Iran plans to re-block mobile app due to its Israeli background

By  Trend

Iran is working to block access to Waze, a GPS-based geographical navigation application due to its Israeli background.

Access to the app was temporary blocked earlier in March, but later the ban was removed later.

Now Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, secretary of the Iranian cyberspace watchdog, ?Committee for Determining Criminal Web Content, says that the committee has demanded the ICT ministry to block the app again.

A team is commissioned to take necessary measures in order to block Iranians’ access to Waze, Khorramabadi Said Oct. 9, according to Iranian media outlets

However blocking the app needs time, because Waze uses infrastructures that are time-consuming to stop, the official said, without any further explanation.

Earlier Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that the Israeli background of Waze has raised concerns about the consequences of its usage in Iran.

Previously, Iran’s Judiciary ordered the local Android marketplace Cafe Bazaar to remove Waze from its website.

Waze, formerly FreeMap Israel was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Waze Mobile.

Waze Mobile was founded in Israel by Ehud Shabtai, Amir Shinar and Uri Levine, funded by 2 Israeli venture capital firms, Magma and Vertex and an early-stage American venture capital firm Bluerun Ventures, and eventually acquired by Google in 2013.