"The information wants to be free. "

Interesting quote and a true one with regards to the internet. Regimes like Iran, China and North Korea create more problems for themselves by trying to control the population. If they let people have opinions and express them freely the actual dissent would be lessened.

Is this actually that much different from some of the PC bollocks that was forced apon us from the previous Labour Govt ? Thou shall not smack up your children, thou shall only breath every 5 seconds.....

Isnt this the same argument that we have against internet piracy?

shut down one avenue of illegal downloads and 5 other types pop up.

I think youre right with the iranian people will just find another way to communicate. craigslist? buzz?

The more the powers that be try and block something, the more people will try and get around it. This is no different to Australia's attempt at an internet filter, which also wont work.

Two points. 1 It is surprisingly easy for an authoritan regime to control what overseas sites users access because they probably only have one or two connections to the rest of the world. Whether that is a good idea or not is a separate issue

2. Most users of gmail do so because it is free and convenient. If a regime makes it inconvenient but provides a convenient alternative they may indeed get the majority of users on it without mass riots. See China where google's threat to shut down operations has, once looked at closely rather than superficially, little response by users there and apparently boosted their home grown competitors.

Why not? China controls the internet- why else would Hotmail and Yahoo continue to give the regime details of its users' information and censor their own blogs? This is typical of the way China is run. It seems hypocritical that Iran is singled out when China can do the same with impunity as a member of the UN Security Council no less which is a signatory to the Declaration of Human Rights and whose own constitution claims to support freedom of speech and information. The only difference is that the Chinese government has managed to kill more of its citizens than Iran's and has replaced Google and Youtube with blatant rip-offs whilst belonging to the WTO.

For everyday users I think they will find it suprisingly easy (look at the internet situation in Saudi Arabia). For hackers, true dissidents and determined teenagers? Impossible. Someone with technical knowhow and access to the right equipment can bypass virtually any restriction.

... and @ Gorgon... seriously the Labour government saying "don't assault your children" and the Iranian government blocking gmail to stop political dissidents...quite different things. labour didn't ban anyone from protesting the anti smacking law. In Iran you can be imprisoned and even executed for disagreeing with the government.

As much furor as the anti smacking bill caused, Labour never told anyone to stop talking about it. That's why we're lucky to live in New Zealand. No matter what our opinions we have the right to share them, to challenge those in power without having to fear reprisals.

@#2 Gorgon let us not turn this into a political debate about New Zealand. However in response to your misinformed comment let me remind you that your beloved leader Mr John "foot in mouth" Key failed to repeal the anti smacking law even when presented by near unanimous referendum on the topic by New Zealand citizens.

Every time Mr Key opens his mouth he should think to himself "Is it a good idea for me to make a statement?" close his mouth and go back to sleep; or risk embarrassing himself and New Zealand politically again.

I am sure Mr Key is doing the best job that he can but it just goes to show that the skills required to make one a successful Banker are NOT transferrable to being the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Bring back labour; repeal MMP and let us not slip further into the abyss!

I don't think Iran can ever stop the internet: underground movements have always found ways to communicate. What they CAN do, however, is to drive everything so far underground that it will take ages to be a problem again.

And I agree with Peter #5, given a choice, most people will choose a service that won't get them into trouble.

Block Twitter? Imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth from all those people who can't read about what someone had for breakfast this morning!