What is even scarier is that this move may be the opening overture for the institution of Iran’s National Internet. According to government sources, this network will be entirely cut off from the World Wide Web and contain only government-sanctioned “halal” websites. This will drastically simplify the job of spying on Iranian citizens, who will no longer have access to services that have a vested interest in protecting the privacy of their clients.
If the National Internet of Iran goes online, it means that proud nation will now be included in the hallowed company of other bass-ackwards states that have cut themselves off from the rest of web civilization. Let us take a short tour of the economic powerhouses that have decided that the pesky World Wide Web is best left to the lazy, oafish Western Powers:
North Korea
In North Korea we have Kwangmyong (they have a name for everything over there!), the national intranet, which is free to the fine folks of that robust, economically-flourishing nation – provided they can someone get access to a computer and find a working power outlet to plug it into. To buy an hour of Intranet time at a cyber café in Pyongyang costs about half a day’s wages.
A very small group of North Koreans are allowed access to the true World Wide Web, but that is a privilege reserved for guys like Kim Jong-un, who needs to get in his WoW fix.
