Kamangir (Archer)

Wordpress.com: Filtering, the sneaky way

Kamangir | July 27, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, Iran

Wordpress.com, although being a very popular blogging service, is under attack by the filtering system in Iran.

The filtering system generally targets a whole website. The issue of wordpress.com, however, is a bit different. In fact, rather than filtering the blogs, the ssl-enabled control panels are being filtered. This inhibits the users from updating their blogs and, according to persianweblog.ir, this measure has resulted in a sheer decline in the rate of updates of Persian blogs which are hosted on wordpress.com.

As a countermeasure, Persian users of wordpress.com have started using anti-filter tools and proxies for accessing the control panels of their blogs. Due to the nature of these tools, this endangers the privacy and security of these bloggers (because proxies use identical IP addresses for different users, thus confusing security protocols and enabling hackers to gain access to restricted sources, including the control panel of a blog).