NEWS: Iran considering death penalty for cyber crimes

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iran/iran-considering-death-penalty-for-web-related-crimes-1.116338

"Under the draft bill, those found guilty of promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the internet may face the death penalty. The bill aims to "toughen punishment for harming mental security in society," Iran's ISNA news agency said.

ISNA said MPs placed the bill as a high priority discussion on the agenda.

Setting up weblogs and sites which promote any of the crimes listed in the bill are punishable by death.

According to the bill, those convicted of these crimes "should be punished as 'mohareb' (enemy of God) and 'corrupt on the earth'.''

Iran imposes strict restrictions on internet access, blocking thousands of sites which may carry content deemed immoral or religiously and politically inappropriate."

Ouch.

ugh... I can't imagine how bad it is to live in Iran. Law should never be based on religious belief.

And death for so called "mentally harmful" acts on the internet? I don't understand how anyone could be accepting of that sort of life, with those sorts of rules, but I guess I wasn't raised in a place like Iran so I wouldn't see it in the same way someone born their would.

Wow, Iran is taking the banhammer FAR too seriously......

Y'know, I feel sorry for Iranian trolls

Iran is an insane state. It was better under the Shah, pre-1979.

Trollin' is SRS BIZNUSS.

But seriously, that is a very harsh take. I don't think its that bad that they are seeing the virtual spaces as being just as important as physical spaces, because the internet is a very influental place. But I feel the death penalty is way too harsh. I wonder what impact thats going to have on people and their feelings toward the political members. They are being denied their freedom to information. Thats a basic human right.

Im glad I don't live there, but maybe that's why I find it shocking.

I dislike trolls as much as the next guy.

But a death penalty? Really? That just seems ridiculous.

Hey, according to Imadinnerjacket there are absolutely no homosexuals in Iran.

!!!LOONEY ALARM!!!

Yeah, Iran just hangs all of them that reveal themselves. What kind of state stones people to death? It is just barbaric. That's a medieval punishment.

I don't think they're gonna push death penalties on trolls, but rather on slightly "heavier" offences (p**n sites).

This is going too far, but they'd have the same problem with this law as every other government - international borders. They may block sites, but there are ways round these blocks (Facebook and Twitter have both been accessed in countries that block them - I saw it on a BBC documentary last year).

The biggest probnlem with cyber crime is if the site is based in a different country. With each country having it's own laws, it would be difficult to enforce any of them. Iran would no doubt make any anti-Iranian content illegal, but what if the site in question is run by an Iranian in another country - like the UK or US, who would not consider anti-Iranian (or anti-UK/US) content specifically illegal?

Most laws covering cyber crime are pretty unenforceable unless they actually break none cyber-specific laws. Not every country is willing to deport those within it's borders to certain countries either. On top of this, will they take context into account if the bill is passed? Will someone really be executed because they played devil's advocate in a legitimate online debate?

Some countries need to lighten up. Oh, and if some random Iranian government person decides to pop in here, declare a fatwa on me, I don't particularly care. But, what are the chances of that happening anyway.

On a side note, how on Earth do they keep up with all the sites out there and block them?

Edit: Slime, you might want to put a "t" in "penalty". I have also moved this to the News Section

Some countries need to lighten up. Oh, and if some random Iranian government person decides to pop in here, declare a fatwa on me, I don't particularly care. But, what are the chances of that happening anyway.

Heh, lol. It's as likely as someone arresting you for downloading a torrent.

And it's not hard to bypass ISP limitation using proxies. Not sites like hidemyass.com, of course, but still. I know people in China that do that (to get to Google, or at least did a year ago, I'm not even sure they still block it).