U.S. Authorizes Sales of American Communication Tech To Iran 108
An anonymous reader writes "A report at SF Gate notes that 'The United States has lifted portions of two-decades-old sanctions against Iran in an effort to bolster communication between the country's citizens — and potentially aid organization against a repressive Iranian government. Thursday afternoon the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control authorized the sale of hardware and software that pertain to the Internet, instant messaging, chat, e-mail, social networking, sharing of media, and blogging — basically, all things digital. The Treasury Department wrote, 'As the Iranian government attempts to silence its people by cutting off their communication with each other and the rest of the world, the United States will continue to take action to help the Iranian people exercise their universal human rights, including the right to freedom of expression.'"
I wonder... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)
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Do you have to pay extra to not have Stuxnet installed out-of-the-box?
Not if you accept advertising.
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Why is it in Iran that Human Rights always seem to be wrong?
Chop spending on missiles and Photoshop artists, not heads!
Iran is a granola dictatorship: our leaders are nuts and flakes
The fine print... (Score:5, Funny)
>> U.S. Treasury Department: "universal human rights, including the right to freedom of expression"
The fine print: "...unless you advocate the rule of law based on the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights."
Infiltrate! (Score:5, Funny)
You do realize this is simply a cold hearted attempt to bring Iran to it's knees. Hear me out ....
- Iran is subjected to crushing economic sanctions. Their economy makes Newark, NJ look like a paradise on earth.
- Now, Apple and Sony can dump their high priced, effete toys on a naive, unsuspecting populace.
- Billions of dollars flow outward from the Iran economy which, heretofore, had been largely supported by itinerant photoshop interns.
- Profit
- Iran collapses in a heap of shiny trinkets!
USA! USA! USA! (oh, and China...)
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If you take away the commercial aspect, that is pretty much what they want to happen.
They want the Iranians to see that not everyone lives in a medieval theocracy. Also, they want people to see that the US is not their enemy and that their leaders are messing with them and denying them liberties they could be having.
The hope is that they will then see who the real enemy is: their own government.
Of course, the shiny trinkets thing is also a distinct possibility too.
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They want the Iranians to see that not everyone lives in a medieval theocracy.
This from an American? Priceless.
Re:Infiltrate! (Score:4, Informative)
Forget the recent invasions of other countries, the US destabilized a democratic government and installed their own puppet dictator in Iran just over thirty years ago.
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"Forget the recent invasions of other countries, the US destabilized a democratic government and installed their own puppet dictator in Iran just over thirty years ago."
The coup against Mosaddegh was 60 years ago, not 30 (1953). Also, the dictator (the Shah) was already there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax#U.S._role [wikipedia.org]
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Whoops, you're correct. It was the Iranian people overthrowing the US puppet thirty years ago. I have coffee now.
The Shah wasn't a dictator any more than Queen Elizabeth II is a dictator. Iran was a constitutional monarchy (just like Canada and the UK), ruled by an elected parliament. Your own link says that the Shah fled the country during the coup because he was afraid the public would take a dim view of his actions, and only came back after the CIA had mopped up, and an American general had been disp
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Re:Infiltrate! (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yes, it was the '50s when the CIA kicked out the democratically elected government and installed their puppet, not the '70s.
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Yes, it would've been better to leave them to the Russians like with Syria and Iraq because they obviously became such Western loving bastions of freedom in the middle east.
It's quite possible that whatever happened it would've ended up a hatred filled shit hole. The absence of American interference doesn't always inherently lead to a peace loving forward thinking progressive nation, it's quite possible that it can be just as bad regardless.
You can certainly pin the blame for the way Iran turned out on Amer
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They want the Iranians to see that not everyone lives in a medieval theocracy.
Guess what? They *already fucking know that* --- and they know the *reason* they are living in a medieval theocracy is American interference blowing away their secular democracy and installing a brutal right-wing dictatorship that made theocracy look like a good choice in comparison. You're an ignorant condescending prick if you think Iran isn't already a modern, technologically savvy country filled with people who know what's going on in the world (probably much better than Fox-News-watching Americans). Th
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Wrong time period.. don't you know about Mossadegh?
Okay, back in the 50's the Iranians basically put a social-democratic secular government in place who wasn't going to let US companies just exploit Iran without fair compensation and Iranian ownership of the resources.... US businesses were upset so they complained to the US government. Eisenhower got the CiA to give US corps what they wanted, The Shah who would let US corps do whatever as long as he got a cut. Cue 20 plus years of right-wing dictatorshi
Here's what happens with oppressive governments (Score:2)
Re:Infiltrate! (Score:4, Informative)
...and they know the *reason* they are living in a medieval theocracy is American interference blowing away their secular democracy and installing a brutal right-wing dictatorship that made theocracy look like a good choice in comparison.
I doubt that many Iranians share your ignorance on the matter. If you know much at all about the history there, you know that the so-called secular democracy that was replaced consisted solely of the former Prime Minister who had dissolved parliament, was ruling by decree indefinitely, faked an election, and resisted the sole remaining check on his power - the right of the constitutional monarch to dismiss the Prime Minister. What you refer to as "democracy" was a simple dictatorship at that point. The real coup in Iran was the Prime Minister overthrowing the government. The counter-coup was restoring, not "instilling," the Shaw to power.
The Iranian people have clearly learned from the mistake of instilling the Ayatollahs into power, but the problem is remedying that. They ended up there in no small part due to the common interest that Muslim peoples have in instituting Islamic Sharia law, which they believe will resolve the common cultural problems in those regions, such as corruption. Unfortunately, it never really works out that way in the long term.
The Iranian people are just smart enough to know that welcoming Western megacorporate colonial oppression isn't the best solution to their "we have a sucky government" problem
That is nonsense beyond your bad history above. Corporations perform economic functions, not governing functions. They build trucks, mine ore, refine gasoline, can food, transport goods, run airlines, all that sort of thing. They don't elect governing legislative bodies, make laws, prosecute criminals, or make government policy. Economic activity versus government activity - they are different activities carried out by different groups in society. Although to truly prosper, a nation needs to get both activities right.
they've seen what partnering with America does to all the other countries we fuck over in the name of "economic liberalization".
It would be a shame if they turned out as well as Germany, Japan, Italy, South Korea, or various other countries, wouldn't it? Iraq would be in much better shape if Iran wasn't shipping arms to Iraqi Shia militias and using their Revolutionary Guards Quds Force (Special Forces) to stir the pot. That is part of the "sucky government" problem you refer to, and it bleeds over into other countries.
You're an ignorant condescending prick
I think you might be surprised to find out how big that club really is.
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Maybe I'm just being cranky, but it's depressing that in that case, liberties=internet chat.
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Oh boy....
How much do you know about a country which has 2.5 million university students (around 40,000 PhD candidates) and 11+ million university graduates and had a ranking of 17th in scientific products in 2011 (15th in 2012 ahead of Russia) : http://www.scimagojr.com/countryrank.php?area=0&category=0®ion=all&year=2011&order=it&min=0&min_type=it [scimagojr.com]
Last October when I visited Iran almost all of the middle class engineers I met had an iPhone, Galaxy S3 or something like that. Street
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Not to mention the last time they had a democracy we murdered their leader and forced in the Shah so BP could get cheap oil on the backs and blood of all those murdered by our dear beloved puppet the Shah.
Your history is way off there. The so-called secular democracy in Iran at the point in question consisted solely of the former Prime Minister who had dissolved parliament, was ruling by decree indefinitely, faked an election, and resisted the sole remaining check on his power - the right of the constitutional monarch to dismiss the Prime Minister. What you refer to as "democracy" was a simple dictatorship at that point. The real coup in Iran was the Prime Minister overthrowing the government. The counter-c
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With respect to whatever you actually know of other topics, it's still not safe for mining exploration there and it was found decades ago (before 1980) by a Russian survey so you are very wrong in this case. What was new is a Russian company with the survey data attempting to do a deal with a US company so it came to the attention of the US press a few years ago.
As for your bits about Iran - no matter how flawed things were back then they haven't had anythi
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I'm still getting astounded by little bits of history resurfacing like CIA involvement in a bomb blast in Italy in 1969 - they really were completely out of control for a while.
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I am still waiting to know exactly how SAVAK spilled blood though. There is, sadly, a lot of FUD abot SAVAK, especially for foreigners. Have you forgotten that the winners write history?
Once again, do not misunderstand me. They were not saints, but no in
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Which raises the question here, what exactly is your motivation for such revisionism? Why are you pushing this line so hard in opposition to general knowlege and now history? What exactly is this revealing about your nature and morality?
There's a book called "Animal Farm" by George Orwell that has some messages for you presented in an unsubtle way.
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News is not always a good source sadly. Many things have been in the news, but the truth has later came out. Let me give you an example. During the revolution, someone locked the doors of a Cinema in Iran (Cinema Rex) and put it to fire. Everyone inside it died and they could not escape. Everyone blamed it on the Shah. Years years years later, despite "general knowledge" as you say, and despite news saying it was the Shah, it was revealed that
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Funny really, but that's an extremely good example of revisionism done in the 19th century right there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth#.22Myth_of_the_Flat_Earth.22_in_modern_historiography
Also piss off with your "winners write history" bullshit, since it's too recent to even be history and your cherrypicked example from when it was all over.
The Shah was a monster. Wh
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Winners do write history, two posts above you wrote that "history" says so - now it's too recent to be history? History does not have to 1000 years ago. What happened yesterday is history.
Do you even know what you are doing? You are so damn close m
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"Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to H
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It's not really worth picking over the trash when your major premise is that I'm a liar.
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The imperialists, back when the UK and USA acted a lot more like Empires than they do now, put the Shah on his throne FFS! Are you doing this backwards bullshit deliberately or are you really that stupid?
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Perhaps you should consider that you may be incorrect on other matters. Maybe talk to somebody that was i
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They did not put the Shah on his throne. What they did was forcing his father [Reza Shah the Great] to abdicate - again, imperalists.
Even today you are imperalists. But you don't have the balls to say anything about USA or UK, much worse than the Shah. Only reason for that is probably because you have the same imperalist thinking in your head and want to bash on other nations who challanged yours.
Also stop posting multiple replies when you are mad. Put it i
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I've wondered all along whether you are just pretending to be stupidly obnoxious to get a reaction but have played along because I'm curious as to whether you really do believe the shit you are spreading.
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I came back to ask you if you are going to call the leaders of USA monsters as well.
See for example just today, http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/06/06/0140252/verizon-ordered-to-provide-all-customer-data-to-nsa [slashdot.org]
I wouldn't be surprised if other things are saved as well. Facebook posts, emails, website history. Huge databases of everything about you, your political opinion etc probably even exists too. When they are collecting it all, and lying that they are not...especially in a "democratic natio
Trying to change the subject is evasion (Score:2)
Is this some sort of high school mass debating game?
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Iran is an interesting place politicially, more of an attempt to be benevolent but stifling "nanny state" than medieval, but most definitely a theocracy despite the bleatings of their loud idiot puppet president. Due to the vast majority of the population being young and control being currently in the hands of old men it's
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a repressive Iranian government. (Score:1)
Change that to "a repressive government". No need for the US, of all places, to single out Iran, unless of course, you're trying to sell a war.
A Welcome Move (Score:2, Informative)
As an Iranian I see this as a very positive development.
The computing technology sanctions were doing exactly what the Iranian regime wants, that is to prevent average Iranian from uncontrolled access to information. They filter the web, ban VPN services, limit home Internet access to a maximum of 128Kbps. When people are already sanctioned by their own government, better not to add to that.
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"As an Iranian I see this as a very positive development."
You'll get an iPhone while Apple gets all your money and will pay 2% taxes in Ireland.
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As an Iranian I see this as a very positive development.
The computing technology sanctions were doing exactly what the Iranian regime wants, that is to prevent average Iranian from uncontrolled access to information. They filter the web, ban VPN services, limit home Internet access to a maximum of 128Kbps. When people are already sanctioned by their own government, better not to add to that.
One thing that I'd be more than a trifle concerned about is exactly which American tech outfits are lining up to do some exportin'...
We certainly have some fine folks on Team Freedom; but we also have a massive list of spook shops and 'lawful intercept' outfits who are delightfully service oriented when it comes to assisting customers with achieving their compliance goals, so to speak...
I'm all for Iranian citizens getting tor and PGP and friends; but I wish them luck when their government responds by inkin
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How does this solve anything? (Score:1)
All of this is rather
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They already have those, as stated in another post. In fact, their MITM attacks are so sophisticated, certain attacks directed at specific targeted individuals have used certificates obtained (at considerable cost) via the compromise of certification authorities, if you recall - notably DigiNotar, although three others have been involved to date, one of which is widely-affiliated.
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I was reading an opinion piece which I cannot find now, but they suggest that the reason is more or less to make throw away technology available to get around liabilities due to that kind of thing.
I guess the underlying root of this is that Iran had an election a few years ago where smart phones and wifi relays were used by people to contest the elections and report on what they seen. Trying to flood the market with cheap as well as expensive technology will make the government's job of sniffing on these ac
Why on earth would they take it? (Score:3)
Particularly after what we did to Saddam's folks with IT equipment in the first Gulf War...
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Blue Coat will never be approached, as they sell their product to the US Government for use in many three-letter agencies. Either the US Government is forcing Blue Coat to have a back door, or the USG doesn't want Blue Coat to pull their license for 90% of government firewalls.
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for this to be effective... (Score:1)
They're going to have to allow the export of high-grade encryption to Iranian customers. Otherwise they're just inviting the regime in Tehran to oppress anyone who tries to use this technology for the purposes specified in the OP...
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Iranian IT Correspondence (Score:3, Funny)
To: Cisco
From: Iran
Subject: OMG HELP!
Body: Dear kind sirs of Cisco,
My name is Barrister Allahu Akbahara Salami Mozambique. I am trying to install your router system here in order to oppress my population in the name of Allah. However, I have been trying to change the root password for your switch. Whenever I try to telnet into it, the welcome message says "America, Fuck Yeah!" and plays a strange intro song. At the same time, all of the webcams, printers, faxes, document scanners go completely haywire and my network traffic spikes.
Also, I have a large inheritance that I believe is meant for you. Could you send me your bank account information so that I may deposit a sum of 89 billion rial ($18 US) into your account?
Yours in kind regards,
Barrister Allahu Akbahara Salami Mozambique
Re:Iranian IT Correspondence (Score:4, Informative)
I am trying to install your router system here in order to oppress my population ... the welcome message says "America, Fuck Yeah!"
Um, no, it's Cisco [wired.com].
"We'll send you an invoice."
Stux 2 and add potential eavesdropping capability? (Score:2)
Stuxnet Part Deux and add potential eavesdropping capability?
Hmmm... One would think the ability to insert more eavesdropping and spying capabilties ("hidden features? :>) ) may be more the reasoning behind something like this. Perhaps another bonus gift inserted into the software, hardware, or microcode, like Stuxnet [wikipedia.org] did?
Israel has some Shin Bet cell phones to export (Score:2)
They have a big bang for the buck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash [wikipedia.org]
They would love to see high level Iranian officials using their products.
Just go ahead and run it (Score:2)
Please, just install it. No you can't examine the source code. Just run it. It'll be ok...
Subversion (Score:2)
Sir (Score:2)
That order of back doors has arrived.
So, who gets to buy the stuff? Not the citizens.. (Score:2)
Well, now it's OK to sell " hardware and software that pertain to the Internet...basically, all things digital" I guess the flights to Iran will be full of salesmen.
Of course, big business will be taking care that the right stuff will not fall into the wrong hands, eh?
After all, look what happened last time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Contra_Affair#Indictments [wikipedia.org]
Oh wait, looks like they all got a presidential pardon...
Meanwhile, I'm sure that the regime in place will continue to control access to everyth
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Do US citizens get some sort of sick twisted feeling of satisfaction from this?
"Blame the victim" is SOP in DC. Most Americans would prefer sugar in their Coke and premium cigars but they're too complacent to do anything about it. Neither the gang nor its subjects care much about the people of Cuba, though there are certainly exceptions.
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Most of them never think about it at all. Anymore than most Cubans think about traffic problems in Nashville (not to imply that there ARE traffic problems in Nashville - don't really know, since I haven't driven through Nashville in ten years) on a regular basis.
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