This chapter investigates the growth of the Internet in Iran, the effect of Internet filtering, and the impact on marginalized groups including NGOs, female activists, religious minorities, the younger generation and the increase of the digital divide. Using secondary data from multiple sources, the chapter presents the current use of the Internet in Iran and makes comparisons with other countries in the Persian Gulf region. The chapter argues that Internet filtering and severe restrictions on SMS messaging negatively affect not only ICT expansion, but also civil liberties— thus increasing the digital divide regionally, as well as on a global scale.
Keywords: ICT, digital divide, filtering, weblogging, gender digital divide, NGO, civil liberties, democracy
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 International Federation for Information Processin
About this paper
Cite this paper
Shirazi, F. (2008). Social networks within filtered ICT networks: A case study of the growth of internet usage within Iran. In: Avgerou, C., Smith, M.L., van der Besselaar, P. (eds) Social Dimensions Of Information And Communication Technology Policy. HCC 2008. IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, vol 282. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-84822-8_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-84822-8_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-84821-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-84822-8
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)