Iran’s Telecommunications Ministry announced over the weekend that it will begin screening mobile audio and video messages for “immoral” content matter. There no were details given on what techniques would be used to filter the messages, when screening would begin, or how “immoral” messages would be defined.
” … in order to prevent possible misuse of MMS, immoral actions and social problems, the Telecommunications Ministry will filter immoral MMS,” the television said.
Orders to conduct such privacy-intrusive activity came from the upper echelons of Iranian government, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, an organization set up in the aftermath of Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979. The council has instructed the ministry to purchase the equipment necessary to conduct such surveillance of its citizens.
And we thought big brother was only in the United States? This is another example of government censorship in Middle Eastern countries, where the ones who truly suffer are the civilians, held back from modernization due to their ruling elite. It’s truly a shame because I think if all countries were able to modernize to the level of the United States, the European Union, or the Asian Tigers, there would be a lot less violence in the world as countries would be more focused on mutual development and sustainment, rather than trying to control third world resources through force.