14 DAY TRIAL // Iranian internauts rejoiced yesterday after realizing that the internet filter set up by authorities was lifted and they could benefit from the wonders of social media. Unfortunately for them and for the freedom of the internet, the miracle lasted only for about an hour, after which everything went back to normal.
The first tweets on the subject were not so ready to accept the fact, claiming that probably it's an attempt launched by the government to identify users who fight against the regime.
According to The Next Web, during this time, another strange thing that could be seen was the unavailability of HTTPS on many of the websites. Other bloggers quickly concluded that this might be an effect of an upgrading process that targeted the filtering system.
“Iran websites says there has been a ‘disruption’ in state filtering of the Internet,” a final post revealed.
It's still unclear which is the real reason for this temporary sense of freedom, but it's clear that the Iranian government is not going give more liberty to its citizens in the near future.
It's been a long time since Youtube, Facebook or Twitter were accessible to the people of this country and things seem to only get worse, as recently even virtual private networks were banned in Iran.
Eurasia Review recently quoted Reza Taghipour, Iran’s Minister of Communication and Technology, as stating “Blocking VPNs has nothing to do with the launch of a national network, and basically the use of VPNs is illegal.”
Lately we've seen a lot of countries making good use of filtering systems to keep their inhabitants in line. China and Syria are just a few examples of state authorities utilizing high-end filtering systems coming from the US and Europe, to make sure that no riots will be started using social media and no opinions other than the state's will be revealed.