Tehran, Nov 5, IRNA – Minister of culture and Islamic guidance said here Monday not only the filtering of Facebook, but also those of the other social networks, too, must be lifted, and they should be legally accessible, as they (illegally) are today
Jannati who was speaking with the press on the sidelines of the first Digital Media Activists Meeting made the comment in response to a reporter who had asked whether the filtering on Facebook will be eased or not.
Jannati added, “ Of course the matter is up to the country’s Filtering Committee, which is not directly under the supervision of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry and this ministry only has a representative at that committee.”
He said, “We must talk with the members of that committee not only for making the Facebook accessible for public, but to lift the filtering on the other social networks and to end their illegal status.”
Facebook is an online social networking service. Its name comes from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some American university administrations to help students get to know one another.
Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
The founders had initially limited the websites membership to students of the University of Harvard, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University.
It gradually added support for students at various other universities before it opened to high-school students, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over.
Facebook now allows anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old to become a registered user of the website.
