Imagine receiving a text message saying that your Gmail is blocked. That is what happened to Iranians.
The link above is an article from BBC news informing that Google's search engine and Gmail has been blocked in Iran. According to the government Gmail does not satisfy Islamic Law and they "filtered it until further notice". The government claims that the people have asked for this ban because of a anti-Islamic movie "Innocence of Muslims" which was posted in Google videos.
Yet, many citizens told BBC that they were outraged. Here are some tweets that BBC posted against the ban:
"This is a pre-determined scenario to block Google in Iran, they wanted to do this since long time ago."
"Now they have found the best alibi to do it."
"Students and businesses use Google services the most. This self-proclaimed superpower is afraid of satellites, internet and people's consciousness."
However, it seems like other Iranians agree with the ban:
"Google has removed the name of Persian Gulf from its map and has banned users inside Iran to access many of its services because of sanctions," Faramarz, from Qazvin, wrote.
"Banning the service will bring some losses to Google, although not substantial. I agree with banning it."YouTube has also been censored in Iran since 2009.
There are two things that come to mind when I read this article. First, it is scary for me to see how a government can easily control what their people can and cannot see. The Web seems very easy to use, but it is also very easy to control. In the United States we often talk about how the censorship that happens in other countries and never wonder what happens here.
Yet, other communication platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. let the opinions of people within the country be known. I'm amazed how easy it is to get reactions from the public. Iran might have shut down Google and Gmail but the voices con or pro it are not being silenced. When no voices from within are being heard, that's when we need to worry.
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