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Who Does Iran Think It Is? China?

Between China-based cyber attacks and the E.U.'s continued unrest over Google's books project, you'd think the search giant had enough foreign drama. Yet, to make way for its own national email service, Iran's telecommunications agency has gone and put Gmail on a permanent suspension.

It's still not clear what effect the order will immediately have on Gmail services in Iran, but Google is confirming a sharp drop in traffic. "We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail," a Google spokesman said in a statement. An Iranian official tells The Wall Street Journal that the move is meant to boost local development of Internet technology and to build trust between people and the government.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »

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