Monthly Archives: November 2012

Iranian minister faces US sanctions for Internet censorship

Posted: November 9, 2012 at 11:41 am

The U.S. on Thursday said it ordered sanctions against Iran's Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Reza Taghipour, and other entities and persons responsible for engaging in censorship in their country.

Taghipour is blamed by the U.S. for ordering the jamming of satellite television broadcasts and restricting Internet connectivity, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of State.

Iran has for some time considered separating its own internal networks from the global Internet describing it as unsafe. Earlier this year, the Iranian Students' News Agency quoted Taghipour as saying that the Internet is an "unsafe network," and that Iran would use local software to create a national grid.

The Iranian government has also put restrictions on Internet users, according to civil rights groups.

Others sanctioned by the U.S. are Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and its Press Supervisory Board, which are said by the U.S. to have limited freedom of expression through their censorship and closure of newspapers and the detention of journalists. The Department of State said it is also designating key individuals and entities "responsible for assisting the regime in its crackdown on and censorship of the Iranian people."

The actions were taken under Section 403 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama in August, and executive order 13628, which Obama signed into effect on Oct. 9.

As a result of the action, "U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions involving the designated individuals or entities, and all designated individuals and members of designated entities are subject to a ban on travel to the United States," the Department of State said. The action also blocks, or freezes, the property and interests in property of the designated individuals or entities.

The U.S. has already imposed a number of sanctions on Iran in connection with its nuclear program, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. holds may lead to Iran building a nuclear bomb.

The sanctions on Thursday which target "individuals and entities who have engaged in censorship or other activities with respect to Iran on or after June 12, 2009" was included in one of three orders sanctioning a total of 17 individuals and entities, including those charged with terrorism and with proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

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Iranian minister faces US sanctions for Internet censorship

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US sanctions Iran over Internet, media censorship

Posted: at 11:41 am

Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship.

The move against Communications Minister Reza Taghipour came after he was blamed for ordering the jamming of international satellite TV broadcasts and restricting Internet access, a State Department official said.

The United States was determined to stop the "Iranian government from creating an 'electronic curtain' to cut Iranian citizens off from the rest of the world," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Four individuals and five bodies were placed under sanctions by both the State Department and the US Treasury for "censorship or other activities that prohibit, limit or penalize freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Iran."

They were also accused of limiting "access to print or broadcast media, including by jamming international satellite broadcasts into Iran," Nuland said in a statement, denouncing the "regime's insidious actions."

Internet users in Iran were temporarily unable to access their Gmail accounts from late September to early October.

Mohammad Reza Miri, a member of the telecommunications ministry committee tasked with filtering the Internet in Iran, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying that the Gmail block was an "involuntary" consequence of trying to reinforce censorship of Google's YouTube video-sharing site.

"Unfortunately, we do not yet have enough technical knowhow to differentiate between these two services. We wanted to block YouTube and Gmail was also blocked, which was involuntary," he said.

"We absolutely do not want YouTube to be accessible."

Iran has censored YouTube since mid-2009, after opposition demonstrators protesting the re-election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in polls they believed rigged started posting videos online of their gatherings.

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US sanctions Iran over Internet, media censorship

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Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney – Video

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Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney
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Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney - Video