Pars Online, an Iranian ISP, granted to sell ADSL

Pars Online is the first company that has been granted the permission to provide ADSL connection in Iran. The government has decided this today and they've happily put the news on their website using huge banners that has covered the whole front page.

Surprisingly, ParsOnline is the first Internet Provider that started to filter blogspot, persianblog and other popular weblogs such as mine, even before any blacklist was published by the government, many of them still blocked. In response, PersianBlog blocked all IP addresses that came from Pars Online and as far as I know the dispute hasn't resolved yet.

Today's news about the ADSL license adds to peoples doubts about the possible relationship between Pars Online and the government. I have heard from my friends at some ISPs in Tehran that Abdi Fateh, the CEO, knows very well how to bribe the authorities and has actually managed to buy many of them. So he can't risk it's expensive business network by some uncontrollable and decentralized network of weblogs.

Average users are very pissed off about the way Pars Online handle it's tougher-than-the-government filtering and many have boycotted its service, despite their quality and reasonable prices.

So I'm going to focus a bit on them and by putting up internal and maybe external pressure, make them leave their tough attitude towards Net censorship and especially weblogs.

I'm thinking of different things actually: Google bombing, Flash-mobs, contacting their business partners in the West, petition against them to human rights advocating groups, etc. I'd like to hear some creative ideas with the least personal risks for Iranians inside. We should stop them making money out of censorship and bribing authorities.