The government of Iran has reportedly cut off all outside access to the Internet. News.com reports that an unnamed Iranian citizen has confirmed that services such as Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail are no longer working. However some citizens in that country are able to access the net via VPN connections.
So far Iran"s government has yet to mention anything about this move but some speculate that the government decided to pull the plug from the Internet ahead of Saturday, February 11. That"s the anniversary date of Iran"s 1979 revolution that put the current government in power and there"s word that anti-government forces might decide to use the date to hold mass protests against the government and its leaders.
In May there were reports that Iran might try to establish its own version of the Internet that would be heavily censored and firewalled off from the rest of the world"s Internet access. The country"s government has also claimed it has been the victim of various cyber attacks in the past. If the country"s leaders do decide to block off access to the outside world and launch their own Internet service it could spell trouble for any citizens who want to oppose the government"s actions.