Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Image source: Geotauaisay.com)
BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY
ANCHOR ZACH TOOMBS
Reuters is reporting Iran is set to block
access to Google and Gmail Sunday.
The agency quotes the Iranian Student’s
News Agency, which says the country is blocking access to Google because the anti-Islam film
that has brought protests all over the Middle East was first uploaded to YouTube. (Video:
Al Jazeera)
Iran blocked Google and YouTube once this
year already. In February it did so in anticipation of possible riots planned to mark the 33rd
anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
And in March, Reporters Without Borders put Iran
in its “Enemies of the Internet” list, noting... “Iran is now capable of blocking
https and the ports used by Virtual Private Networks.” VPNs had allowed Iranian Internet
users to bypass restrictions by making it look like the computer that’s accessing
a banned site isn’t coming from an Iranian network.
Back in early 2011, China also blocked Gmail and Google, as the Middle East uprisings began
to pick up steam. In a 2010 report, Google said one in four countries block at least
one of its services.
Google’s Transparency Report allows anyone
to check where and what Google services are blocked around the world. For a link to the
page, check the transcript.
SOC