# U.S. Sponsors Anti-Censorship Web Service **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 3, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249 "2003-09-03T01:22:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/1 "2003-09-03T01:22:02Z")
\_ > [@](#): > > A pact between the U.S. government and the electronic privacy company Anonymizer, Inc. is making the Internet a safer place for controversial websites and subversive opinions – if you’re Iranian. American taxpayers are now funding anonymous Internet use for the people of Iran. Anonymizer Inc has set up proxy sites for IP addresses located in Iran. Evidently Iranians can surf over to the Farsi equivialent of **www.iranianfreedom.ir** and bypass the Iranian government’s censorship of “immoral” websites. Okay, they still can’t get to porn sites, but they can probably get to the SDMB now. I am certainly not against the Iranian people getting information from sources not controlled by the mullahs. But I can’t help but note the irony of the situation: the privacy of Iranian IP addresses are protected by the US gov’t, while laws like the DMCA & Patriot Acts lessen individual privacy rights here in the United States. [A prox on Iran](http://www.securityfocus.com/news/6807) ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/2 "2003-09-03T01:30:37Z")
Still no porn? Bad call. Sure, political websites might eventually open their minds to a representative secular state, but hot lesbian action would have the ayatollahs out on the street next week. Sadly it’s unlikely to last long, the Iranians will just track the proxy address and either block it or make examples of users. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/3 "2003-09-03T01:42:03Z")
Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/4 "2003-09-03T01:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5 time champ \* > \*\* But I can’t help but note the irony of the situation: the privacy of Iranian IP addresses are protected by the US gov’t, while laws like the DMCA & Patriot Acts lessen individual privacy rights here in the United States. > \*\* When did the United States make IP anonymizers illegal for U.S. citizens? I missed that one. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/5 "2003-09-03T02:56:45Z")
Blocking porn is probably smart. The porn link strategy would backfire both here and in Iran. The Religous Right in the US would go ballistic if they knew their tax dollars were being spent to facilitate the distribution of pornography. The mullahs would have a propaganda field day accusing the Great Satan of trying to corrupt Iranian youths with hot lesbian action. Plus, I’m thinking the LLBean catalog would be considered porn in Iran. I am not surprised that we are doing this in Iran, I think it is probably a good idea. The United States should always encourage freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the non-establishment of religion in those parts of the world that lack these basic freedoms. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/6 "2003-09-03T03:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*When did the United States make IP anonymizers illegal for U.S. citizens? I missed that one. \*\* AFAIK, it has not. I did not say that, or even mean to imply that. But I cannot see the US Gov’t faciliating anonymous IP addresses for Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/7 "2003-09-03T04:26:13Z")
I suspect that one reason why the US government made such a deal is that they will probably now have access to all sorts of data about what Iranians are searching for. Not only does it fight censorship, it also has the potential to bring in a wealth of intelligence data. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/8 "2003-09-03T22:16:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5 time champ \* > **AFAIK, it has not. I did not say that, or even mean to imply that.** Ah. You were using “ironic” in the Alanis Morrissette sense of “not ironic.” I’ll keep that in mind. > [@](#): > > \*\*But I cannot see the US Gov’t faciliating anonymous IP addresses for Americans. \*\* [Here you go.](http://oma.od.nih.gov/ma/bps/bpkm/Tutorial_InformationEthics.htm#privacy) ---
**Author:** ![Sxyzzx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sxyzzx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sxyzzx)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/9 "2003-09-04T03:31:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\*When did the United States make IP anonymizers illegal for U.S. citizens? I missed that one. \*\* [March 31](http://www.securityfocus.com/printable/news/3912), in Michigan at least. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/10 "2003-09-04T16:32:41Z")
Great Moogly-Googly, **Sxyzzx**! Great cite, and thanks for the head’s up. I have to admit I’m taking it with a _little_ grain of salt, as I find EFF to be paranoid sometimes (and the government is really out to get foreign students these days, so that guy is paranoid but for the right reasons). But based on the plain text of the law _only_ a little bit of salt – barely enough to season it, and no danger to my cholesterol levels. Yeesh! ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-sponsors-anti-censorship-web-service/199249/11 "2003-09-04T17:40:57Z")
All in favor of declaring anarchy and burning all federal, state, and local governments to the ground, say ‘aye’.