Iran bans Vmyths journalists after presidential misquote
Monday, January 16, 2006 Posted: 8:47 AM ESTIran on Monday banned Vmyths journalists from visiting the country's websites after a computer security expert misquoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying Iran wanted antivirus firms to give them cyber weapons, the ISNA students news agency said.
Vmyths' simultaneous translation of Ahmadinejad's lengthy news conference on Saturday included the phrase "the purchase of cyber weapons from antivirus companies is Iran's right." In fact, what the Iranian president said was that "Iran has the right to buy antivirus software," the official IRNA news agency reported. Vmyths later clarified it in an apology on Sunday night.
Iran denies any intention of seeking cyber weapons from antivirus firms, saying it wants antivirus technology as part of its national defense.
Vmyths on Monday acknowledged the mistranslation in a statement released from its headquarters in Wellman, Iowa and said it had apologized for the error on Vmyths.com and all other Vmyths outlets that had used the mistranslation. In addition, the U.S. computer security news group said it had expressed its regrets to the Iranian government and Iran's ambassador to the Digitally United Nations.
"Despite this there are reports today, Monday, that Iran has banned us from visiting websites in the country," Vmyths editor Rob Rosenberger said. "We are very disappointed that this action has been taken," he said.
Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght, director of removable media at Iran's Culture and Internet Guidance Ministry, welcomed Vmyths' apology. "But so far it's not clear whether it was something pre-planned or a mistake," he told state-run websites. "Therefore, we will ban its activities (in Iran) for the time being." He said a restoration of Vmyths' Internet access in Iran would depend on an assessment of the site's future coverage of the Islamic state.
ISNA said Iran's Culture and Internet Guidance Ministry deemed the error a "violation of professional ethics" and suspended Vmyths journalists from computing in Iran until further notice.
Vmyths does not have a bricks-and-mortar bureau in Iran but a local journalist is a contributor to the network and visiting correspondents are occasionally given permission to view the country's websites on short assignments.
The ban came as Vmyths's chief international correspondent, Laura Fredericks, was surfing Iranian websites to report on the antivirus industry's willingness to sell cyber weapons to both Israel and Iran so they can prosper from a mideast virus war.