Iranians use VPNs to bypass governmental website blocks

Iran is well known for censoring the internet, prohibiting access to hugely popular social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Since being sworn in as Iran’s leader last year, President Hassan Rouhani is widely seen as an advocate for an open internet. Last year in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour when asked whether he would reduce censorship in Iran, Rouhani said “All my efforts are geared to ensure that the people of Iran will comfortably be able to access all information globally and to use it…I believe that all humans beings have a right, and all nations have a right to use them.”


A year on, and Rouhani, seen as the “moderate” President, is still determined to push this through. Recently he called on some of the countries most hard-line clerics to relax their attitude towards the web, saying that an open internet is essential to be able to educate the nation’s youth, to give them greater “knowledge and science” capabilities.

Recently, the Iranian government granted 3G and 4G licences, a popular move with young Iranians, and also increased much-needed bandwidth on home connections.
However, this has raised concern for some of the countries most conservative clerics including Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makaram Shirazi who sees high speed internet as “haram” meaning forbidden by Islamic law and violates “human and moral norms.”

One stumbling block which could setback or even decimate Rouhani’s vision, was the news of 11 Iranians who were recently arrested in the country after messages criticizing the Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were found. In Iran WhatsApp, Viber and Tango are monitored for content that criticizes the government and its leaders. Freedom of speech is not tolerated. Period.

Happiness is also not permitted in Iran. Back in May, a group of Pharrell Williams fans produced their version of his hit song “Happy”, which attracted tens of thousands of online viewers on YouTube. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, an Iranian court found them guilty of producing a “vulgar” video conducting “illicit relations” and they received a suspended sentence of six months prison and 91 lashes. However, Rouhani, who has a Twitter account, stood up for the Happy fans tweeting “Happiness is our people’s right. We shouldn’t be too hard on behaviours caused by joy.”

Rouhani’s government has been given one month to ban social networking apps, or else the judiciary will take matters into their own hands. What this means exactly hasn’t been revealed, but it can only mean upset and frustration for the millions of people who use the platforms. Currently, in-house fighting between Rouhani’s administration and Iran’s judiciary is taking place, with neither party , currently willing to back down. Unfortunately, the decision to press forward for internet freedom is not Rouhani’s. Filtering and censorship of the internet is controlled by Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace – a bunch of right wing conservatives who strongly disagree with Rouhani’s vision.

Many Iranians bypass websites blocks, but how?
A study recently published by the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, found that nearly 70% of Iranians, aged between 15 and 29, use VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to bypass websites blocked by their government.
VPNs give Iranian netizens and other web users such as those in China access to a free and open internet, allowing them to access news, and allows them to freely communicate with the outside world using Facebook and Twitter.

Bypassing governmental blocks is easy with HMA! Pro VPN – and in fact, bypassing this kind of censorships was the main reason our service was originally establised. Just select a server from our vast country list, (choose a server in a country where you know the webpage is not blocked) and you’ll be surfing the net in no time at all as you should be able to – no restrictions, no blocks whatsoever.

If you, a friend, family member or work colleague is planning a trip to Iran or you know anyone who lives there who would benefit from using a VPN, tell them about HMA! Pro VPN. It’s always best to be prepared, so I highly recommend that you purchase an HMA! Pro subscription and get it set up on your iPhone, PC, Mac, or Android before arriving in Iran. Feel free to give them our email address info@hidemyass.com and a member of our support team will assist if any help is needed.
Purchase HMA! Pro VPN and stay connected!

For more information about HideMyAss! please visit our website.

We’ve added 16 servers, 3,142 IP addresses, and 9 NEW countries to the Hide My Ass! VPN Network

We have a huge server update for you. Since our last update, we’ve added 16 servers, 3,142 IP addresses, 9 NEW countries, and 1 NEW virtual location to the Hide My Ass! VPN Network.

Oman, Salalah (252 IPs) (New country)

Lebanon, Beirut (252 IPs) (New country)

Syria, Ad Darah (252 IPs) (New country)

Iraq, Baghdad (252 IPs) (New country)

Afghanistan, Kabul (252 IPs) (New country)

Palestine, Bethlehem (252 IPs) (New country)

Bahrain, Manama (252 IPs) (New country)

Bangladesh, Dhaka(252 IPs) (New country)

Yemen, Sanaa (251 IPs) (New country)

Netherlands, Amsterdam – Virtual USA (Loc 1 Servers 1-2) (249 IPs) (New virtual location)

Austria, Vienna (Loc 1 Server 2) (122 IPs)

USA, Florida, Miami (Loc 2 Servers 1-2) (253 IPs)

Australia, New South Wales, Sydney (Loc 1 Servers 3 – 4) (251 IPs) 

 

If there’s a country or a location that you would like to see a server in, please let us know by commenting on our blog.

Visit our main site for more information on our VPN server network.

Great news – Turkey lifts the ban on YouTube!

Hide My Ass! is very pleased to hear that Turkey has lifted its ban on YouTube, two months after blocking the video-sharing website. Twitter was the first site to be blocked by the Turkish government on the 21st March, and a week later a block on YouTube was imposed after it too was used to air accusations of government corruption.  The ban on Twitter was lifted in April, but the block on YouTube remained in place until Tuesday 3rd June, after Turkey’s highest court ruled that the block was against free speech.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has widely criticized social media websites, and this decision to lift the ban is widely seen as a slight to the government.

We at HMA! are proud to have supported Turkish citizens beat the ban on Twitter and YouTube during this period by providing existing and new customers a free extension on their HMA! Pro VPN account.
We greatly welcome the decision to overturn this ban. At HMA! we believe in an open internet; that free speech and communication is a human right and that the internet should be available to everyone around the world, with no restrictions.

The ban on YouTube and Twitter has now been officially lifted. The HMA! free VPN offer is now closed.

The HMA! team

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Google and YouTube blocked in Tajikistan

Over the past few months a number of social media websites including Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube have been blocked (and in some cases, unblocked) in countries including Turkey, and Pakistan. Now Tajikistan can be added to the list.

Reports surfaced earlier last week that internet users were unable to access the video-streaming service YouTube, and now many users have found that Google, including Gmail has been blocked.Tajikistan’s communications chief put the connection issues down to “possible technical problems” but as yet both sites remain blocked or partially blocked, and no further comment has been made.


Tajikistan authorities have blocked a number of websites over the past two years including Facebook, and a number of Russian news websites, yes you’ve guessed it, blocked – due to technical problems!
It is all too easy for governments to demand that blocks be put on websites which they deem a threat to their political standing and beliefs. Countries that deny their citizens the right to voice their opinions and communicate with the outside world are taking away freedom of expression, and that is unacceptable. Period.

Luckily, there is a solution for internet users in countries like China, Pakistan and Tajikistan whose governments deny them the freedom of expression – a Virtual Private Network (VPN) – and of course, I recommend HMA! Pro VPN.

When you select a server from our vast country list, (choose a server in a country where you know the webpage is not blocked) and you’ll be surfing the net in no time at all as you should be able to – no restrictions, no blocks whatsoever.

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Tajikistan Facts
If you are not quite sure where Tajikistan is located, well it’s bordered by Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, and has a population of around 8 million. It is a mountainous country – in fact 97% of the country is mountainous!

• Russian soldiers are reported to have seen the Abominable Snowman or the ‘Yeti’ in the Pamir Mountain ranges. The legend of the Yeti still exists in Tajikistan today.
• Tajikistan is amongst the smallest nations in Central Asia, in terms of area.
• Its domain is .tj

HMA! Tip: Receive emails anonymously and stop spam with Hide My Ass!

HMA! Pro VPN protects and encrypts all of your internet traffic by routing it through one of our servers, and of course that includes incoming and outgoing email traffic as well. But that doesn’t mean that you receive less spam when giving out your email address over the web, especially if you haven’t registered your email address anonymously.


There are a number of different ways that our anonymous email service can help you, for example:

1) You may come across a website that won’t let you view its pages until you sign up via Facebook or provide them with an email address. Many of these websites collect your details, known as email harvesting, in order to send out bulk email, aka spam!

2) You’ve scoured the internet and finally found the perfect birthday present for a friend, but when you check out, you’re asked for your email address.  Chances are you won’t be purchasing anything from that company again, so the best thing to do is give them an anonymous email address. You won’t be bombarded with their newsletters, special offers and other deals all clogging up your inbox.

3) “Sign up to our newsletter to get full access to our site!”  Sounds great, and many times, yes you do want to check out their site, but as soon as you hand over your email address,  get constant emails from them, and their partners and their partners’ partners!

Avoid website registration where you can, and use our anonymous email service. As soon as you stop using your ‘real’ email address, and start using our anonymous email account, the sooner you’ll see less spam in your inbox.

The HMA! Anonymous Email service is not just another trash-mail service as it offers much more:

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• Stop spam by never using your real email address on shady websites again

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Internet censorship in Iraq

Al-Qaeda in Iraq used social media channels to spread their extremist views and messages during the War on Terror.
Recently the Iraqi government blocked a number of social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as Instagram and Whatsapp in a bid to halt the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) a group formed in April 2013 and which grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, from promoting their campaign of terror.
In an attempt to curb the extremist group from using social media to spread their message, the Iraqi government also requested a total block on the internet in a number of provinces. The Wall Street Journal recently reported “The Internet has been shut down in five provinces out of 19” where ISIS have made the most gains.

This decision appears to have been reversed, but ISPs have still been told to enforce bans on a number of websites. The Register recently spoke to Martin Frank CEO of IQNET, which sells internet connection services to ISPs in Iraq says “The internet is back in full capacity, with blocks removed on Facebook, Viber, Twitter and other websites. However, several sites are still blocked. These are generally news-related websites which have been critical of the government.” You can see a full list of sites blocked in Iraq here.

According to Martin Frank, a number of journalists have been on television channels showing Iraqis how to use virtual private networks (VPNs) which helps them bypass any government internet blocks.

A VPN is all you need to circumnavigate government internet censorship. When you select one of our HMA! Pro VPN servers, you are assigned a different IP address (your ISP in Iraq will be unable to detect that you are using it) and, therefore, you will be able to access any web page that your government may have blocked. It’s of utmost importance that journalists, bloggers and NGO’s are able to report the conflict currently taking place in Iraq. It’s also crucial that the Iraqi people be able to tell their stories, voice their opinions, concerns and their fears to the outside world through social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

For the time being, a number of social media sites are back up and running which is great news, but the question remains, for how long?

How to claim – terms of this offer

Iraqis who have new information about internet censorship in the country, will be rewarded with one month free HMA! Pro VPN. Free VPN will only be awarded if the information is published on our blog.
All existing active customers in Iraq who have an HMA! Pro VPN subscription will have one month free VPN added to their subscription, so long as the information is published on our blog.
Iraqis who have not signed up to HMA! will need to open account and one month HMA! Pro VPN will be added to their account, if their information is published on our blog.
This offer is open to those who are based in Iraq only. Our customer support will verify your location by IP address to ensure you are in the country.