Iran has had issues with the Internet in the past, and this time around, the world of text messages has been affected by Iranian policies as well. With the Iranian currency (rial) dropping to a new record low against the US dollar today, shedding nearly 8% in its value, it seems that the word “dollar” is now officially banned across mobile phone text services, as well as select Exchange websites.
Of course, not only the word “dollar” in English is censored, but a similar meaning in Farsi also got hit by the government’s banhammer, meaning such a message will not be received as intended. In Farsi, the word for “foreign money” was given the chop, but since there is no way to wield a blanket ban, there are methods to get around the situation such as using the word “USD” or taking advantage of the $ symbol. Iran’s two main mobile phone service providers, MCI and Irancell, stepped forward to say that they are not the ones behind the filtering, rightfully washing their hands off this “responsibility”.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Syrian rebels are holding machine guns on the right and cellphones on the left, SMS alerts you of an incoming missile attack,
In war-torn Syria, rebels are “MGexting”, that is, holding a machine gun in the right hand while the left hand is busy on a cellphone. Apparently Syrian rebels are relying heavily on SMS for their operations. As seen above, 20-year old Ahmed Sheikha is manning a 7.62mm PK machine gun while speeding towards the war-torn city of Aleppo. New York Times foreign correspondent C.J. Chivers said that Ahmed Sheikha defected from the Syrian Army six weeks ago and is now fighting for the al-Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo.
