JayAtl
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More claims of grandeur from Iran, adding to to stock they have invested in being the world's most entertaining source for news
The Iranian authorities have long accused Google Earth of being a tool for western spy agencies, but now they have taken their attacks on the 3D mapping service one step further by planning the launch of an "Islamic" competitor.
Iran's minister for information and communications technology, Mohammad Hassan Nami, announced this week that his country was developing what he described as an "Islamic Google Earth" to be called Basir (spectator in Farsi) which will be ready for use "within the next four months".
Speaking to the Guardian, two users in Tehran, using different internet service providers, gave opposing accounts of their access to Google Earth, one saying the virtual globe was accessible while the other one said it was blocked.
"They have claimed to run their service in four months and said their data centre capacity will reach Google's size in three years," he said. "Three-year project, no business model and only relying on government funding, a piece of cake indeed To have a data centre with such capacity and security level they need power stations, cooler systems, bandwidth, etc, which will require billions of dollars of investment that doesn't fit with Iran's sanctions-hit economy."
Experts, however, have serious doubts about the project. An IT consultant who has worked on Iran's national internet project in the past said the announcement was merely an excuse to obtain funds and secure working contracts for the future.