You know, back in the old days of IR....

[Cain]

...Communism and Fascism used to be considered far worse than your garden variety tyrannies and absolute rulers of the past because of their totalitarian nature.  Instead of just seeking to keep control, they sought to dominate every day life and the perceptions of their subjects.  And because they emanated from particular nations who were willing to use revolutions and external force to spread their ideology, they were kind of akin to viruses.  If you, as a Communist, wanted to take over Cuba, you could petition the Soviet Union and recieve the entire machinery of state repression, on your doorstep and without the tedious effort of doing it yourself, like most ordinary tyrants. 

With that in mind, what are we to think of companies like Nokia or Google or Siemens?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html

The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.

Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections.

Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts.

The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finnish cellphone company, in the second half of 2008, Ben Roome, a spokesman for the joint venture, confirmed.

The "monitoring center," installed within the government's telecom monopoly, was part of a larger contract with Iran that included mobile-phone networking technology, Mr. Roome said.

"If you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them," said Mr. Roome.

The sale of the equipment to Iran by the joint venture, called Nokia Siemens Networks, was previously reported last year by the editor of an Austrian information-technology Web site called Futurezone.

The Iranian government had experimented with the equipment for brief periods in recent months, but it had not been used extensively, and therefore its capabilities weren't fully displayed -- until during the recent unrest, the Internet experts interviewed said.

Also bolding the final line.  I don't know how good Iranian network experts are, but I can't imagine them being any worse than anywhere else in the world.  If they were taken by surprise....well, all I'm saying is the only reason these might not have been used in other countries yet is that the reasons for needing to massively control what information people recieve are not currently necessary.

[Reginald Ret]

(...)
Also bolding the final line.  I don't know how good Iranian network experts are, but I can't imagine them being any worse than anywhere else in the world.  If they were taken by surprise....well, all I'm saying is the only reason these might not have been used in other countries yet is that the reasons for needing to massively control what information people recieve are not currently necessary.

That is the most depressing realisation ever.

Though now i think about it, i dont need to be told that allot of people have the mindset of a slave.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

(...)
Also bolding the final line.  I don't know how good Iranian network experts are, but I can't imagine them being any worse than anywhere else in the world.  If they were taken by surprise....well, all I'm saying is the only reason these might not have been used in other countries yet is that the reasons for needing to massively control what information people recieve are not currently necessary.

That is the most depressing realisation ever.

Though now i think about it, i dont need to be told that allot of people have the mindset of a slave.

"A lot".  Quit making the Queen of England cry.  For Chrissakes.

[Template]

(...)
Also bolding the final line.  I don't know how good Iranian network experts are, but I can't imagine them being any worse than anywhere else in the world.  If they were taken by surprise....well, all I'm saying is the only reason these might not have been used in other countries yet is that the reasons for needing to massively control what information people recieve are not currently necessary.

That is the most depressing realisation ever.

Though now i think about it, i dont need to be told that allot of people have the mindset of a slave.

"A lot".  Quit making the Queen of England cry.  For Chrissakes.

in before "don't tempt me".

[Requia ☣]

How exactly is Google involved in Iran?

[Template]

How exactly is Google involved in Iran?

It's not so much what they might have done there in particular as it is what they so fucking would do for the right price.  Remember when PRC got all those search companies to alter what services they provided in China?  Remember that?

[Requia ☣]

You mean how they passed a law saying that they had to do it and Google fought the law for three years and won a compromise solution?

[Template]

You mean how they passed a law saying that they had to do it and Google fought the law for three years and won a compromise solution?

I see.  I only had a few snippets of info on hand.  Could you toss me a good link?

I guess the matter of how much compromise is too much will have to wait for me to know more.

In any case, you get what you pay for from a free service.