Jahanshah Javid

To Mr JJ

Also this link might be useful;

//iranian.com/main/2009/nov/yasmin-vossoughian

ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS

You said;

"Provide the entire population of Iran free wifi access via satellite broadband technology. Free, unlimited, untraceable, unblockable access to the internet"

Is everyone in US and other developed countries are using wifi so readily? And for free? There is no such think as free applepie !!!!

Beside even the available technology is not always used properly. What makes you this one will?

Then you said;

"Despite severe technical limitations and dangers in posting any material against the regime, the green movement owes much of its resilience to instant communication via the internet."

 Yes but what make you think all done by Iranians alone?

Then you when on answering your own question;

"If the American government really wants to empower the Iranian people in their fight for freedom it would seriously consider giving them free broadband access to all of them."

EXACTLY WHY?

Although I doubt if it would be taken seriously. It's too much outside their usual strategic thinking. Too simple. Give every Iranian free wifi?! I can hear them laughing."

YES

Altruism

It is the case that altruism is not always the driving force for nation's foreign policy. Hence, it would be expecting perhaps a bit too much for the United States to foot the bill for the project you are proposing JJ. Yet, America had done much good by financing praiseworthy projects, for example, the fight against AIDS in Africa -- to the tune of some billions. There seems to be some caring and altruism operating here.

Also, the United States has committed nearly 8 billions to Pakistan. This contribution, by contrast, is not altruistic. It is to purchase Pakistan's help in fighting the U.S. enemy.

Now, the best strategy to get help from the U.S. is to appeal to its self-interest. It is in its self-interest to see the end to the mullahs' rule without having to resort to bombing Iran. It is not only a humane thing to do, it is also cheaper financially to achieve its objective. In this day and age resorting to brutality and force is unconscionable when peaceful means are available.

I would definitely like to see the United States seriously consider peaceful actions and avoid unleashing death on the country of my birth that has suffered long enough, in part, due to the U.S. past mistakes.

So, if any one in the Administration is reading this blog, this is one person's free advice. Don't bomb Iran. Try other strategies such as the one suggested here by JJ. It is by far more humane and hopefully will avoid any loss of life.

Terrific!

It is enthralling to see all these compatriots participate with their different takes on your intriguing suggestion, JJ. This is open communication. This is true democracy in action. It is through exchanges of this type that great things can be birthed.

I don't know much about the technical and financial difficulties that present themselves. I don't know how practical the proposal is. Yet, I find it exhilarating. The idea that every one of our hamvatan in Iran can enjoy the same access to the world of the Internet that I enjoy! What a bounty!

So, let's hope that those of us who are with means--technical, financial and otherwise--can pursue the idea and blanket the entire Middle East and eventually the entire world with this priceless gift of free access and interchange.

Great idea JJ. Nearly all radical great ideas have always encountered ridicules and oppositions when first proposed. But, that's how change, and often good change, happens.

Bahram G

Anonymouse

Very true.  That too. 

We're not all "chicken s**ts" we're all the "same s**t"!

Everything is sacred.

I think you should retaliate

by blocking every Saudi account on the site.   

On a more serious note, we Middle Easterners are all chicken s**ts.  It's in our culture...Arab, Iranian, it's all the same.  All we can do is silence our opposition.  When are we going to grow up and respect free speech, even if it's offensive? 

JJJ congratulations! I agree with Saudis! I'd block i.com too.

If I was running a free Iran and some Arab.com website was spewing hate against Iranians, I'd block it too.  "Free speech" my ass!  We (Saudis or Iranians) don't need it! Not that Saudis are democractic but why let some anti-Arab website make money off of an Arab country?

Everything is sacred.

Mr. Javid

I doubt if the blocking is because of anti Arab threads. More than likely it goes in the same lines as when they severely censored news coming from Iran during the demonstrations.

They are afraid of their own BI BOKHAR youth might do something. ;-o)

-YT 

Congratulations Iranian.Com!!!!

Jahanshah Congratulations on being banned in Arabestaan. This means your site is making a difference and it has a lot of Freedom & Democracy loving readers out there in the world. Dictators are shaking in their boots buddy! 

Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work Wolek!

"F" the Saudis

Who needs them anyway.  All I can say is that internet is the biggest enemy of Islam as well as any and all oppressive political systems.

I know, I know, the horse is dead and I am still beating the crap out of it. 

Add Saudi Arabia too

I just got an email from an Iranian.com reader:

"As of today, October 19, 2009, Iranian.com has been blocked by the government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I guess there was just too much anti-Arab commentary from some of your readers for the censors to ignore anymore. C'est la vie"

You should give free wifi to the entire Middle East, including all the dictatorships who are U.S. allies: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE... Don't kid yourself. All dictatorships are the same, religious and non-religious ones too, and they will be always be unstable and prone to breeding extremists. So promoting freedom and democracy does not begin and end in Iran. Look all around you.

With all due respect

Commercial (non military) satellite modems + antennas are now less than $500 at very small qty.  For a large market like Iran, the price could potentially drop down to $250 range.  One antenna + modem set up can be multiplexed so 2 users can use it.

While its true that satcom is mainly for 1 way communication, Iranians are mostly in need of Information, not so much sending info out.  Am I missing something here?

To ex programmer Craig

You sound like you are in the same field as i, thereofre you know the intracacies of how these systems work.  I usually do not respond directly to blogs, but here it is.  Satellites can also and do infact carry modems and routes on board.  The satellites in question will then transmit to ground stations, which are already setup inside and around all the neighboring countries sharing borders with Iran.  This can be accomplished without the Iranian telecommunications authorities having any input.  all they can do is sit back and try to scamble the transmission.  of course they have to know the frequencies and which device it is coming from.  All in all the American technolgy would have an upper hand in this one and they could bombard Iran with wireless communication.  The question again is who will pay for it, and who has the balls to take it on.

Big unsolved technical obstacles

Satellite Internet has big technical obstacles and basically doesn't work anywhere reliably.

The main problem is that unlike TV, Internet (IP protocol) is 2 way communication. Every time you pull up a website, you are sending packets to the hosting server through the Internet. Satellite is great for one way transmission, but it is not equipped to handle large number of small incoming transmissions.

Hi bandwidth transmission to a satellite from Earth is also expensive and takes a lot of power. Satellites are designed to handle one big burst of uplink using big and expensive equipment. Satellite transmission toward Earth is high power, thus is not as susceptible to weather conditions. But transmission toward a satellite is relatively low power and would have many reliability problems due to weather on top of everything else.

As far as I know, all existing commercial consumer based satellite Internet solutions are actually hybrid systems: whereby the uplink part is done with regular dial-up and the downstream is from the satellite. Even those have problems as there is still a mismatching time lag. That technology is basically available for rural places today. It is about twice as expensive as regular broadband and maybe a quarter as fast. AND it requires a phone dialup service.

JJ

Here's what you do: Provide the entire population of Iran free wifi access via satellite broadband technology.

It'd be  a great idea if it was practical, but that's really not how wireless technology works. Your computer can be wireless but it still has to transmit that wireless signal to a modem or a router someplace fairly close by to get the data onto the internet. In the case of cellphones, they use radiowaves so the cell phone signal (which is short range) has to be able to reach a radio tower someplace nearby. When using satellites instead of phone/cable lines (internet) or radio towers (mobile phones) the signal has to be transmitted to the satellite somehow, before it can be transmitted from the satellite. It's a 2 way process. And it takes some fairly powerful equipment to transmit data to a satellite. It is possible to build computers and phones that will transmit directly to a satellite but it's a completely different technology than existing mobile phones or internet enabled computers use. That stuff is generally only in use by governments and military organizations currently. it's quite expensive! So, yes it could be done. But it would cost a lot. And everyone in Iran who wanted to use the technology would have to somehow replace their existing computers and cell phones with the new tech.

GREAT idea but

This is a great idea.  Its not THAT expensive and with 128bit packet encryption its tough to scramble satellite signal; since it would have a very large foot print as well.  A small company (an off shoot of Qualcomm I think) bought the Iridium system from Motorola for $60M.  Too late now.

But before access to the internet, masses in Iran need to be de-educated and re-educated.  De-education from old Islamic ideas and superstitions and re-education by introduction to the ideas of freedom of thought and expression, non judgmental outlook, admitting and accepting own faults and last but not least (most important) understanding that lying (no matter how insignificant) and hypocrisy are BAAAD.

P.S.

Iranians have not been able to put their money together to release a film made by an Iranian patriot about Cyrus the Great, otherwise I would suggest to start a fund organization that can put millions together to rent a satellite service for Iranian internet consumers. However, what is the objective? Do you believe that Iran will be freed?

Dear Jahanshah

Your idea is noble but the world runs with money. It's not that simple.

who will pay for this?

JJ;

There is absolutley nothing techincally wrong with what you propose.  there are over 2500 near earth orbiting satellites, with plenty of broadband capacity to point them towards Iran and provide the users with free IP connectivity and these satellites could also act as their one routers and gateways, free from any connectivity to Iranians gateways or fringe routers.  the only question is who is going to pay to lease the satellite.  Americans might be philanthropic, but he companies who provide these services would want some one to pay for the usage.

Having worked at Boeing's wirleless broadband division i know this is possible and there is plenty of dead broadband sitting idle.  Now, can we convince an Iranian do gooder to put up the money so our compatriots can get a years worth of free wifi?  perhpas.  What would the UN and world body think about intrusion into the Iranian airspace? i am sure they will complain to the UN and want to stop it.  A can of worms to open up and much legal answers to settle, but technologically this thing can happen tomorrow.

Anyways,

couldn't you find a more truly subversive example than Martin Luther?!

A Great Idea!

A Great Idea which it’s time has come, and can be implemented if there's a collective will on the part of all Iranians abroad. We can’t really expect the other nations fight the struggle for democracy and freedom for us, if they are willing to help, that is great and we should welcome it and even perhaps solicit it but the ultimate move is on every one of us.

Every Person, Every Voice and Every Action Counts!

Ey baba...

If Iranians had what it takes to pool their resources and take actions that do not immediately benefit their pretty little selves we wouldn't be where we are today to begin with.

But you're right that we would be utterly stupid to wait to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Who?

JJ jan, who do you think would want to help Iranians? The ones who threaten to bomb them or the ones who are supporting Jundullah?

"If the American government really wants to empower the Iranian people in their fight for freedom..."

That's a big IF J! Nobody would help another nation achieve freedom and democracy out of the goodness of their heart. IRI has been the ideal boogey man in the middle east. All Arab countries are afraid of them and buying lots of weapons from US, and Israel is safe because the worst that AN does is throw slogans at them. As long as they're not quite stable and can't become some sort of power, hence the support of groups like jundollah! 

You also mentioned that maybe a few of the rich Iranians would get together and help out. Have you seen how Iranians do business with other Iranians? I bought a car from an Iranian dealer once! (only once) but I admire your optimism.

IRANdokht

Bache shodi JJJ? They steal Windows, u think they can't put a ch

Bache shodi JJJ? They steal Windows, u think they can't put a chip in all electronic gadgets to prevent them from getting satellite signals? Tazeh getting satellite signals require a better and more expensive technology like satellite cell phones. 

And why would anyone give it to us for "free"?! Is our eyes and eyebrows that beautiful?!

Everything is sacred.

........

In US, Wifi is not even working out perfectly, let alone providing free WIFI to Iran.....I have a wireless laptop, it works perfectly at work, I am able to access Internet with my wireless lap-top anywhere from my work location....... but when I took my lap-top with me on trips, the laptop never worked with all hotels claiming to have WIFI service, not even one hotel!

Well said, Fred

The greatest material support would be to allow the voices of freedom fighters be heard by the entire nation of Iran and around the globe.

It will be more effective in their fight, than all the arms in the world combined.

Oh, you mean the BBC when you say ...

"In 1979 people learned about opposition to the Shah through cassette tapes, photocopies and short wave radio broadcasts from abroad.

Well, JJ jaan, that was 1979 when there was a foreign will to turn things upside down. This is 2009 and there is no such will, yet.

FR

Needed material support

"If the American government really wants to empower the Iranian people in their fight for freedom it would seriously consider giving them free broadband access to all of them."

If an Islamist Rapist Republic imposed war is to be avided, the sane world's material support to the enslaved Iranians is a must. America as the beacon of freedom and democracy has a good track record in doing just that.