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Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

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Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#241

Post by ReptileMan »

kumarvvr wrote: post #87

Good luck trying to take something back from the populace once already given for decades, even if it is in a limited form. It's a desperate attempt, that really shows how cornered the administration is. Any power that fears information, has to have a highly fine grained, high level control of information to maintain power. This is absolutely difficult, in a country as culturally diverse and with a long history as Ira…

>Good luck trying to take something back from the populace once already given for decades, even if it is in a limited form.

Like the right to not wear scarf? Seems they had the good luck with that one.

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#243

Post by ericmay »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #11
31337Logic wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you're right. It's totally fair to compare how the EU treats its people to how Iran is treating its people right now. Good job. :-/

I live in EU and I oppose internet cenorship, privacy invasion and many other bad things the governments have been doing for years now. I can't do anything about iran, i don't live there, neither does anyone else commenting here it seems... but many of us do live in EU, and are bothered by EU doing the same thing as iran, even if it's on a smaller scale (for now). You can't support censorship at home and then act out…

> I can't do anything about iran, i don't live there

You also don’t live in the United States, or in Israel or Palestine but folks tend to forget that it seems.

But you can do something anyway which is to be aware of the atrocities committed by Iran’s regime, make sure your government is aware of your opinion, you can protest outside the Iranian embassy in your country, help Iranian dissidents, help Iranians find sneaky ways to get internet access, &c.

I’m not expecting anyone to do those things but I find this “I don’t live there” argument continue to creep up whenever it comes to Iran but it never enters conversation when it comes to specific other countries.

> TLDR: if we're bothered by internet censorship, we should first stop at 'at home'.

Sure but you don’t have to focus on one issue at a time. Honestly resorting Internet access in Iran is probably more important than whatever rules and things the EU is implementing because in Iran people are actually dying and you can always change the EU rules back through democratic processes.

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#244

Post by DrScientist »

Nursie wrote: post #230
DrScientist wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, it’s not the same as suppressing that speech by taking someone and holding them in a secret prison for years and/or killing them. Sure. Though in the UK I give you Julian Assange - 5 years in BellMarsh, mostly in total isolation as if he was some major threat.

Sure, and his treatment has been awful in so many ways. I'm honestly not trying to defend any action by any state in this thread, I'm not trying to say that the UK is better than any other state. I'm not trying to make any point at all beyond using a specific example in agreeing with the comments above mine that "Everything is the same and comparable never mind how hyperbolic." But it seems to be construed as if I am…

The problem is you have to fight for these things every generation.

It's a mistake to take things like trial by jury, open justice ( not secret courts ), non-arbitrary detention, even regular elections for granted.

I totally agree with you that the UK is not Iran and there is too much hyperbole - but at the same time the current government is trying to criminalise legitimate protest, cancelling elections and trying to remove trial by jury for a substantial set of things ( the ultimate protection against an authoritarian state ).

As an example, it's very telling that the government ensured that in all the Assange legal proceedings it never went before a jury.

The current government creating all these precedents, in the shadow of the prospect of a potential Reform government is something I think we should all be concerned about.

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#245

Post by bluescrn »

walletdrainer wrote: post #10
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... EU already blocks eg. some russian sites (some countries more effectively than others)... plus all the chat control pressures every year. Spain is blocking whole blocks of internet during football matches. UK is making you "show your ID card" to jerk off. But every such country likes pointing fingers at others, "hey, our censorship is not bad, they have more of it!". edit: considering the downvotes, HN is n…

> UK is making you "show your ID card" to jerk off. There are no ID cards in the UK, so you actually have to get a special jerking off loicense.

> There are no ID cards in the UK

Not physical cards, but a digital ID system is on the way :(

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#246

Post by DrScientist »

alibarber wrote: post #211
DrScientist wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, but also absurd. The Scottish independence movement is a very strong, grass roots campaign that has been building for many decades ( pre-web never mind pre-twitter ), with the Scottish ambivalence to the Union having deep cultural roots. What keeps Gaza and the wider actions of the current Israel government in the news is the constant killings and injustices. If they didn't want to be in the news perhaps…

No I am absolutely not saying that. I am saying that there is evidence that the amount of media (and I am including X/Twitter and other social media) attention given to various causes around the world is actively manipulated. This is in response to a comment querying the perceived disparity in media coverage of events. Not that these events are or are not occurring or a more 'worthy' cause than one another. I very mu…

You talk about distraction - and I would argue that the article you are linking to is a distraction.

If you don't believe Iranian tweets are a major factor in Scottish independence - then why mention it?

And while I agree there is a lot of media manipulation attempts out there - I'd argue, if you take your Iran/Israel issue as an example - do you truely believe that Iran is outgunning Israel in this regard??

In terms of coverage - did this incident gget much coverage? https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260125-israeli-forces-ki...

In the 848 days since Oct 2023, 1109 people have been killed within the occupied terrorities by Israeli government forces or settlers.

That's more than 1 a day. Are you arguing that has disproportionate coverage?

I'd argue it hardly gets a mention.

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#247

Post by JasonADrury »

otherme123 wrote: post #154
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... EU already blocks eg. some russian sites (some countries more effectively than others)... plus all the chat control pressures every year. Spain is blocking whole blocks of internet during football matches. UK is making you "show your ID card" to jerk off. But every such country likes pointing fingers at others, "hey, our censorship is not bad, they have more of it!". edit: considering the downvotes, HN is n…

> Spain is blocking whole blocks of internet during football matches. Lets make this clear: "Spain" is not blocking, some ISP companies which have many users ask the judge for permission to block IP ranges because they are streaming football matches. The judge agrees (they don't seem to know how Cloudflare works), so the ISPs are the ones that are blocking their own users to access sites behind Cloudflare. As they ha…

This is not even close to true. The Spanish state is mandating that ISPs implement these blocks or face significant penalties, up to and including imprisonment of responsible individuals.

Yes, technically "Spain" is not blocking. ISPs are. It is however the armed agents of "Spain", who will come and violently lock you in a tiny room if you refuse to do as you're told. If you try to resist hard enough, they will simply execute you on the spot.

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#248

Post by bluescrn »

heraldgeezer wrote: post #187
jobgh wrote: post #12

No shot. The economy is already in the gutter. The productivity hit of a total internet cutoff would be a death sentence

No that is american propaganda. Glorious islamist economy is great! Look at ICE shootings instead.

And if you disagree you're a russian bot. But there wouldn't possibly be any middle-eastern bots spreading propaganda...

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#249

Post by baxtr »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #4
weikju wrote: post #2

… while every other country waits to see how it goes while drafting plans to emulate this

I mean... EU already blocks eg. some russian sites (some countries more effectively than others)... plus all the chat control pressures every year. Spain is blocking whole blocks of internet during football matches. UK is making you "show your ID card" to jerk off. But every such country likes pointing fingers at others, "hey, our censorship is not bad, they have more of it!". edit: considering the downvotes, HN is n…

Downvotes might happen because your comment reads one-sided.

What about Russia blocking sites?

As of late 2025 and early 2026, Russia has blocked numerous foreign communication, social media, and information services, restricting platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram (partially), Signal, Viber, FaceTime, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Many independent news, VPN services, and foreign websites (e.g., Chess.com) are also inaccessible

Re: Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only

#250

Post by [deleted] »

JasonADrury wrote: post #247
otherme123 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spain is blocking whole blocks of internet during football matches. Lets make this clear: "Spain" is not blocking, some ISP companies which have many users ask the judge for permission to block IP ranges because they are streaming football matches. The judge agrees (they don't seem to know how Cloudflare works), so the ISPs are the ones that are blocking their own users to access sites behind Cloudflare. As they ha…

This is not even close to true. The Spanish state is mandating that ISPs implement these blocks or face significant penalties, up to and including imprisonment of responsible individuals. Yes, technically "Spain" is not blocking. ISPs are. It is however the armed agents of "Spain", who will come and violently lock you in a tiny room if you refuse to do as you're told. If you try to resist hard enough, they will simpl…

[deleted]
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