Iran: No more download of music A new ban on high-speed internet will bar Iranians from downloading music to their computers and iPods
In a blow to the country's estimated five million internet users, service providers have been told by Iran's Islamic government to restrict online speeds to 128 kilobytes a second and been forbidden from offering fast broadband packages, writes The Guardian. Banning high-speed internet makes it more difficult to download foreign music which the authorities blame for undermining Islamic culture among the younger generation. According to the newspaper a petition branding the high-speed ban as "backward and unprincipled" bearing more than 1,000 signatures is to be sent to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran filters more websites than any other country apart from China. Also satellite dishes are banned because they are said to bring "corrupt Western values" into the Iranian homes.
Teaching music in state schools is already prohibited in Iran. Now, the music ban also applies to Iran’s 16,000 private schools with 1.1 million students
If taxi drivers play banned music in their taxis, it could lead to cancellation of their taxi permit and confiscation of their cars, warned a government official
Iranian police detained 80 young men and women for "lustful pleasure-seeking" activities at an illegal concert, Tehran's chief prosecutor was quoted as saying
A compilation of underground Iranian music, compiled by the music centre Bar-Ax, was published as a free bonus-CD with April-May 2010 issue of the music magazine Songlines
Government-owned radio stations in Iran have been ordered to stop broadcasting certain singers’ music and certain songs, reported Ilna and Iran Human Rights Voice.
