4 ms·

I have an anecdote about Iranian internet access: years ago (2006 maybe) Google came out with a way to determine the top search terms by country. For the US an

I have an anecdote about Iranian internet access: years ago (2006 maybe) Google came out with a way to determine the top search terms by country. For the US and most countries it was what you would expect: porn, sports, movie and music stars. Now for Iran it was control theory, FPGA design, chemical engineering, etc.. I suspect only weapons designers had internet access. Maybe universities, but no porn? Not likely.. So Google trends no longer shows porn or Iran.

csomar 6y ago
Probably because Porn in blocked in Iran. So Iranian first connect to Tor or a VPN which makes their IP western.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Your vision of Iranians not having internet access in that era is very misinformed, I’m afraid. Young Iranians already made heavy use of the web in the early millennium, though often through VPNs (which, as the other poster mentions, would have masked their actual country). As soon as Goodreads was launched in 2007, it swiftly attracted an enormous number of Iranian university students: they are one of the most active demographics on the site and they review all kinds of books since (with lax copyright laws and high literacy) translation of foreign literature flourishes in Iran. Does that sound like a people bereft of web access?
- sangnoir 6y ago
  > Young Iranians already made heavy use of the web in the early millennium They were are/are prolific Iranian hacking groups too. I had the misfortune of having my small site defaced (in a drive-by) and Googled a string from the usual shout-out and found a lot of matches on similarly defaced sites. I counted that as evidence towards a robust Iranian underground hacking scene. This was way before APT & state-level actors were in the public consciousness.
- ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
  Once someone uses "bereft" casually and correctly in conversation, I decide their opinion is probably the correct one. Well done sir.
alFReD-NSH 6y ago
Probably it's because porn is blocked and the average Iranian would search in Persian and not English, so possibly Google trends didn't have the Persian terms.
Fazel94 6y ago
As an Iranian who watched a lot of porn back home, it is not true. In 2006 it was limited speed though, and censored, so if I watched porn, I would have to be on VPN or proxy. The cause: Iran has free government run universities, so education is a big thing here. Go to Stanford EE department, you would be surprised by seeing that many Iranians.
deleted 6y ago
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csomar 6y ago

Probably because Porn in blocked in Iran. So Iranian first connect to Tor or a VPN which makes their IP western.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago

Your vision of Iranians not having internet access in that era is very misinformed, I’m afraid. Young Iranians already made heavy use of the web in the early millennium, though often through VPNs (which, as the other poster mentions, would have masked their actual country). As soon as Goodreads was launched in 2007, it swiftly attracted an enormous number of Iranian university students: they are one of the most active demographics on the site and they review all kinds of books since (with lax copyright laws and high literacy) translation of foreign literature flourishes in Iran. Does that sound like a people bereft of web access?

sangnoir 6y ago
> Young Iranians already made heavy use of the web in the early millennium They were are/are prolific Iranian hacking groups too. I had the misfortune of having my small site defaced (in a drive-by) and Googled a string from the usual shout-out and found a lot of matches on similarly defaced sites. I counted that as evidence towards a robust Iranian underground hacking scene. This was way before APT & state-level actors were in the public consciousness.
ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
Once someone uses "bereft" casually and correctly in conversation, I decide their opinion is probably the correct one. Well done sir.

alFReD-NSH 6y ago

Probably it's because porn is blocked and the average Iranian would search in Persian and not English, so possibly Google trends didn't have the Persian terms.

Fazel94 6y ago

As an Iranian who watched a lot of porn back home, it is not true. In 2006 it was limited speed though, and censored, so if I watched porn, I would have to be on VPN or proxy. The cause: Iran has free government run universities, so education is a big thing here. Go to Stanford EE department, you would be surprised by seeing that many Iranians.

deleted 6y ago

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