Internet researcher Mahsa Alimardani, right, and Frederic Jacobs pose
for a portrait photo at the international internet and society
conference 're-publica' in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, May 7, 2015.
Iran's censors are struggling to keep Justin Bieber's abs off Instagram.
The tattooed pop star's pouty, shirtless poses have recently reappeared
on Iranian smartphones, along with lingerie shots of Kim Kardashian and
red carpet photos of Jennifer Lopez. Mahmood Enayat of the London-based
research group Small Media said a colleague in Iran confirmed he was
able to access the racy images Wednesday.
"I am sure he has enjoyed it," Enayat said in a jokey email. Bieber's
was one of at least 983 accounts previously blocked in the Islamic
republic, according to a paper being presented at technology conference
re:publica in Berlin on Thursday. One of the paper's authors, security
researcher Frederic Jacobs, said Kardashian's and Lopez's pages were
also among those blocked. A smattering of fashion pages — Burberry,
Gucci and Jimmy Choo — were subject to the same restrictions, as was the
odd political account — a page devoted to Iranian reformist politician
Mohammad Khatami, for example.
The recent collapse of those blocks is awkward because Instagram is
one of the few social networking sites easily accessible to Iranians and
had been held up as a showcase for what politicians there describe as
"smart filtering," or targeted censorship. The administration of
President Hassan Rouhani touts the technique as a way to ease Iran's
blanket bans on popular foreign sites while reassuring hardliners that
objectionable content will remain out of reach.
The re-emergence of Lopez's flesh-baring dragon
dress and Kardashian's sexy selfies suggests it isn't going to be that
easy. "It does seem a little bit embarrassing," said Internet researcher
Mahsa Alimardani, who worked with Jacobs on the paper.
Alimardani and Jacobs say the snaps reappeared in Iran after
Instagram began encrypting connections between smartphones and the
site's servers in the past month. The encryption means that third
parties can't easily tell whose accounts users are connecting to,
frustrating censors' attempts to zero in on any particular stream of
photographs.
It's not clear if — or how — officials in Tehran
will react to the change. Unlike other social networks, Instagram
photo-focused approach doesn't easily lend itself to political
mobilization. The Iranian Embassy in London did not return repeated
messages seeking comment.
Instagram declined to comment specifically on the
situation in Iran but spokesman Gabe Madway said the Facebook Inc.-owned
company is working to roll out encryption across its network. Instagram
declined to say how many users it has in Iran, although the number
appears to be growing rapidly. Tehran-based app store Cafe Bazaar says
the photo-sharing service has racked up more than 6 million downloads
across the country. The figure is a threefold increase over last year,
according to Enayat of Small Media.
In a phone interview, Enayat said the censors'
inability to control the flow of racy selfies proves that Rouhani's
smart filtering policy is "a complete failure." "The case of Instagram
shows it's not going to work," he said.
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