TEHRAN — It is sometimes called Iranian porn.
It appears on certain Web sites that specialize in mocking the Islamic Republic's puritanism, featuring women with hair tumbling out of their head scarves or exhibiting deep décolletage at family gatherings.
Such sites have been officially labeled depraved recently, joining a host of other political, social and truly pornographic online destinations in Iran's first attempt to restrict Internet access.
"After the limitations put on newspapers and other mass media, they understand that people are looking for news on the Internet," said Reza Parisa, the director of an association of Internet service providers. "So of course, the government wants to limit access to the Internet, too."
But like much of the regulation in Iran, the line between what is acceptable and degenerate, legal and illegal, remains fluid, so the crackdown has prompted a cat-and-mouse game between the conservative hierarchy and Iran's younger generation, which is growing ever more technically proficient.
Even those who support filtering Internet content suspect that the effort is doomed, like earlier bans on videotapes and satellite television. The government is bound to lose, they say, as the almost 50 million Iranians under age 30 seek to have more fun.
"The intention is to filter or stop sites with immoral content or that contradict our social values," said Hussein Shariatmadari, the publisher of the newspaper Kayhan, which often reflects the views of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "In fact, these sites are readily available. It's like removing a ladder leaning against a building so a bird won't fly off the roof."
The crackdown started this spring with the arrest of a popular Internet journalist, since released on bail, and the distribution to Iran's 300 or so Internet service providers of three lists of sites to be blocked.
No service providers objected publicly to the first two lists, which contained over 100,000 pornographic sites originating outside Iran, Internet specialists said. But the third list, of about 94 sites, caused a stir because it contained a number of sites from both inside and outside the country that criticize the government on political and social grounds.
"To start with, they are focusing on pornography and Web sites that speak out against Islam and the mullahs," Mr. Parisa said. "The government is very sensitive about that."
It is particularly sensitive at the moment because some officials in the Bush administration and in Congress have vowed to underwrite efforts to destabilize the government. The ruling clerics have a history of limiting any liberalization at times when they feel threatened.
A sudden jump in Internet access over the last couple of years is believed to have made officials here more concerned about the Internet as a tool that could be used against them. Iran now has an estimated three million Internet users out of a population of around 65 million, Mr. Parisa said, the vast majority using it solely for e-mail and chatting.
Sites that mock the clergy — they might refer to a leading ayatollah as "His Mullah Highness" — are among the most popular here. One new site, set up outside the country by an exile political party, posts photographs contrasting the somewhat glamorous court of the late shah with the drab public face of the ruling theocracy.
"Beggers & Servants," reads the caption of one picture of clerics before the revolution. "Rulers and Masters," says the caption underneath the current ruling pantheon.
There has also been an explosion of Web logs. Service providers estimate that roughly 50,000 such personal diaries are published in Farsi, discussing topics ranging from art and movies, to music, computers and everything else. Web specialists say that among the 10 most visited sites, at least 6 either feature nudity or offer links to other sites that do.
One popular Web log, called Faheshe, or "whore" in Farsi, features the memoirs of a former prostitute detailing her downfall. The site also promotes links to interviews with other prostitutes, one saying that clerics tend to frequent the same women and that some give their patronage the patina of legality by reading the vows that Shiite Islam provides for short-term marriages.
None of the Web logs have been blocked thus far.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/international/middleeast/29IRAN.html?ex=1057464000&en=097ffe6270b21f85&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
It appears on certain Web sites that specialize in mocking the Islamic Republic's puritanism, featuring women with hair tumbling out of their head scarves or exhibiting deep décolletage at family gatherings.
Such sites have been officially labeled depraved recently, joining a host of other political, social and truly pornographic online destinations in Iran's first attempt to restrict Internet access.
"After the limitations put on newspapers and other mass media, they understand that people are looking for news on the Internet," said Reza Parisa, the director of an association of Internet service providers. "So of course, the government wants to limit access to the Internet, too."
But like much of the regulation in Iran, the line between what is acceptable and degenerate, legal and illegal, remains fluid, so the crackdown has prompted a cat-and-mouse game between the conservative hierarchy and Iran's younger generation, which is growing ever more technically proficient.
Even those who support filtering Internet content suspect that the effort is doomed, like earlier bans on videotapes and satellite television. The government is bound to lose, they say, as the almost 50 million Iranians under age 30 seek to have more fun.
"The intention is to filter or stop sites with immoral content or that contradict our social values," said Hussein Shariatmadari, the publisher of the newspaper Kayhan, which often reflects the views of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "In fact, these sites are readily available. It's like removing a ladder leaning against a building so a bird won't fly off the roof."
The crackdown started this spring with the arrest of a popular Internet journalist, since released on bail, and the distribution to Iran's 300 or so Internet service providers of three lists of sites to be blocked.
No service providers objected publicly to the first two lists, which contained over 100,000 pornographic sites originating outside Iran, Internet specialists said. But the third list, of about 94 sites, caused a stir because it contained a number of sites from both inside and outside the country that criticize the government on political and social grounds.
"To start with, they are focusing on pornography and Web sites that speak out against Islam and the mullahs," Mr. Parisa said. "The government is very sensitive about that."
It is particularly sensitive at the moment because some officials in the Bush administration and in Congress have vowed to underwrite efforts to destabilize the government. The ruling clerics have a history of limiting any liberalization at times when they feel threatened.
A sudden jump in Internet access over the last couple of years is believed to have made officials here more concerned about the Internet as a tool that could be used against them. Iran now has an estimated three million Internet users out of a population of around 65 million, Mr. Parisa said, the vast majority using it solely for e-mail and chatting.
Sites that mock the clergy — they might refer to a leading ayatollah as "His Mullah Highness" — are among the most popular here. One new site, set up outside the country by an exile political party, posts photographs contrasting the somewhat glamorous court of the late shah with the drab public face of the ruling theocracy.
"Beggers & Servants," reads the caption of one picture of clerics before the revolution. "Rulers and Masters," says the caption underneath the current ruling pantheon.
There has also been an explosion of Web logs. Service providers estimate that roughly 50,000 such personal diaries are published in Farsi, discussing topics ranging from art and movies, to music, computers and everything else. Web specialists say that among the 10 most visited sites, at least 6 either feature nudity or offer links to other sites that do.
One popular Web log, called Faheshe, or "whore" in Farsi, features the memoirs of a former prostitute detailing her downfall. The site also promotes links to interviews with other prostitutes, one saying that clerics tend to frequent the same women and that some give their patronage the patina of legality by reading the vows that Shiite Islam provides for short-term marriages.
None of the Web logs have been blocked thus far.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/international/middleeast/29IRAN.html?ex=1057464000&en=097ffe6270b21f85&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
