Iran's Internet Filters Filter Out Leader's Screed Against Getting Around Filters

from the shouldn't-a-lightbulb-be-going-off-somewhere? dept

Well this would be funny if it weren't so sad and didn't involve mass censorship. Iran has been getting a lot of attention lately for its plans to increase its internet filtering -- and potentially even set up its own "safe" (read: heavily monitored) local internet. For now, as the filters have been going up, apparently lots of sophisticated internet users in Iran have been figuring out how to get around them. No problem. Iran's "supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei simply issued a "fatwa" against using anti-filtering tools -- and that was published to the web.... where it was promptly filtered. Yes, you read that right. His attack on anti-filtering technology was itself a victim of the filter -- such that you couldn't read it unless you were using anti-filtering technology (the same technology the fatwa was condemning).

Apparently this happened because (of course) Iran's internet filter is so ridiculously unsophisticated that it works based on keywords -- and the mere mentioning of anti-filtering software likely set off the filters. Of course, while you might hope this would lead to a realization that such filters are not a good idea, somehow I doubt there will be any such epiphany.

Filed Under: ali khamenei, censorship, fatwa, internet filtering, iran