Tehran, April 16 (IANS/AKI) Iran has announced it would launch an Islamic internet to counter the influence of the US-dominated world wide web.

“Iran will soon create an internet that conforms to Islamic principles, to improve its communication and trade links with the world,” Ali Aqamohammadi, head of economic affairs with the Iranian presidency, told state news agency IRNA.

Aqamohammadi said Iran’s new network will operate parallel to the world wide web and will replace it in Muslim countries in the region.

“We can describe it as a genuinely ‘halal’ network aimed at Muslims on a ethical and moral level.”

“The aim of this network is to increase Iran and the Farsi language’s presence in what has become the most important source of international communication,” Aqamohammadi said.

If we are to believe what is written above, soon all of Jordan and the Islamic world may be forced to surf the web and compose email in Farsi.  Pardon me while I laugh uncontrollably.

In their desperation to compete with Saudi Arabia for control of the Middle East, Iran has certainly bitten off more than they can chew.  I for one hope they spend billions of dollars on this "Halalnet" and turn out the greatest internet backbone of all time.  Then we can all sit back and laugh hysterically as Saudi Arabia doubles their investment and creates an even greater network.  Then we can all sit back and laugh hysterically as both offerings fail miserably.

Of course it's only a matter of time before the great information divide arrives on scene to keep logic from squashing the possibility of free thought.  The next story released on this issue will be those who are threatened with imprisonment or death because they refuse to use Halalnet.  Then the story after that will be those unfortunate souls who are actually put to death for continuing to use Infidelnet.

The true message of this crazy story is that the Ayatollahs will go to any length necessary to censor the flow of information to the Iranian people. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt by the Iranian regime to block access to the global flow of news and information, and that Iranians will find a way to circumvent it.

The openness and freedom of the world wide web is the greatest threat to a true fundamentalist state because it's the one medium that is not absolutely controllable.  Sure, they do a good job of blocking most of it, but when the best and brightest from around the world are constantly seeking new and creative ways to bypass censorship it is bound to fail.  As we saw with Egypt's failed attempts at blocking access to Twitter and Facebook, young people will always find a way around censorship.