The Web is abuzz today with posts reporting that Iran is developing “smart software” to restrict content on popular social networks – an alternative to the country’s current solution of blocking popular networks entirely.
The news, which was first published by 7Sobh Daily and Agence France-Presse and republished by TNW, reports that Police Chief Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said that “with intelligent control of social networks, not only will the disadvantages [of the social network] be avoided, but it will also allow people to benefit from their useful features.”
Iran's filtering systems and internet policing have remained a contentious issue, drawing comparisons to China's censorship techniques. Who believes that a censored Twitter is better than no Twitter at all?
This is the argument put forward by Ahmadi Moghadam, who says that “intelligent control of social networks is better than not having them at all.”
Our main concern lies in how well this filtering software will be able to work in practice, as popular networks do not seem willing to cooperate.
