Iran’s minister of communications has once again stressed that the administration is opposed to the complete blocking of internet sites.
Mahmoud Vaezi told ISNA on Monday March 14 that it is not appropriate to block a whole site that provides beneficial information just because 10 to 15 percent of its content is problematic.
He reiterated his support for “smart filtering” as a way to filter out the problematic content of each site while access to the rest of the site remains intact.
Smart filtering is the term the Islamic Republic uses for partial blocking of website content. The Islamic Republic government blocks several websites such a Facebook as part of its censorship efforts. The Rohani administration has been trying to reduce the level of censorship with the implementation of so-called smart filtering.
In February, the deputy communications minister reported that a budget of over 110 million toumans and the participation of 11 universities are part of the plans for implementing smart filtering.
