Iran fails to block Justin Bieber off Instagram

Iran’s so-called “smart filtering” system isn’t quite as smart as Iranian officials thought, as images
 belonging to some of the worlds biggest internet stars are flooding Instagram. Yes – now Iranians have the guilty pleasure of being able to drool, or gawk, at shirtless images of Justin Bieber’s ABsolutely fABulous six-pack, and lest we forget the woman who broke the internet, Kim Kardashian displaying her more than generous ASSets. Oh and there are some of Jennifer Lopez too!

Instagram accounts displaying saucy or risqué images were previously blocked in Iran, at least 983 according to a paper presented at a technology conference in Berlin recently. But now Iranians appear to be able to connect to them. This is likely due to Instagram encrypting connections between users’ devices and Instagram’s servers which has made it increasingly difficult for any third party (like Iran’s “smart filtering” system!) to tell which accounts users connect to. Much to the horror of Iranian hardline clerics, I’m sure!

Iran’s “smart filtering”, their pièce de résistance, allows officials to control what Iranians can and cannot access online. For example, they may want to censor certain pages on a website that the Islamic government considers immoral, not the entire site. However, Iran’s “smart filtering” has failed this time to block a number of Instagram accounts.

Iran’s country’s culture minister Ali Jannati admitted Sunday that they can no longer block or filter out immoral content from social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram due to technical and geographical capabilities. Great news!

Jannati told police commanders that “This government believes we cannot fight this technology en masse. It’s like blocking the entire highway for the violation of a few cars.”
The official number of Instagram users in Iran has not been released, however, Cafe Bazaar (a leading consumer internet company in Iran) says more than 6 million users have download the app – all now enjoying Bieber, Kardashian and Lopez!

Use a VPN to beat online censorship!
According to a study published by the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, nearly 70% of Iranians, aged between 15 and 29, use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to bypass blocked websites such as Twitter (although President Hassan Rouhani is allowed to use it), YouTube and Facebook.

Planning a trip to Iran?  Or maybe you know someone in Iran who would benefit from using a VPN? Tell them about Hide My Ass! Pro VPN and help them to lift stupid blocks on websites.  Feel free to give them our email address: info@hidemyass.com and one of our support donkeys will be more than happy to help!

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