Iran Allows VPNs To Make Millions In Profit
New submitter Patrick O'Neill writes with this excerpt from The Daily Dot: Anti-censorship technology is de jure illegal in Iran, but many VPNs are sold openly, allowing Iranians to bounce around censorship and seemingly render it ineffective. Nearly 7 in 10 young Iranians are using VPNs, according to the country's government, and a Google search for "buy VPN" in Persian returns 2 million results. Iran's Cyber Police (FATA) have waged a high-volume open war against the VPNs, but it's still very easy to find, buy, and use the software. It's so easy, in fact, that you can use Iran's government-sanctioned payment gateways (Pardakht Net, Sharj Iran, Jahan Pay & Baz Pardakht) to buy the tools that'll beat the censors. To use these gateways, however, customers have to submit their Iranian bank account and identity, all but foregoing hopes of privacy or protection from authorities."
Christian Amanpour, a journalist, who visited her young relatives in Iran when journalists could finally return to Iran, talked with young relatives. She noted those young people just wanted to finish their education and get jobs, homes and families just like their relative who were in Europe; who they communicate with using VPNs, of course.
The young people in Iran are generally sharp and educated (more on VPNs than US kids) and they will eventually change Iran. Even the top leader recently noted they need to break up the monopolies in Iran (read controlled by the Republican Guard) so more innovation and business activity can grow & create more jobs.
Right now, many women in Iran, given half a chance, escape to Europe and never come back. Iran will change whether the Mullahs like it or not.