While we're all up in arms over SOPA and PIPA, the government of Iran continues to monitor its citizen's Internet access. The government has gone so far as to sentence a programmer to death for insulting the sanctity of Islam because of a piece of software used by a porn site.


The Star reports that programmer and Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour was arrested during a visit to Iran in 2008 while visiting his sick father. During his incarceration Malekpour was forced to make televised confessions on state TV after being tortured.

They asked me to falsely confess to purchasing software from the UK and then posting it on my website for sale. I was forced to add that when somebody visited my website, the software would be, without his/her knowledge, installed on their computer and would take control of their webcam, even when their webcam is turned off. Although I told them that what they were suggesting was impossible from a technological point of view, they responded that I should not concern myself with such things.


The horrible porn software he created was actually just a piece of photo uploading software that a porn site used without his knowledge. In June 2011, Malekpour's sentence was suspended. But, under review by the Iranian Supreme Court, his death sentence was upheld on Monday. [The Star via The Next Web]