Google faces crackdown in Iran

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    Date: 
    16 February 2010

    Google said on Wednesday it had seen a “sharp drop” in traffic to its Gmail service from Iran, apparently as a result of censorship, amid signs of a stringent crackdown on the US internet group to coincide with the anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

    Iranian officials have also said they will impose a permanent block on Gmail. This was a significant escalation of their normally sporadic attacks on the service, said Ronald Deibert, an associate professor at the University of Toronto and head of Citizen Lab, which monitors global internet censorship.