[governance] FW: [liberationtech] Telecommunications minister has ordered the use of domain names ending with .ir" belonging to Iran

[michael gurstein]

-----Original Message-----
From: liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu
[mailto:liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu] On Behalf Of SiNA Rabbani
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 3:05 PM
To: liberationtech at mailman.stanford.edu
Subject: [liberationtech] Telecommunications minister has ordered the use of
domain names ending with .ir" belonging to Iran
...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jzh5OHjE_YOFj7PeAz8thcxLD
XHg

> TEHRAN - Iran's telecommunications ministry has barred local banks, 
> insurance firms and telephone operators from using foreign-sourced 
> emails to communicate with clients, a specialist weekly said on 
> Saturday.
> 
> "The telecommunications minister has ordered the use of domain names 
> ending with .ir" belonging to Iran, Asr Ertebatat reported.
> 
> The order prohibits banks, insurance firms and telephone firms using 
> foreign hosts for their sites or to inform their clients using foreign 
> providers such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail or MSN, it said.
> 
> The weekly said that individuals seeking to communicate with such 
> firms must now use email addresses ending with iran.ir, post.ir or 
> chmail.ir.
> 
> Entities linked to the Iranian government must use addresses ending in 
> gov.ir or .ir, while universities should use emails ending in ac.ir or 
> .ir, the report added.
> 
> Iran has announced that as of May a national information network will 
> be used to replace the Internet in the daily management of the 
> administration of state entities, the banking system and public 
> enterprises.
> 
> Officially, the launch of the "Iranian Internet" aims to secure 
> communications by making them independent from foreign Internet 
> operators.
> 
> Iranian authorities announced in December having repatriated 90% of 
> official websites and encouraged Iranian companies to do the same.
> 
> For the past two years, Tehran has been slapped with Western economic 
> and financial sanctions due to its controversial nuclear programme.
> 
> The regime also regularly accuses the West of using the web for an 
> "undeclared war" to destabilise it, and Telecommunications Minister 
> Reza Taghipour has argued that Google and Yahoo posed a "threat to 
> national security."
> 
> With over 36 million Internet users out of the population of 75 
> million, electronic media played a major role in the popular protests 
> which rocked the country after the disputed re-election of President 
> Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
> 
> The authorities have since cut off or reduced Internet connections and 
> speed.
> 
> The telecommunications ministry in April, however, denied that the 
> authority has decided to cut outside Internet connections to support 
> the development of Iran's own intranet.
> 
> Earlier this year, access to foreign-sourced emails was cut without 
> explanation, disrupting the operations of many companies and millions 
> of Iranians while prompting sharp criticism within the regime.
> 
> Since the unrest of 2009, authorities have sharply reduced the 
> available bandwidth of the Internet and blocked access to tens of 
> thousands of foreign websites, including opposition sites.
> 
> US President Barack Obama on March accused Iran of imposing an 
> "electronic curtain" of censorship, announcing steps to use software 
> and social media to help Iranians communicate online.



-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t