Slashdot points to an interesting article on US funding Internet anonymizers to allow Iranians to communicate with the outside world. The system has instructions in Farsi and allows Iranians to browse the web free of government censorship.
Whoever is doing this deserves a big raise. This is exactly what we should be doing – giving the people of Iran the tools to resist the oppression of the mullahs. This invaluable window to the outside world gives hope to thousands of Iranians who would otherwise not be able to communicate with the outside world.
By giving the Iranian people the tools to see the outside world and communicate with each other it will help in the creation of a free and democratic Iran. This is a government program that does what it should do, and this is one function of government I’d be proud to support.
allows Iranians to browse the web free of government censorship.
That sounds really cool. Maybe they’ll try that here in America.
Chet, are you off your medication again?
There is no government censorship of web traffic in America. There is no national filter, no national firewall, no committee of censors.
This is why the left isn’t being taken seriously, because when confronted with real totalitarianism they instinctively have to say that America is no better – even when such an argument is absolutely idiotic. If you think that the system of government-run censorship in Iran is even remotely like the completely open system we have in the United States, then you’re not only wrong, but massively so.
There is, however, a considerable amount of corporate censorship going on. If you don’t believe me, google for “Scientology”, for instance. And it’s all being accomplished with things like the DMCA and other trash legislation.
Needless to say the effect is the same.