Yahoo, Google Help Sought To Prevent Iranian Cyber Crimes

The Iranian cyber police officials have called Yahoo and Google cyber companies to co-operate with them for preventing online crimes.

Iran has asked Yahoo, Google, and the messaging app Telegram to "work with us in the prevention of criminal acts," Hossein Ramezani, Iran's deputy cyber-police chief for international affairs.

The country could allow Internet giants to offer their services in the country if they respected Iran's "cultural rules and policies," and that the Islamic republic did not "tolerate" social-networking sites that allow the sharing of "immoral content." an unnamed Iranian official was reported as saying to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty today.

Iran has tough Internet censorship rules and has blocked thousands of websites. Further, it monitors the online activities of its citizens, including activists and critics of the establishment.

Several activists have been interrogated, harassed, and sentenced to jail terms due to their online activities. Yahoo, Google, and Telegram have not responded to the Iranian government.

But Telegram "has not entered any agreements with any government on this planet. No plans to (does not intend to enter any agreement)," Pavel Durov, founder Vkontakte tweeted on September 5 on the micro-blogging website.

The messaging app (Telegram) in recent months has become popular among Iranians, who use it to communicate with each other and share content, including pornography and political satire.