This is totalitarian genius at work. The telecom ministry has cut the internet connection speed to cafes and residences in half, offering no reason behind the move, but denied they were pressuring "opposition journalists, academics and students." At 128 Kbps, audio and video streaming becomes annoying, not impossible, but annoying. Iran can't control that most of the online media is in text with strange ideas of freedom of expression, celebrity news, and technological achievements. Luckily for Iran, the stories are in other languages than persian or arabic. Unlucky, for the totalitarian regime, is that internet media are full of accompanying pictures, audio bits, and video. Even if you can't understand the text, you can still look at a picture, a video, and appreciate a rockin' beat.
Dilbert will be the next Che!
These are all things that a government that needs to control a population should be worried about. Images and music, placed outside the proper context, in Iran's case, Sinful, might give people ideas, ideas that are not allowed. So, betting on the impatience of an internet surfer to lose interest in foreign websites which offer pictures, music, and video, the Iranian telecom industry is gambling on thought control. According to the story, businesses will not have their internet speeds reduced. Will the next wave of opposition originate from a cubicle farm?
You know, if Iran wants to regress to the Stone Age, we have faster ways to help get them there.
ReplyDeleteDude:
ReplyDeleteIf they insist on their own nuclear proliferation, we may not have a choice.