Iranian government to shut down GMAIL
Posted on February 11, 2010 by admin
According to Wall Street Journal, the Iranian government plans to suspend Google Inc’s email service (gmail) in the country. We’re just a day away from the anniversary of the Islamic Republic (11th of february) when Teheran is to face carnival-like rallies and demonstrations but also protests against the government.
In the last few days, “iranians have reported widespread service disruptions to Internet and text messaging services, though mobile phones appeared to be operating normally Wednesday”. “Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying instead that a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out”, Wall Street writes.
Google is already in conflict with China’s government after it threatened to withdraw from the country after a series of online attacks and official censorship.
According to Reuters, “there was no immediate comment from Tehran, where it was after midnight when the news broke. Opposition leaders have called on supporters to take to the streets on Thursday, raising the risk of renewed violence. The U.S. State Department could not confirm the report, but said any efforts to keep information from Iranians would fail”.