Transcript (audio file available for download or play on Mianeh's
web site):
In
November, the Iranian authorities placed the video-sharing website YouTube on
the list of officially blocked sites, in a bid to stop people looking at it or
worse still, uploading their own images.
Despite
this, it seems likely that Iranians will try to find their way round the
obstructions as YouTube has become hugely popular in the country. Given that
television and radio are run by the government and the few foreign media
organisations allowed to film inside Iran tend to err on the side of caution,
video footage coming out of Iran is a rarity.
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The
decision to bar YouTube happened after a video clip apparently showing an
Iranian university official importuning a female student, and another one
showing a Muslim cleric with a woman, were posted on the site.
As well
as scenes that could embarrass such pillars of the establishment, the
authorities are more than likely concerned about political content, music videos
and pornography.
Scenes
showing confrontations with the police and events featuring critics of the
government can easily be recorded on a small camera or mobile phone and posted
on the internet. According to Mina, a women's rights activist, a day after an
altercation between a girl and Iran's moral police in Tehran's Haft-e Tir
Square, the images were available on the web.
At the
same time, the authorities may condone some of these video images as they serve
as a warning to others.
In recent
years, underground rap bands in Iran have been posting home recordings on
YouTube. These videos are immensely popular. For example, a song called
"Parmida" has been viewed on YouTube more than 120,000 times.
The
performers often take about the realities of life for young Iranians, including
such taboo subjects as alcohol and relationships.
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Internet
users are also curious about pornography, which is banned outright in Iran. In
late 2006, a private video purporting to show sexual scenes involving a
well-known Iranian TV actress caused a storm of controversy, with the internet
footage copied onto DVD and sold illegally inside the country.
In August
2008, the prosecutor's office set up a special task force to identify and deal
with websites deemed to be immoral. It was also announced that a special court
would be established to try internet-related offences.
"Some
pornographic and immoral websites have made the internet environment unsafe by
promoting incest and other despicable sexual acts, which have been a cause of
concern for families," said Tehran's chief prosecutor, Said Mortazavi.
In
mid-2008, a Tehran court official [simplified as we don't name the man and give
his court two different titles in one sentence] announced that four people had
been arrested for running immoral websites. He said the court was forced to act
because the sites could jeopardise the moral future of Iranian society.
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Free
speech advocates counter that the authorities are engaged in a wide-ranging
assault on new media, including restrictions on online writers and journalists.
Iran is
included in the latest list of countries described as enemies of the internet by
the Paris-based media rights watchdog Reporters Without Frontiers.
Before
YouTube was blocked, the main barrier for Iranians was the slow speed of their
internet access. The authorities placed restrictions on high-speed connections
for domestic users a couple of years ago. The most they are allowed is one
hundred and twenty eight kilobytes per second, and that option is very expensive
by local standards, at fifty US dollars a month.
Behrang,
a 24-year-old electrical engineering student, would be prepared to pay even this
price but says there are practical difficulties to be overcome. There isn't an
internet provider company in the area of central Tehran where he lives, while
other users find that their district lacks the right kind of phone lines, or
that they have to join a queue to apply for a high-speed connection.
Governments face many difficulties in trying to controlling websites whose
content is generated by the public. For the Iranian authorities, the simplest
way of stopping people looking at sites like YouTube is to block access
altogether.
Amir Mansouri is a journalist in Tehran
This
article is an abridged and translated version of the full original text
published on the Farsi pages of Mianeh, with editorial adjustments agreed with
the writer made to provide clarity for English-language readers.
About Mianeh:
Mianeh is a new independent
web-based initiative run as a project by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting
(iwpr.net) the award-winning non-profit media
development organisation that works across the globe to platform local voices
and promote international learning and engagement. Mianeh aims to be an open
space for ideas, news and debate where writers in Iran can reach out to each
other as well as to those outside the country who are interested in learning
more about the vibrant and dynamic society that is Iran today.
