Iran seen tightening control of Internet

Iranian authorities have tightened their control of the country's Internet connections, imposing stricter filtering of access to Web content over the last year, according to a study published Tuesday by The OpenNet Initiative.

The government has stepped up controls on content in Farsi, the language spoken by over half the country's 69 million inhabitants: content is now more likely to be blocked in Farsi than comparable content in English, the researchers found.

More blogs and pornographic sites are now blocked in Iran than a year ago, too, according to the study, although blocks have been removed from 10 sex education sites and eight sites showing "provocative attire." In addition, the authorities continue to block many sites dealing with gay, lesbian and bisexual issues, news in Farsi and opposition political parties, the study said.

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Iranian authorities have tightened their control of the country's Internet connections, imposing stricter filtering of access to Web content over the last year, according to a study published Tuesday by The OpenNet Initiative.

The government has stepped up controls on content in Farsi, the language spoken by over half the country's 69 million inhabitants: content is now more likely to be blocked in Farsi than comparable content in English, the researchers found.

More blogs and pornographic sites are now blocked in Iran than a year ago, too, according to the study, although blocks have been removed from 10 sex education sites and eight sites showing "provocative attire." In addition, the authorities continue to block many sites dealing with gay, lesbian and bisexual issues, news in Farsi and opposition political parties, the study said.

Researchers for The OpenNet Initiative tried to access hundreds of Web sites with sensitive content using Internet connections inside and outside Iran. By comparing the two sets of results, and other results obtained a year ago, they were able to track the evolution of government-controlled Web filtering and blocking in the country. They used a number of methods to monitor filtering from within Iran, including having volunteers install software on PCs there, dialing in long-distance to local ISPs and using Iranian Web proxy servers from outside the country.

Their tests concentrated on the networks two Iranian ISPs: Pars Online and Telecommunications Company of Iran.

Their work showed that the Iranian government relies heavily on SmartFilter software to censor content it considers undesirable. SmartFilter was developed by a U.S. company, Secure Computing of San Jose.

Secure Computing, however, said that it has not sold any licenses in Iran, and issued a statement Thursday denouncing any use of the company's software in the country. "We have been made aware of ISPs in Iran making illegal and unauthorized attempts to use our software. Secure Computing is actively taking steps to stop this illegal use of our products," according to a statement attributed by the company to John McNulty, Secure Computing's CEO.

The OpenNet Initiative brings together researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada, Harvard Law School in the U.S. and Cambridge University in England. Its goal is expose and analyze filtering of Internet content and surveillance of Internet use, and to promote better public policy in this field. It has also published reports on Net censorship in China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.