Iranians Stucks with 128 kbps Net Limitation

After appearing to be the dictatorship most ready to embrace the Internet (remember how Iran's ex-Vice-President was blogging years ago?), Iran is tightening the screws and constraining the pipeline. A new regulation caps Internet connection speeds for all private Internet connections. In other words, if you're not a government line, it's slow going. j|turn makes an astute point about this restriction:

I do not believe the only reason for this ban is to stop the influx of western culture. I think it is also (another) way of shortening the leash for freedom of speech inside Iran.

The Internet is a wonderful medium, and one I personally believe is excellent for the promotion of democracy, simply because it is inherently symmetrical. What I mean by that is that those who can receive can also transmit. This argument is well known though the debate of Net Neutrality in the United States (not so much in Europe). Anyone can set up a server and make just about anything available to a global audience. The Iranian imposed limit, however, effectively removes the opportunity to do so. You cannot run much of a web server on 128 kbps ADSL. Not if your intention is to get read. Also, you can’t set up TOR-nodes to hide behind with only that amount of bandwidth to spend.

The regime probably knows that this ban force people to use one of its authorized servers if they want to publish a blog or a forum. And these servers are so much easier to control. My point is that democracy builds on participation. If you can’t, for example, organize a strike or discuss political issues with your extended network, there will be no democracy...

Comments

[air jordans]

What makes the private gathering particularly unusual is that it united not only activists from a range of political ideologies, but also from the external and internal opposition.

[moncler jackets]

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