The portable apps website has started packaging freeware applications recently. Google Chrome Portable 3.0.195.27 release is among the popular new packages. The package installer file doesn't contain the whole application. The launcher and installer are hosted on SF site and the rest is pulled from Google (chrome_installer.exe).Unfortunately and discriminately, this file is not available for some countries including Iran and if you click the link, you'll be presented with a shameful text from Google. So if you have any problem with downloading process, you can alternatively grab the complete application from Download Link 1 or Download Link 2.
[Update 10/24/2009 8:27 PM]: I've had a discussion with John T. Haller of portable apps about the new download source. He believes it's illegal to include the installer according to the software EULA and "it should be removed". I believe it is unfair, immoral and also illegal to restrict program access by Google according to article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The judgment is up to you.
What's in the news
According to Wall Street Journal, Iran “has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world’s most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.” [1]The article says they are using deep packet inspection method to not only block communication, but to monitor it to gather information about individuals. This information could be your instant messaging text, email, twitter updates, facebook activities and even your passwords. It also suggests that all the time-consuming packet inspection process is done through a single gate at a monitoring center called telecommunication company of Iran: "Every digitized packet of online data is deconstructed, examined for keywords and reconstructed within milliseconds."The Nokia Siemens Networks, which sold the system to Iran in the second half of 2008, has announced that "The restricted functionality monitoring center provided by Nokia Siemens Networks in Iran cannot provide data monitoring, internet monitoring, deep packet inspection, international call monitoring or speech recognition. Therefore, contrary to speculation in the media, the technology supplied by Nokia Siemens Networks cannot be used for the monitoring or censorship of internet traffic." and "Nokia Siemens Networks provided TCI, the Iranian national operator, with the capability to conduct voice monitoring of local calls on its fixed and mobile network." [2]
It is worth mentioning the Internet speed in Iran has been very slow recently. This is not a proof of DPI method implementation or anything similar but surely is a dubious symptom.
What should you believe?
I think it doesn't really matter if the WSJ is correct or not. The only tangible reality is the vast filtering of Internet in Iran. This forces the populous users of Internet in here to use any option available to bypass the system. From anonymizing proxy servers to open proxies with various protocols. The Freegate software which enables users from limited countries to view blocked websites stopped the service for Iranians recently due to apparently extreme usage.This brings up a new problem: your privacy. Most online traffic of Iran is trapped in integrated servers whether the country is using sophisticated systems to monitor traffic or users find alternative (and usually common) solutions to access the free Internet. So unless you want some bad guys blackmail you with your life's most personal info in near future, you'd better protect your privacy.What to do?
Here is a list of techniques you can apply to protect your privacy (with no guarantees):1) Encrypt your sensitive online activities using a Tor node or a legitimate proxy that really encrypts traffic with SSL. You can also use encryption in your instant massaging and VoIP software by configuring a secured proxy. Even the DPI can't see the content this way.2) Having all your traffic traces integrated at a place increases the risk of blowing your identity. Don't use a single and probably widespread solution to access free Internet. Use as many options as possible.3) Change your Internet accounts' passwords frequently if you use proxies. If you have used a proxy service to login to a website that doesn't support SSL encryption by default (e.g facebook), chances are high that the proxy server has your raw credentials logged already.4) Don't use your real name in social networks and blogs if you are worried about being arrested for materials you post.And last but not least, the security measures applicable for protecting privacy are much more. I'll gratefully extend it if I receive any comments.
[1]: WSJ article
[2]: Nokia Siemens Networks announcement
External links:
DPI
p2pnet story
Tor project
TCI
sky, big
photo: misterarasmus @ flickr
upwind
photo: origin unknown - modified
responsibility, divine, evil, fake, common, goal, vague
photo: origin unknown
I've noticed that many cool websites have been filtered recently in Iran. For example, tinypic.com along with other famous image hosting services, ZDNet blog, makeuseof.com and even blogger.com! So you might have guessed that I'm surfing my own blog using a proxy service! Putting strange policies that support the Internet filtering aside, sometimes programmers are responsible for erroneous filtering of websites.* Thanks to various proxy services available for free, any child can bypass the filter nowadays and the only tradeoff is speed. But sometimes it's more than that, for instance, when the U.S. government sponsored a service to assist Iranians in overcoming Internet filtering imposed by the Iranian government, the U.S.-sponsored service in turn sought to filter out pornographic sites so that Iranians would not use the circumvention service to obtain pornography. The service filtered any site with "ass" in its domain name—including usembassy.state.gov, the U.S. Department of State's online portal for its own overseas missions.[1] They have probably chosen to use The Most Simple Solution but missed the conclusion!
* I've seen an email address shown by my ISP which allows users to send website addresses filtered mistakenly for revision. You have to write the address in your email subject. Here it is: filter[at]dci.ir
[NEW 4/26/2009]: Almost all websites mentioned in this post are now unfiltered!
1. J. Zittrain (2008). The Future of the Internet And How to Stop It. Yale university press.
The portable apps website has started packaging freeware applications recently. Google Chrome Portable 3.0.195.27 release is among the popular new packages. The package installer file doesn't contain the whole application. The launcher and installer are hosted on SF site and the rest is pulled from Google (chrome_installer.exe).
