There is no doubt that the internet has changed the world and is continuing to change it. The amount of information is limitless. The information is both good and bad. Anyone who is looking for something either good or bad can access it. This is definitely threatening to some people and countries. We know that China is particularly selective about which information Chinese may access with a censorship policy.
Iran, on the other hand, is taking a different approach and going deeper to find a solution to the problem. Guardian reports that Iran bans fast internet access to prevent the effect of the western culture. According to the news, there are about 5 million internet users in the country. The service providers are ordered to limit the connection speeds to 128 KB/s and they are forbidden to offer faster connection speeds. Looks like it is still not possible for governments to ban internet all together and the way to go is to make it more painful to access the information.
Techdirt points to the words of Homeland Security Secretary about how internet can help someone develop radical ideologies. Is this a sign that governments will start applying RIAA like actions on a different domain?
[tags] news, opinion[/tags]