Iran plans to block Google

Iran plans to modify its citizens onto a domestic Internet network in what officials say is a bid to improve cyber safety measures but which many Iranians fear could be the latest way to control their use of the web.

The announcement, produced by a government deputy minister with Sunday, came as state television announced Google Inc's search engine and its email service could well be blocked "within a few hours".

"Google and Gmail will be filtered throughout the country until further notice, " an established identified only by his final name, Khoramabadi, said, without supplying further details.

The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) said Google ban was linked with the anti-Islamic film posted around the company's YouTube site which has caused outrage through the Muslim world. There was simply no official confirmation.

Iran has one of the biggest Internet filters of any country on the planet, preventing normal Iranians from accessing countless sites around the official grounds they are questionable or criminal.

But many Iranians believe the block on sites such as Facebook and YouTube is due to their use in anti-government protests following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad during the past year.

Sites expressing views considered anti-government are routinely blocked.

Iranians commonly overcome the government filter by utilizing virtual private network ( VPN) software program that makes the computer looks as if it is based in an additional country.

But officials have long spoken of making an Iranian Internet system which could be largely isolated from online.

"In recent days, all governmental businesses and offices... have been linked with the national information network, " deputy communications and technological innovation minister Ali Hakim-Javadi was quoted as saying with the Mehr news agency.

The second phase of the plan is usually to connect ordinary Iranians to this national network, he said.

As outlined by Iranian media, the domestic system could well be fully implemented by March 2013 but it was not clear whether use of the global Internet would be cut when the Iranian system is rolled out.

Even using VPNs, many Iranians suffered serious problems accessing email and web 2 . 0 sites in February, ahead regarding parliamentary elections.

WORM The Islamic Republic stiffened cyber security after its nuclear programme was attacked in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer earthworms, which caused centrifuges to fail at its main uranium enrichment center.

Tehran, whose nuclear programme is suspected with the West of being aimed at developing a bomb, accused the United States and Israel of deploying this worm.

Authorities said in April your working computer virus was detected inside this control systems of Kharg Island - which handles nearly all Iran's crude oil exports - nevertheless the terminal remained operational.

Communications and Technology Minister Reza Taqipour said last month Iran had to develop its own network to guarantee the safety of the country's information.

"Control over the Internet really should not be in the hands of a few countries, " he said. "Especially with major issues and during crises, one cannot trust this network whatsoever. "

Iran threatened in May for taking legal action against Google more than its decision to drop the term "Persian Gulf" from its Google Maps and leaving the waterway between Iran and also the Arabian peninsula nameless.

Many Arab states reference the sea as the "Arabian Gulf", any term Iran considers unacceptable.