On 18/02/12 08:04, Kai Hendry wrote:

I still think Tor's use is overstated. A better approach I'd say if
people are keen on helping Iran is give them some decent satellite
Internet coverage.

That part of the world is very well covered by a number of satellite Internet providers.

Because in Iran, you can watch BBC news without too much difficulty
over satellite. Also you can pick up the BBC World Service on
shortwave. Honestly getting news via satellite TV and radio is easier
than messing around with a sluggish VPN.

In a perfect world, that would be true but there are a number of other factors:

It is almost certainly illegal to import/sell/own a VSAT satellite Internet system in Iran (it certainly was in Pakistan and when I was there and I actually got asked by an official what "that thing" was). It's trivially easy to spot one too. It's the big dish pointing in a different direction from all the others with the great big, fat brick on the end of the arm.
The base price of a VSAT terminal is over $1000 in most cases I've seen. It also requires specialist knowledge to install one. The cost of a VSAT subscription can be hundreds of Dollars a month. The average income in Iran is about $500 (Wikipedia). In my experience, most people won't spend an amount in the range of 20-50% of their income on Internet.

Yes, I acknowledge that VPNs are probably illegal too but clearly the guy at the computer market thinks he can get away with it. If I was selling illegal Internet connections, I'd pretty much assume that when my customer gets hauled down the secret police HQ for a chat (and a beating) that he will roll over on me

Cheers,
Paul.