As if news from Iran could get any more grim, the Wall Street Journal is reporting the country has, possibly, the most sophisticated Internet monitoring capacity in the world, thanks to technology Nokia and Siemens built for them in 2008. “Deep packet inspection,” allows authorities to not only block communication, but monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation, say global technology experts. This may help to explain why the Iranian government has allowed the Internet to continue to function—and why it has been running at such slow speeds since the vote. Beijing, one imagines, must be drooling.
FILED UNDER: Tech
