U.S. Authorizes Sales of American Communication Tech To Iran

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...

[HaZardman27]

Do you have to pay extra to not have Stuxnet installed out-of-the-box?

Re:Infiltrate!

[tnk1]

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.

Re:Infiltrate!

[Anonymous Coward]

They want the Iranians to see that not everyone lives in a medieval theocracy.

This from an American? Priceless.

Re:Infiltrate!

[orgelspieler]

ha ha ha. If you think that Iranians aren't already fully aware of the way the "civilized world" lives, you're smoking crack. They know just fine. Coca-cola, Mickey Mouse, all that shit is (or at least was) commonplace. Had we left them the hell alone back in the 70's, things would have been a lot more America friendly over there. Hell, there might even be a Disney World - Prince of Persia theme park by now. The only reason they see us as the enemy is because we thought it was in our best interest to fuck with Russia by destabilizing that whole area. Mission fucking accomplished.

Re:Infiltrate!

[femtobyte]

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). 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 --- they've seen what partnering with America does to all the other countries we fuck over in the name of "economic liberalization".