Take That, Tehran (Commentary‪)‬

The Obama administration has begun taking action to bring Internet freedom to Iran. This sounds wonderful. But this approach ignores two key factors: 1) Iran already has the upper hand in this battle; 2) the current approach is dangerous to activists and focuses on too few people. If the U.S. really wants to bring free-flowing information to Iran, it needs to rethink its current strategy. I grew up in Iran and worked as a journalist there until 2004, when I--along with 20 other bloggers, Web technicians, and journalists--was arrested by security forces for my blog, in what was the first major raid against bloggers and online activists. After two months of mistreatment and solitary confinement, I was released and soon after moved to the United States.