

Iran says it will permanently shut down Gmail - dctoedt
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704140104575056972514372994.html?mod=djemalertTECH

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motters
The solution to this is technical. Countries like Iran or China can censor the
internet because users traffic goes through centralised bottlenecks called
ISPs. If we had longer range wireless networking, and enough people using it,
mesh networks could be created where there is no central point of weakness. In
such a network any attempt to censor individual nodes just gets routed around.

We need to be working towards a situation where this kind of internet
censorship is not just antisocial or unethical, but is also technically
impossible.

~~~
sz
Then the government outlaws such wireless nodes and threatens to kill off
anyone who has one. The nodes broadcast their presence wirelessly so they have
no difficulty tracking down the dissidents. After a few dozen people are
decapitated in public, civilians become too afraid to try anything. Wireless
mesh networks become a communication tool for rebels at best.

The solution is political, this is a technical workaround.

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JCThoughtscream
Oh man. So they have to up their censorship efforts while establishing and
maintaining a nationwide email system... and deal with the huge backlash when
those inconvenienced by the move (ie: damn near everybody that has a few
thousand emails and contacts already firmly entrenched in gmail) at the same
time.

I feel sorry for the folks that are going to be ordered to directly implement
all of this.

~~~
cmelbye
Definitely agree with the last part, especially since the penalty of
inevitable scalability problems will probably be something like jail or maybe
even death?

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bajsejohannes
I'm not sure if you are joking or not, but trust me, Iran is not _that_ bad.

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ashishbharthi
I dont see any point in blocking Gmail unless they have some issues with
Google like China. People will start using Yahoo or Hotmail or some mail other
service.

~~~
mikedouglas
Gmail uses SSL by default. Makes it a hassle to listen in on dissidents.

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gnosis
This couldn't possibly have anything to do with last week's announcement that
Google's going to be providing information to the NSA, could it?

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2010/02...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020304057_pf.html)

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ilamont
This will drive even more people to Twitter, social networking, and online
forums.

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bilbo0s
Not if they are blocked.

As the internet becomes more and more central to the dissemination of
information, I think it is more and more critical that there be some mutually
agreed upon 'neutral' channel for communication between people. Because the
alternative is that all access to very large and extremely important
populations is cut off from your message completely. For instance, non English
speakers in China, Indonesia, Iran, and Vietnam. The worst part about it is
that in the days of broadcast, you would just say OK, and proceed to have US
Government funded radio broadcast into whatever country. Fast forward to
today, and how many of those kids are walking around with a radio? Very few
probably.

~~~
mazuhl
Iranians are pretty sophisticated when it comes to finding ways around
government filters. I think the reason for the government banning access to
Gmail is Google's decision to switch to HTTPS for all users. That makes it
harder to spy on what people are emailing about. Do Yahoo and Hotmail use
HTTPS by default?

This probably makes the deep packet inspection the IRG have been accused of
much harder.

