Iran to ease Internet censorship

Iran plans to loosen Internet censorship by introducing “smart filtering” which only keeps out sites the Islamic government considers immoral, Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said on Wednesday.

Internet use is high in Iran, partly because many young Iranians turn to it to bypass an official ban on Western cultural products, and Tehran occasionally filters popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Censorship has eased somewhat since Hassan Rouhani was elected last year on a moderate platform the “smart filter” initiative seemed to reflect, reports Al Arabiya.

“We have signed agreements with three universities and research institutes to develop smart filtering to block only depraved and immoral sites, but allowing access to other pages,”

Vaezi said, without naming the organizations involved.

“Smart filtering is used for specific targets only and presently the project is undergoing experiments,” he was quoted by Mehr news agency as saying to journalists.
 
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