11 ms·

Iran to Replace "The Internet" with "Halal Intranet"

148 points by pooriaazimi 15y ago

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
nextparadigms 15y ago
Maybe the MPAA boss will propose the same thing next to stop piracy, especially if SOPA passes and still fails to stop piracy.
arkitaip 15y ago
I would like to do something so that Iranians can continue accessing the Internet. I'm thinking contributing money or time to hardware related projects via which Iranians can totally circumvent the Iranian Internet infrastructure completely. Any ideas, HN?
- runn1ng 15y ago
  Run more Tor relays, I guess. Tor is, at least according to Tor stats - https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=direct-users&start=2011-10-08&end=2012-01-06&country=ir&events=on&dpi=72#direct-users https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=direct-users... - used intensively in Iran and Iran is not very effective in blocking it (unlike China) - 11% of all Tor users are from Iran, which is a lot, considering their population (45664 users daily)
  - runn1ng 15y ago
    Running a tor relay is deadly simple. And statistically, about 11% of the traffic will be used directly by Iran's users wanting to go around censorship.
- jacobr 15y ago
  You might want to get involved with Telecomix, they've done just that. See http://telecomix.org http://telecomix.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecomix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecomix
  - JonnieCache 15y ago
    Yep. Telecomix is the perfect place to start if you want to help.
  - arkitaip 15y ago
    Thank you, will look into this ASAP.
eliben 15y ago
There are many intelligent people in Iran, and they have the privelege to see this unrolling in front of their eyes. Wake up, before you become North Korea.
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  I could say the same thing about US. The unfortunate truth is that most people don't care enough until it's really too late to change anything. And if they do want to change it, then they will need overwhelming numbers to change the policy, and possibly even violence to remove the Government. But I do think things are starting to change a bit. As the society moves away from the "read-only" type of media, where they only get to think about the "choices" they are presented with, which has led to a lot of people, especially young people, to not even care about voting anymore, because they realized their vote won't change anything when the vast majority of the population could still get mass-manipulated, to a society that is more "read/write" thanks to the Internet, and where they are much more engaged in political issues, and don't want to sit idle on the side. This should ultimately lead to healthier democracies. Democracies turn rotten when the people don't care about what happens at the top, which tends to encourage politicians to do whatever they want when they are there and seek more power ever faster.
  - bmuon 15y ago
    > Democracies turn rotten when the people don't care about what happens at the top Exactly. Plus it seems there is a global movement of some sort in this direction even in countries with a history that would make you expect the opposite (stable democracy after a long history of military coups). Spain has approved SOPA-like laws. Argentina just passed a "counter-terrorism" law that has nothing to do with our country's reality. And so far we've managed to stop the few attempts by the music industry to lobby for restrictive laws, but they will try again.
    - epscylonb 15y ago
      In the UK it is commonly said "you don't vote people in, you vote them out". It would be nice if we could be more pro active and avoid some of this nonsense.
AndrewDucker 15y ago
Looking at the context in the article, it seems that the government is running scared of dissent, and is now cracking down further and further. The citizens they talked to seem to be dismissive of the attempts, and one wonders if the government is going to squeeze too hard and cause a backlash.
Monotoko 15y ago
I have five tor exit nodes running at the moment... after reading this I'm doubling it to ten!
- gioele 15y ago
  Where are those nodes? I know that in the US running a Tor exit node may be a safe thing [1], but I wonder about the legality of them in the rest of the word, the EU especially. The problem is not whether you end up guilty or innocent after a trial; the problem is the trial itself. Who can afford the time (years) and money (~10k €) needed for a penal process? And I can imaging you being pictured by the press covering the trial as a dangerous hacker helping terrorists and similar things. [1] https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html
DrCatbox 15y ago
"The video surveillance brings Iran further into the vanguard of nations that have sought to keep tabs on Internet use. Libya under Moammar Gadhafi ran extensive web-monitoring operations. China has sophisticated website filtering and an army of censors patrolling chat rooms. China and Cuba require Internet-cafe users to present identification." Sweden is filtering and web-monitoring, it is very easy for the state to know exactly who does what. NSA is not behind in this technology. USA has sock puppet software, they dont need armies of censors. The internet is dead.
- pooriaazimi 15y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship I'm a little shocked about Sweden's "web monitoring". From wikipedia it looks like they're just blocking some porn sites... Could you elaborate more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_by_country#.C2.A0Sweden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_by_country#...
  - DrCatbox 15y ago
    A few years ago a law was passed that permitted the FRA (Försvarets Radio Anstalt) (Defense Radio Establishment) to spy on all the traffic that passes through swedish borders, the FRA had been doing so illegaly for the past ten years and that was a scandal too. What constitutes border, in the internet the FRA is monitoring, is not defined. Swedens #1 ISP, TeliaSonera is on the list of CIA/USA as strategic foreign resource to protect in case of major war due to them being able to spy on much of communications going to russia/east, the list was leaked by wikileaks if I remember correctly. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA_law
  - Zirro 15y ago
    Other than sites with child-porn, no pages are blocked. However, more or less upon request from the US, we have the FRA who can monitor telephone-conversations, Internet-traffic etc for people they suspect for various reasons. Sadly, it probably can't be done without some peoples privacy being breached.
- 15y ago
OoTheNigerian 15y ago
Unfortunately, there is no government with the moral credibility to speak up. Iran's censorship is direct, autocratic and politically motivated US' censorship is indirect, 'democratic' and commercially motivated. Dear US goverment, please rethink your decision. Your might and support in the world comes not from your military strength but your perceived moral credibility and being seen as the standard. The right standard. Do not change it. PS: Has WSJ written anything against SOPA?
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  I'm starting to think the indirect, commercial approach is actually worse, because it's so misleading ("we'll save millions of jobs!"). The US Government couldn't have convinced so many countries to start restricting their Internet. It's "thanks" to MPAA and RIAA that they are doing it.
cup 15y ago
There has been an ongoing and pervasive systematic increase in stories portraying a negative light on Iran and Iranian society. This, along with obvious current affair issues, leads me to believe that a 'propaganda war' much akin to the one we saw before Iraq and Afghanistan is slowly coming to life. The fact of the matter is that amongst all the countries in the Middle East, Iran is the one that most Americans and Europeans would probably find most similarities with. It's incredibly youthful, energetic, entreprenuriel and when it comes to the younger generation, liberal. While I don't doubt that the political establishment might be attempting to curtail free access to the internet I question why It's of concern to us when America is trying to ram SOPA and other bills down our throats and when our "allies" in the mid-east region already have complex and functioning systems in place to regulate and censore access to foreign websites. I've spent many years living in the mid east and I just can't shake off the unmistaken feeling of an attempt to sway the public into thinking Iran is a monolithic demonic institute.
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  People should see more videos and images like these, before they are quick to ask for bombing them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98j0I7e5OHE&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98j0I7e5OHE&feature=youtu...
  - second_side 15y ago
    Awwww.... Pretty pictures of an uptake of western culture, consumerism and aesthetics... Must be such a nice place for them. People should see more videos and images like these, before they are quick to ask for bombing them: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2a0_1185106657 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2a0_1185106657 WARNING : NSFL!!! Serious, It cannot be unseen!! Its your choice to view the link. Motivational isn't it.... You think the Iran regime is not interested in spreading and expanding its joyful way of life thoughout the world given the chance? The "incredibly youthful, energetic, entreprenuriel and when it comes to the younger generation, liberal" people of Iran deserve/need your help in overthrowing the regime (with as little blood spilt as possible) that thinks this is how society should live. You can't argue the above away with.... look they have LV scarfs and pretty girls.
sleepyhead 15y ago
"start collecting detailed personal information on customers" This has been the norm in Iran for a while. I visited there for three months in 2008 and was always asked for my name and passport number when going to internet cafes. But usually they were relaxed about it so did not have to show my passport so I usually wrote "George Bush", "Johnny Cash" or other fake names. The staff would also usually help me with finding a proxy as Facebook and some email services were blocked. There were not a central filter but filtering was done individually by the ISPs. For example Facebook was blocked in Tehran but not in the rest of the country. Edit: By the way, you should all visit Iran. It is a safe country with interesting architecture, culture, history and very friendly people.
- josefresco 15y ago
  Sounds good, you want to go hiking when we get there? On second thought, maybe we should stay home.
  - sleepyhead 15y ago
    I went hiking there. And I went snowboarding in the mountains. Was fantastic. But if you plan to cross the border from a country occupied by the same state that enforces sanctions on Iran then I would advise against that, in the same way as I would advise against crossing the border from Mexico to the US while hiking without any proper entering visa.
- roshangry 15y ago
  I second your edit. I'm in Iran right now and I'm having an excellent time.
hippich 15y ago
It is like deja vu: - Belarus March 2011 - national currency drops by more than 50% to USD due government failure. - Since you can not get together more than 3 persons in public places (it will be illegal meeting/petitioning), people used social networks (twitter, vkontakte.ru) to get together every Wednesday's evening at some announced location and just stay there (no talking, no doing anything illegal, not causing any trouble for anybody). Occasionally - clap in hands. So it is like flashmob, just scheduled :) - After second such event - access to twitter.com, facebook.com, vkontakte.ru, etc sites was blocked nationally each Wednesday. Organizer's account in vkontakte.ru was hacked somehow by Belarus police/KGB (probably, not hacked, but "enforced" - it is easier for them just to call to organization and request information instead) - After 3 months our government tried to pass updates to a law about public meetings trying to make "public not-doing" illegal (this is what these people were "doing" each Wednesday). Thanks god, this did not pass through 'cos it is insane. - Next - the law discussed there - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3415897 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3415897 - was introduced and quickly after that was approved :) Belarus currency to USD exchange rate, January 2011 - 3200 brb for 1 USD Belarus currency to USD exchange rate, December 2011 - 8500 brb for 1 USD
xster 15y ago
USA to replace the internet with SOPA intranet
riffic 15y ago
This isn't an Onion story?
mahmud 15y ago
Has nothing to do with "Halal". NOTHING about Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) makes a mention of anything but edibles when it comes to Halal. If you hear some autocratic douchebag call something Halal or Haram when speaking of non-food items, you know you're being bullshat. This is nothing but good ole consolidation of power. Iranians call it Halal, Americans call it counter-terrorism and intellectual property, others call it enforcement of rightous morals, upright character, national concensus, surprise non-consensual posterior-sex or whatever label one assigns to power-grab. This is it. Fuck the ruling Mulahs and fuck the business, political and military-industrial engines that are conspiring against the People everywhere on earth.
- nodemaker 15y ago
  No True Scotsman!
- nazar 15y ago
  Muslim's here, Halal as in حلال and Haram as in حَرَام do not limit themselves to stuff related to food. Really it's not. I am not implying that Internet can be haram or halal, but there are things besides food that are considered either halal or haram. For example, sexual intercourse without nikah is considered haram, and the opposite is considered halal. ‎ ‎
  - darklajid 15y ago
    I'm completely clueless and wanted to know what 'nikah' is here. I'm sure I'm missing subtleties, but it might help other readers to think of 'marriage' or 'marriage contract' etc.. I wasn't sure what to make of it and thought for a second that it's an accessory or something like that.
    - nazar 15y ago
      I am sorry for not providing enough details. Nikah is a kind of procedure, analogous to the christian church procedure where priest makes the marriage lawful by christian rules, but instead the priest, we have mullahs, and instead of church we have mosques( Though if I am not mistaken, my parents had their nikah at home, which is also considered ok at least in our country). I think the wikipedia page would be the most unbiased source for you to check out if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Islam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Islam
feralchimp 15y ago
Run Tor exit nodes (or donate to someone who will). https://blog.torproject.org/blog/support-tor-network-donate-exit-node-providers https://blog.torproject.org/blog/support-tor-network-donate-...
dazbradbury 15y ago
Halal, is it .me you're looking for...
j45 15y ago
So, Iran is doing the same as SOPA wants to, and China is doing with filtering the internet.
tlogan 15y ago
I know a little about Iran (I have friends living there and my father was working there), and it seems like the only reason why mulas are in power is America (there is joke that FoxNews is Iranian TV network). Also, Iran's government is very corrupted (even ridiculously obvious) and in many many cases decisions are based on economical interests told with verses from Kuran. Of course, there are some people who genuinely believe in ideas of Iran's revolutions but they are already old senile and mainly used as tokens. In short, the second Iranian revolution will come soon.

148 points by pooriaazimi 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

Maybe the MPAA boss will propose the same thing next to stop piracy, especially if SOPA passes and still fails to stop piracy.

arkitaip 15y ago

I would like to do something so that Iranians can continue accessing the Internet. I'm thinking contributing money or time to hardware related projects via which Iranians can totally circumvent the Iranian Internet infrastructure completely. Any ideas, HN?

runn1ng 15y ago
Run more Tor relays, I guess. Tor is, at least according to Tor stats - https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=direct-users&start=2011-10-08&end=2012-01-06&country=ir&events=on&dpi=72#direct-users https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=direct-users... - used intensively in Iran and Iran is not very effective in blocking it (unlike China) - 11% of all Tor users are from Iran, which is a lot, considering their population (45664 users daily)
- runn1ng 15y ago
  Running a tor relay is deadly simple. And statistically, about 11% of the traffic will be used directly by Iran's users wanting to go around censorship.
jacobr 15y ago
You might want to get involved with Telecomix, they've done just that. See http://telecomix.org http://telecomix.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecomix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecomix
- JonnieCache 15y ago
  Yep. Telecomix is the perfect place to start if you want to help.
- arkitaip 15y ago
  Thank you, will look into this ASAP.

eliben 15y ago

There are many intelligent people in Iran, and they have the privelege to see this unrolling in front of their eyes. Wake up, before you become North Korea.

nextparadigms 15y ago
I could say the same thing about US. The unfortunate truth is that most people don't care enough until it's really too late to change anything. And if they do want to change it, then they will need overwhelming numbers to change the policy, and possibly even violence to remove the Government. But I do think things are starting to change a bit. As the society moves away from the "read-only" type of media, where they only get to think about the "choices" they are presented with, which has led to a lot of people, especially young people, to not even care about voting anymore, because they realized their vote won't change anything when the vast majority of the population could still get mass-manipulated, to a society that is more "read/write" thanks to the Internet, and where they are much more engaged in political issues, and don't want to sit idle on the side. This should ultimately lead to healthier democracies. Democracies turn rotten when the people don't care about what happens at the top, which tends to encourage politicians to do whatever they want when they are there and seek more power ever faster.
- bmuon 15y ago
  > Democracies turn rotten when the people don't care about what happens at the top Exactly. Plus it seems there is a global movement of some sort in this direction even in countries with a history that would make you expect the opposite (stable democracy after a long history of military coups). Spain has approved SOPA-like laws. Argentina just passed a "counter-terrorism" law that has nothing to do with our country's reality. And so far we've managed to stop the few attempts by the music industry to lobby for restrictive laws, but they will try again.
  - epscylonb 15y ago
    In the UK it is commonly said "you don't vote people in, you vote them out". It would be nice if we could be more pro active and avoid some of this nonsense.

AndrewDucker 15y ago

Looking at the context in the article, it seems that the government is running scared of dissent, and is now cracking down further and further. The citizens they talked to seem to be dismissive of the attempts, and one wonders if the government is going to squeeze too hard and cause a backlash.

Monotoko 15y ago

I have five tor exit nodes running at the moment... after reading this I'm doubling it to ten!

gioele 15y ago
Where are those nodes? I know that in the US running a Tor exit node may be a safe thing [1], but I wonder about the legality of them in the rest of the word, the EU especially. The problem is not whether you end up guilty or innocent after a trial; the problem is the trial itself. Who can afford the time (years) and money (~10k €) needed for a penal process? And I can imaging you being pictured by the press covering the trial as a dangerous hacker helping terrorists and similar things. [1] https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html

DrCatbox 15y ago

"The video surveillance brings Iran further into the vanguard of nations that have sought to keep tabs on Internet use. Libya under Moammar Gadhafi ran extensive web-monitoring operations. China has sophisticated website filtering and an army of censors patrolling chat rooms. China and Cuba require Internet-cafe users to present identification." Sweden is filtering and web-monitoring, it is very easy for the state to know exactly who does what. NSA is not behind in this technology. USA has sock puppet software, they dont need armies of censors. The internet is dead.

pooriaazimi 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship I'm a little shocked about Sweden's "web monitoring". From wikipedia it looks like they're just blocking some porn sites... Could you elaborate more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_by_country#.C2.A0Sweden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_by_country#...
- DrCatbox 15y ago
  A few years ago a law was passed that permitted the FRA (Försvarets Radio Anstalt) (Defense Radio Establishment) to spy on all the traffic that passes through swedish borders, the FRA had been doing so illegaly for the past ten years and that was a scandal too. What constitutes border, in the internet the FRA is monitoring, is not defined. Swedens #1 ISP, TeliaSonera is on the list of CIA/USA as strategic foreign resource to protect in case of major war due to them being able to spy on much of communications going to russia/east, the list was leaked by wikileaks if I remember correctly. More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA_law
- Zirro 15y ago
  Other than sites with child-porn, no pages are blocked. However, more or less upon request from the US, we have the FRA who can monitor telephone-conversations, Internet-traffic etc for people they suspect for various reasons. Sadly, it probably can't be done without some peoples privacy being breached.
15y ago

OoTheNigerian 15y ago

Unfortunately, there is no government with the moral credibility to speak up. Iran's censorship is direct, autocratic and politically motivated US' censorship is indirect, 'democratic' and commercially motivated. Dear US goverment, please rethink your decision. Your might and support in the world comes not from your military strength but your perceived moral credibility and being seen as the standard. The right standard. Do not change it. PS: Has WSJ written anything against SOPA?

nextparadigms 15y ago
I'm starting to think the indirect, commercial approach is actually worse, because it's so misleading ("we'll save millions of jobs!"). The US Government couldn't have convinced so many countries to start restricting their Internet. It's "thanks" to MPAA and RIAA that they are doing it.

cup 15y ago

There has been an ongoing and pervasive systematic increase in stories portraying a negative light on Iran and Iranian society. This, along with obvious current affair issues, leads me to believe that a 'propaganda war' much akin to the one we saw before Iraq and Afghanistan is slowly coming to life. The fact of the matter is that amongst all the countries in the Middle East, Iran is the one that most Americans and Europeans would probably find most similarities with. It's incredibly youthful, energetic, entreprenuriel and when it comes to the younger generation, liberal. While I don't doubt that the political establishment might be attempting to curtail free access to the internet I question why It's of concern to us when America is trying to ram SOPA and other bills down our throats and when our "allies" in the mid-east region already have complex and functioning systems in place to regulate and censore access to foreign websites. I've spent many years living in the mid east and I just can't shake off the unmistaken feeling of an attempt to sway the public into thinking Iran is a monolithic demonic institute.

nextparadigms 15y ago
People should see more videos and images like these, before they are quick to ask for bombing them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98j0I7e5OHE&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98j0I7e5OHE&feature=youtu...
- second_side 15y ago
  Awwww.... Pretty pictures of an uptake of western culture, consumerism and aesthetics... Must be such a nice place for them. People should see more videos and images like these, before they are quick to ask for bombing them: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2a0_1185106657 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2a0_1185106657 WARNING : NSFL!!! Serious, It cannot be unseen!! Its your choice to view the link. Motivational isn't it.... You think the Iran regime is not interested in spreading and expanding its joyful way of life thoughout the world given the chance? The "incredibly youthful, energetic, entreprenuriel and when it comes to the younger generation, liberal" people of Iran deserve/need your help in overthrowing the regime (with as little blood spilt as possible) that thinks this is how society should live. You can't argue the above away with.... look they have LV scarfs and pretty girls.

sleepyhead 15y ago

"start collecting detailed personal information on customers" This has been the norm in Iran for a while. I visited there for three months in 2008 and was always asked for my name and passport number when going to internet cafes. But usually they were relaxed about it so did not have to show my passport so I usually wrote "George Bush", "Johnny Cash" or other fake names. The staff would also usually help me with finding a proxy as Facebook and some email services were blocked. There were not a central filter but filtering was done individually by the ISPs. For example Facebook was blocked in Tehran but not in the rest of the country. Edit: By the way, you should all visit Iran. It is a safe country with interesting architecture, culture, history and very friendly people.

josefresco 15y ago
Sounds good, you want to go hiking when we get there? On second thought, maybe we should stay home.
- sleepyhead 15y ago
  I went hiking there. And I went snowboarding in the mountains. Was fantastic. But if you plan to cross the border from a country occupied by the same state that enforces sanctions on Iran then I would advise against that, in the same way as I would advise against crossing the border from Mexico to the US while hiking without any proper entering visa.
roshangry 15y ago
I second your edit. I'm in Iran right now and I'm having an excellent time.

hippich 15y ago

It is like deja vu: - Belarus March 2011 - national currency drops by more than 50% to USD due government failure. - Since you can not get together more than 3 persons in public places (it will be illegal meeting/petitioning), people used social networks (twitter, vkontakte.ru) to get together every Wednesday's evening at some announced location and just stay there (no talking, no doing anything illegal, not causing any trouble for anybody). Occasionally - clap in hands. So it is like flashmob, just scheduled :) - After second such event - access to twitter.com, facebook.com, vkontakte.ru, etc sites was blocked nationally each Wednesday. Organizer's account in vkontakte.ru was hacked somehow by Belarus police/KGB (probably, not hacked, but "enforced" - it is easier for them just to call to organization and request information instead) - After 3 months our government tried to pass updates to a law about public meetings trying to make "public not-doing" illegal (this is what these people were "doing" each Wednesday). Thanks god, this did not pass through 'cos it is insane. - Next - the law discussed there - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3415897 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3415897 - was introduced and quickly after that was approved :) Belarus currency to USD exchange rate, January 2011 - 3200 brb for 1 USD Belarus currency to USD exchange rate, December 2011 - 8500 brb for 1 USD

xster 15y ago

USA to replace the internet with SOPA intranet

riffic 15y ago

This isn't an Onion story?

mahmud 15y ago

Has nothing to do with "Halal". NOTHING about Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) makes a mention of anything but edibles when it comes to Halal. If you hear some autocratic douchebag call something Halal or Haram when speaking of non-food items, you know you're being bullshat. This is nothing but good ole consolidation of power. Iranians call it Halal, Americans call it counter-terrorism and intellectual property, others call it enforcement of rightous morals, upright character, national concensus, surprise non-consensual posterior-sex or whatever label one assigns to power-grab. This is it. Fuck the ruling Mulahs and fuck the business, political and military-industrial engines that are conspiring against the People everywhere on earth.

nodemaker 15y ago
No True Scotsman!
nazar 15y ago
Muslim's here, Halal as in حلال and Haram as in حَرَام do not limit themselves to stuff related to food. Really it's not. I am not implying that Internet can be haram or halal, but there are things besides food that are considered either halal or haram. For example, sexual intercourse without nikah is considered haram, and the opposite is considered halal. ‎ ‎
- darklajid 15y ago
  I'm completely clueless and wanted to know what 'nikah' is here. I'm sure I'm missing subtleties, but it might help other readers to think of 'marriage' or 'marriage contract' etc.. I wasn't sure what to make of it and thought for a second that it's an accessory or something like that.
  - nazar 15y ago
    I am sorry for not providing enough details. Nikah is a kind of procedure, analogous to the christian church procedure where priest makes the marriage lawful by christian rules, but instead the priest, we have mullahs, and instead of church we have mosques( Though if I am not mistaken, my parents had their nikah at home, which is also considered ok at least in our country). I think the wikipedia page would be the most unbiased source for you to check out if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Islam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Islam

feralchimp 15y ago

Run Tor exit nodes (or donate to someone who will). https://blog.torproject.org/blog/support-tor-network-donate-exit-node-providers https://blog.torproject.org/blog/support-tor-network-donate-...

dazbradbury 15y ago

Halal, is it .me you're looking for...

j45 15y ago

So, Iran is doing the same as SOPA wants to, and China is doing with filtering the internet.

tlogan 15y ago

I know a little about Iran (I have friends living there and my father was working there), and it seems like the only reason why mulas are in power is America (there is joke that FoxNews is Iranian TV network). Also, Iran's government is very corrupted (even ridiculously obvious) and in many many cases decisions are based on economical interests told with verses from Kuran. Of course, there are some people who genuinely believe in ideas of Iran's revolutions but they are already old senile and mainly used as tokens. In short, the second Iranian revolution will come soon.