Like I said earlier today, information wants to be free. And freedom is something Iran is just not going to tolerate. Via The Guardian (hat tip: Greg Tinti):

Iran yesterday shut down access to some of the world’s most popular websites. Users were unable to open popular sites including Amazon.com and YouTube following instructions to service providers to filter them.

Similar edicts have been issued against Wikipedia, the internet encyclopaedia, IMDB.com, an online film database, and the New York Times site. Attempts to open the sites are met with a page reading: “The requested page is forbidden.”

The clampdown was ordered by senior judiciary officials in the latest phase of a campaign that has seen high-speed broadband facilities banned in an attempt to impede “corrupting” foreign films and music. It is in line with a campaign by Iran’s Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to purge the country of western cultural influences.

Greg writes: “There’s a good quip to be made about Iran banning The Times I’m sure, but it’s evading me at the moment.”

Indeed, there’s something richly bemusing about Iran banning the website of every terrorist’s favorite newspaper.

It’s equally bemusing to see the Iranian jihadists banning YouTube–every terrorist’s favorite video sharing site.

Guess banning all of us anti-jihadists wasn’t enough to keep you off the mullahs’ target list, eh, YouTube?

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Reader Andrea e-mails: “Perhaps Ahmadinejad just wants to avoid reading all those American responses to his letter!”