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From the article:

>> A conservative cleric blogger based in the holy Shiite city of Qum, Ahmad Najimi, said in his blog last week that the government was paying hackers hired in the network known as the "Cyber Army" the equivalent of $7 per hour to swarm the Web with positive comments about the Islamic Republic and post negative comments against dissidents.

So we ask ourselves, are comments here that are mitigating Iran's actions here - or ones that divert the conversation to say SOPA - getting paid by the hour?

but wait - if we assume _all_ positive comments are paid for, then we're denying those that are unpaid to voice valid counter arguments.

Oh my head, my poor head....




That happens in China, too. When there's a new policy or law, they pay thousands of people to write positive comments about it.


I love China. I think they have the best human rights record in the world!


They pay for positive comments, not sarcastic ones. Don't expect a check in the mail... ;-)


Generally those commenters stick to Iran-themed websites and blogs but I wouldn't be shocked to find them posting here. You should also consider how often SOPA is being brought up needlessly in conversations across the entire web. I doubt the rate is much different in discussions involving Iran. The causal link is more likely to be "a story discussing Internet censorship of any kind."




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