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Heard of Saman Arbabi? The creator of the satirical Iranian TV and radio show "Parazit" was the sole panelist at the SXSW talk, "Iranian Outlaws: Satire Vs. Censorship." From the start, Arbabi inspired great expectations. His intro included a clip of Jon Stewart loving on him: I am proud to be considered in the fraternity of humorists that you guys are in," Stewart said, when Arbabi and his co-host, Kambiz Hosseini, visited "The Daily Show." (We posted the extended interview with Stewart below, full of much more loving-on).

Before launching what's arguably Iran's best and least-loved show, Arbabi, who grew up in the US, worked as a war correspondent for Voice of America. While working, he began to draw cartoons for the hell of it. Their subject was nearly always the hijab -- with a recurring joke centered simply on the image of a woman as a black mound with eyes. In one of his cartoons, an unidentifiable woman in full hijab appears on a milk carton, with the caption, "Have You Seen Me?"

"I found humor was more real than journalism," Arbabi said. He explained the particular targets he trained his sights on: the hijab, and the "hypocrisy" of Islamic tenets against drinking and gambling. "If you ever want to go to Vegas, pick a Muslim. They're beasts," Arbabi said.

To the left of Arbabi was a striking poster in service of the group hosting him, the Weapons of Mouse Destruction campaign. The poster is the work of counter-cultural iconographer Shepard Fairey, who enlisted Twitter co-founder Evan Williams to open his eyes for the camera:

Like Williams, Arbabi is the ideal poster boy for Weapons of Mouse Destruction, a social media-driven awareness campaign about government censorship in places like Iran and China. Arbabi's show is more than a nuisance for the Iranian government -- the way he describes it, "Parazit" is enemy no. 1.

The show began as a one-off experiment for Voice Of America. Emboldened by an online interest in his cartoons, Arbabi convinced his employers he could make them something like a hit. Today it's exactly that, despite the fact that Iran has declared "Parazit" illegal to watch.

"They started breaking down [satellite] dishes. You'd think they're after Bin Laden here," Arbabi said, noting that the government has invested $1 billion in developing a "halal" or Western-free internet.

But "Parazit" isn't any weaker for the counter-attacks. On the contrary, Arbabi claims the streets of Tehran are quieter on the mornings he airs, emptied of people watching the show. As of today, "Parazit" is five Facebook Likes shy of 837,000 (to put that in perspective, The Huffington Post has 554,000 Likes). What Jonathan Franzen criticized as a too-easy show of approval is in this case the opposite. Someone who chooses to Like "Parazit" is also implicitly choosing to let the Iranian government know about it.

For more information on Weapons of Mouse Destruction, visit weaponsofmousedestruction.org. "Parazit" episodes are available on YouTube.

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SXSW 2012: Saman Arbabi Talks 'Parazit' And Government Censorship In Iran (VIDEO)

Reporters Without Borders has updated its 2012 "Enemies of the Internet" listto include Bahrain and Belarus.

The updated list, which was released on Monday to mark what the organisation called "World Day Against Cyber-Censorship", still includes countries such as China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia from the previous year.

The Paris-based non-governmental organisation that advocates freedom of the press said that internet users in 2011 were "at the heart of the political changes in the Arab world and elsewhere".

In Bahrain, RWB said, the government "has bolstered its censorship efforts" in reaction to the pro-democracy uprising that began on February 14, 2011.

"Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures: exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and netizens (one of whom died behind bars), prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, disruption of communications," the report said.

In Belarus, RWB said, "The Internet a mobilisation and information platform has received the full brunt of the authorities brutal crackdown on the opposition."

The report continued that "some 100 Belarusian journalists were interrogated in 2011 alone, and over 30 given prison terms".

Libya, where the government of Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in a violent revolt, was removed from the list of "countries under surveillance".

"In Libya, many challenges remain but the overthrow of theGaddafi regime has ended an era of censorship," the report said.

Venezuela was also removed from that list, whereas India and Kazakhstan were added to it.

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Bahrain added to web censorship blacklist

13-Mar-12, 7:09 AM | Agence France-Presse

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka has imposed censorship on security-related mobile phone messages despite the withdrawal last year of tough emergency laws following the end of its separatist war with Tamil rebels.

The defense ministry's Media Center for National Security (MCNS) in a directive to media organizations said they must get prior approval to publish SMS news alerts "related to national security and security forces."

The censorship, which was announced in a directive dated Friday but seen by AFP on Monday, appeared to be limited to SMS news alerts issued via mobile phones.

The directive came after reports of the killing Friday of three soldiers in the island's north raised fears that the Tamil Tiger rebels, crushed in May 2009, were regathering to resume attacks.

However, tensions eased after the army announced that the killings were carried out by a soldier who later turned the gun on himself and no rebel activity was suspected.

"Any news related to national security and security forces (and) the police should get prior approval from the MCNS before dissemination," MCNS Director General Lakshman Hulugalle said in his directive.

The government imposed censorship during the height of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels using emergency laws that were relaxed last August following intense international pressure.

It was not immediately clear what legal provisions were being used to censor SMS alerts.

The censorship directive came into immediate effect and applied to over a dozen news services. Sri Lanka's five-player mobile industry has over 18 million subscribers.

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Sri Lanka slaps censorship on mobile phone messages

In celebration of World Day Against Cyber Censorship, activist group Reporters Without Borders named its new list of nations who have been deemed enemies of the Internet for their proclivity toward censoring the Web. Whether to quash popular uprisings, or stop online dissent during an election, more and more countries are turning to shutting down mobile phone networks or filtering content, according to the new report.

Reporters Without Borders' report features many reasons why a nation might be on the list. When countries tend toward removing content and pressuring technical service providers, they run the risk of making the list. Other reasons include, threatening net neutrality and online free speech, intrusive surveillance, using propaganda or even committing cyber attacks like DDoSing Web sites. Belarus, once under Soviet Union rule, and Bahrain both made the list after formerly being designated under surveillance by RWB. Venezuela and Libya, conversely, have been dropped from the list completely. The ten other countries to make the list have done so by continuing to restrict access to the Internet, tracking dissidents and pressuring companies to aid and abet government abuse. Start the slideshow to see the entire list.

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Who are the Enemies of the Internet? Reporters Without Borders Names 12 Censorship Ridden Nations

There are some surprising names on the 'Enemies of the Internet' list, such as Australia and France. Perhaps even more surprising are some of the countries that have been dropped from the list, including Venezuela and Libya. Next year could see Burma removed as well. "The news has thus been encouraging, but it can turn on a dime," noted Sheldon Himelfrab of the United States Institute of Peace.

While developments such as the Arab Spring show the power of the Internet, there remain news blackouts, harassment of bloggers, and even attempts to shut down social media in several nations. This is one of the key findings of Reporters Without Borders, which released its annual "Enemies of the Internet" report on Monday, listing countries that curtail access to the Web and freedom of expression.

The updated list was released in conjunction with World Day Against Cyber-Censorship.

"The enemies list contains nations that fall into categories of combining drastic content filtering, track cyberdissidents, or those who present themselves on social media, blogs or Facebook," Delphine Halgand, D.C. Director at Reporters Without Borders, told TechNewsWorld.

The category of "enemies" also considers those nations that "use the Internet as a tool of propaganda," she added.

This year's list saw the addition of Bahrain and Belarus for their restrictive control of the Web. They join Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. "Supervised" countries include Australia, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, France, Sri Lanka, Eritrea and South Korea.

Nations in the "supervised" or "under surveillance" category have been called out for less objectionable -- but still restrictive -- practices. Australia, for example, was included because of its content-filtering plans, and France made the list due to its antipiracy laws.

Other countries were names for more repressive measures -- such as Russia, which has used cyberattacks to thwart political debate; Malaysia, known to harass bloggers; and Turkey, which blocks thousands of websites.

Thailand could join next year's Enemies of the Internet list as it has sent bloggers to prison and has undertaken content-filtering efforts.

Bahrain found itself on the list for similar reasons.

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Journalists Battle Web Censorship With Internet 'Enemies' List