Rapid Internet Growth In Iran

securitas writes "The BBC's Abbas Azimi reports on the rapid growth of the Internet and Internet cafes in Iran, apparently with the tacit approval of the government. Seven million Iranians have Internet access, or 10% of the population - double the rate two years ago. Access costs 60 cents/hour. The article describes how the Internet is used for everything from VoIP phone calls to chat and Web logs. Even Iran's vice-president has a daily blog on a popular site with 'musings about politics and life.' All of this despite the ban on many sites, which is easily circumvented by Iran's webmasters and geeks. An interesting point is that most of the PCs used in Iran are assembled from smuggled parts and run pirated versions of all the latest software (due to foreign embargo?). It sounds like a great opportunity for open source software."

Comments

Re:sneaky sneaky

[SuperJames_74]

Yeah, um, why don't you go smoke some more dope with your hippie friends, OK...? (j/k)

We've *got* networks and cross communications. What does this offer us? OH - the chance to offer assistance to a bunch of strangers that might/do hate us. Great. Let's jump right on that!

Not.

Re:Smuggled is a strong word

[shoolz]

Are you serious? When you leave your parent's basement one day and get out into the real world, you may eventually learn that people all over the world just want to lead a happy, fulfilling existence. Your comment has shown that your mind operates at the highest level of ignorance and intolerance. Shame on you.

Your marriage is doomed.

[DAldredge]

Your marriage is doomed unless you lighten up. He was joking. Damn, don't go off so quick next time or your wife will just leave your ass and take 50%+ of your stuff...

Re:Doesn't Really sound like a great place for OSS

[miu]

The mere fact that /. is a geek site, with, as a consequence, a huge majority of people that don't understand a thing about politics (something else than conspiracy theories, and republican-bashing ?),

Don't forget mindless Libertarianism and Republican cheerleading as common political stances adopted by the naive geek.

I'd vote Republican myself were it not for their unholy alliance with the cultural conservatives, but election year centrist soft pedaling aside the Republicans have become the party of hate.