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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."
The old saying, "if it aint' broke don't fix it," seems to apply here. With no laws against pirating retail software, what would the advantage be to OSS? I know it wouldn't cost them any more, or less, so why change?
FisterBelvedere -- Putting a whole new meaning to "streaks on the china" since 1996.
It's interesting to see yet another government try to circumvent web sites that don't agree with their particular world view. And even better when the web-sites re-appear under different names. Sounds exactly like the situation in China. I wonder if the Iranian geeks are learning from what happened to the Falun Gong et al. They are obviously realizing that the filters are almost worthless to people who really want to get at the material.
However, I still think the filters are effective because they have a very powerful psychological effect. If the government says you shouldn't be viewing said material, and if caught(even though it's almost impossible to catch you, but how many people realize the true power of the government) there will be big trouble. Thus I think most banned sites just wind up preaching to the choir, very sad indeed.
For how long? The 'rulers' overthere just banned several THOUSAND canidates from the elections because they where too 'progressive'.
Once the hardliners regain control there is a good chance this trend will reverse itself.
My guess is pornography, but Allah may prove me wrong.
offtopic my ass! What do you think the fact that hardliners have taken over will do to those sprouting "internet cafes"?
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
In a big crackdown at the end of last year, hundreds of internet cafes were shut down and new rules introduced for new proprietors, requiring them to restrict customer's access to a long list of "immoral and anti-Islamic sites".
It's interesting how every country is trying to control the Internet and the flow of Information. Just isn't working, is it. (grin)
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It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Internet has evolved into a force strong enough to reflect the greatest hopes and fears of those who use it. After all, it was designed to withstand nuclear war, not just the puny huffs and puffs of politicians and religious fanatics. - Denise Caruso, (digital commerce columnist, New York Times)
It will be interesting to see if this continues. The reformist government is getting clobbered, and the hard-line clerics are prepping to take over in the next presidential election. Sad to see, but Iran may be getting ready to take a step backward. What will be interesting is to see what affect the internet does in fact have on this threat to their recent "freedoms".
It sounds like a great opportunity for open source software.
Speaking from personal experience from the good ol' Russia, I would disagree that open source software will proliferate. Strike it as flamebate, but given the choice of ANY software available for FREE (beer), the software that has the highest number of the most "common" applications will become ubiquitous. This means - everyone will have windows, photoshop, office plus whatever else that has high value, without any regards to price/advertising. Average Joe might not want to invest his time into less polished Linux for desktop, thus M$ is what everyone will have. Apparently, to the average consumer, the value of OSS is not stability or openness, but the word FREE.
<begin flame here>
I think that Iran would benefit from imitating India. Given the proximity to Dubai (*major* international trade center), educated population, loyal diasporia, etc. they could easily become a regional economic powerhouse. Several of my friends here in the US are Iranian, and most of them identify heavily with Persia/Iran even if they were born here. That population is among the hardest working and most educated per capita I've ever seen, if they are any indication of what their countrymen are capable of then Iran immediately after the revolution would be the Korea of 1970, the India of 1980, or the Japan of 1955.
As long as there is a Second Amendment, there will always be a First Amendment.
Does it even matter if they do use pirated software?
:)
They are not taking money away from the software publishers as most of the software is not allowed to be sold in Iran due to US export restrictions.
BTW It is much easier to download pirate software through P2P apps these days, than it is to find pirate software shops in asia. However, DVD copy shops are in plentiful supply and are very easy to come by
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
> Call open source the software of choice among
> terrorists. If it takes hold and any terrorists
> there get caught with it on their machines look
> for microsoft and the government to start pointing
> fingers.
You're not the first to say this, but it's one of the most idiotic arguments I've ever heard. I can't believe either Bush or Microsoft would push this line.
Have any terrorists been caught with Windows on their PCs? Are the latest breed of "computer terrorists" (aka virus writers) running Windows on their PCs? If the answers are "Yes" and "Yes", don't you think you could construct a counter argument that Windows is actually the terrorists' choice?
One of the first things the media would do with such an issue is to consult "respected FOSS spokesman (insert any of several names here)". Do you think Microsoft would risk that person pointing the finger of blame back at MS based on the above argument?
Equating FOSS with terrorism is both absurd and unrealistic.
I am pretty certain that most terrorists, mobsters and other criminals that get caught with computers are probably running Windows on their computers. Nobody ever says "Windows - it's the OS of criminals!".
The point is not that it is illegal to receive the software in Iran, but that it may be illegal to take part in trade with Iran if you are a company or citizen of the US or one of its allies.
On the other hand, if the current administration would recognise the effect these policies have been having (increased support for the Anti-US religeous right in Iranian politics), then perhaps they'll reconsider so as to allow the liberal reformers there to regain the ground they have lost in recent years.
I do understand that our administration would probably like to have a revolution occur there due to the hardships, but revolutions in that part of the world seldom result in anything other than religeous dictatorships.
Read, L
The hardliners are tremendously unpopular. If free elections were held, estimates are that the various reformist parties would've won a massive landslide of somewhere around 70-85% of the seats in parliament.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
They're supposed to be unbreakable, yet those in office are convinced that terrorists are using encryption. So the government has broken it, or are lying.
Well, they could know these groups are using encryption without actually having broken any particular message. For instance, they might have seized a computer and found a PGP installation on it.
My guess, though, is that the government angle is all spin. This makes it into the headlines for two reasons.
First, the government and government contractors are genuinely worried about encryption, because its use really does reduce their ability to eavesdrop. The issue of U.S. encryption policy was a major political issue throughout the 1990s, which reached ridiculous extremes with T-shirts with the RSA algorithm on them which were legally classified as munitions. Legislation is so unenforceable now that it would be hard to make it stronger, but the "threat" of terrorist use provides enough political weight to check any forward movement.
Secondly, the notion that terrorists are fully versed in all our Western skills, and thus may be able to exploit them to advantage against us, scares people and therefore resonates with them. Scaremonger broadcasters on local news stations live and breathe on this kind of stuff.
Maybe terrorists are using steg and crypto; maybe they're not. In either case, it's politically desirable for the government to claim they are, and for the media to report it.
Iran has a per capita GDP of USD 1800 (not adjusted for "PPP", which in itself is not exactly an uncontentious measure), yet the BBC's correspondent claims that access costs of 60 cents per hour are "well within the reach of the average person".
While access in (the comparatively affluent) Tehran province may indeed be growing rapidly, this is not where the bulk of Iranians live and therefore puts paid to any notions of rapid democratization of knowledge via the Internet - it seems more like a pastime for the urban elite ('twas ever thus).
Also note that all his "postcards from Iran" are in fact about Tehran. I think the BBC is in need of a major quality check. They're getting as bad as CNN.
Second of all, if the market for open source were limited to those who already knew about it, then open source could not grow.
Third, it seems clear to me that if officially registered software is, as a rule, not used, then open source would indeed have a great opportunity here.
Really? There isn't a cost benefit to using OS software when the alternative is bootleg commercial software. Both sell for the same price -- a dollar or two per CD. I think in Iran the government will not be in any hurry to let the BSA audit anyone.
No doubt for servers Linux and BSD have a major role, as everywhere.
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