What does a repressive regime do to avoid free discussion?

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s internet service providers (ISPs) have started reducing the speed of Internet access to homes and cafes based on new government-imposed limits, a move critics said appeared to be part of a clampdown on the media.

An official said last week that ISPs were now “forbidden” by the Telecommunications Ministry from providing Internet connections faster than 128 kilobytes per second (KBps), the official IRNA news agency reported. He did not give a reason.

Internet technicians say speeds of 256 KBps, 512 KBps or higher are increasingly common internationally. Iranian surfers will now find it much slower to download music or anything else from the Web. Businesses have not been affected by the move.

Iran cuts Internet speeds to homes and cafes Reuters, Wednesday October 18, 03:41 PM

If the Internet provides a way to get around the traditional, and already controled, media, find a way to repress the Internet. Slowing it down is easier than censoring it. Continue reading →