of this is the CERN /Iran collaboration. With these forces gaining status and strength in society, a peaceful transition to democracy would be imminent. Many of these leading figures is of the clear opinion that current US policy has been a severe setback.

Well, yes, Iran has probably among the more vibrant blogging communities in the world. I follow a few Iranian blogs regularily. Hoder is a good starting point. And authorities are cracking down on it, pissing all the kids off. Iran is strange, on one hand, the majority of the people are highly educated, they understand democracy, and there are lots of good people in higher positions, in universities, for example. So, if one were to start a democratic revolution in the Middle East, what one should do is start cooperation with the progressive forces in Iran. Contrary to Iraq, you could actually come with a lot of support to people without aiding the mullahs. A good example of this is the CERN /Iran collaboration. With these forces gaining status and strength in society, a peaceful transition to democracy would be imminent. Many of these leading figures is of the clear opinion that current US policy has been a severe setback.

For those who haven't discovered, Iran has a very vibrant community of bloggers, for those interested, start at Hoder's blog.

I haven't had a lot good to say about the current US administration, but funding anonymizers is an excellent move, that may help a lot of people.

However, it may become a rat-race between the anonymizing services and the Iranian authorities, who will try to block it.

Any suggestions how the anonymizers will win that?

Also, when I renewed my EFF membership, the first thing I did was to drop anonymizer.com a note asking if it was anything they could do to undo the damage of the block.

I haven't had a lot good to say about the current US administration, but funding anonymizer for Iranians is a very good move, in fact, I think it is the best thing the US administration has done for Iran and iranians for a very long time.