Recently, BoingBoing readers inside Iran who work with internet service providers there told BoingBoing about a new law requiring bloggers (in fact, any website owner) to register their sites with authorities.
This week, the BBC's Persian news service talked to six Iranian bloggers about the move, which is widely seen as the latest attempt by the Iranian government to control the media. Here was the response from Tehran-based blogger Abolhassan Mokhtabad:
This law is about registering companies. But there is a difference between weblogs and companies. The government should trust its citizens and tolerate them.But concepts of trust and tolerance do not exist in the current government. The drive to curb the media started with the newspapers. Now they are widening the scope to include the internet.
The Iranian government should remember what is happening in China. Nearly 30 thousand people are currently employed to control Chinese weblogs. Beijing is spending a lot of money in controlling the flow of information.
This is impractical and impossible to do in Iran. It will also provoke even sharper criticism of the Iranian government.
Link (thanks, Cyrus Farivar)
Previously on BoingBoing:
