In a new twist to the Internet infiltration of government relations, Iran’s supreme leader is accusing the U.S. of using the world wide web against Iran.

This one is coming out of nowhere, though it isn’t the first time the Internet has been cast as an antagonist to Iranian status quo. Last year’s contested election saw an information crackdown by the Iranian government, and though most social media services were unavailable for anyone to use, opposition sympathizers used the social media network Twitter to send out information, communicate with the rest of the world, and freely vent both their frustrations and their accusations of wrong-doing against the government.

China has also been battling with Internet concerns lately, alternately defending their own filtering laws and accusing the U.S. of trying to pick an ill-advised fight over issues between the Chinese government and Google. In essence, Google was hacked and there is some indication that the Chinese government may be involved. Details are not available and the whole thing is pretty hush-hush, but it is another example of a government trying to deal with the changes in availability of information and communication that come with the power of the Internet.

It’s a good check for us as Americans to think about the availability of information on the Internet. While our debate is over how media models can monetize and make a living as the new media models form, there is little debate over what can be on the Internet or what can be made available. The Internet in the U.S. remains a wild west where anyone can set up shop and provide any kind of content, information and capabilities that they can get their hands on. Our only issue seems to be how to make money off of it. The porn industry figured it out, and the news world, while still working on it, will get there- and aside from extreme conspiracy theorists, no one is crying out for the government to let the truth be told on the Internet. There is a sense, perhaps unwarranted, that because we have the Internet, anyone can find the truth. That may be China’s issue. Iran’s issue, though, is what the Internet can do to their reign of power.

The U.S. Senate adopted the Victims of Iranian Censorship Act this summer, authorizing up to $50 million to expand Farsi language broadcasts and support Iranian Internet and to counter government efforts to block it.

"America and Israel were and still are the most hostile of the enemies of the Islamic system and the Iranian nation. All America's plots and efforts during the past 30 years were fruitless and I'm surprised that they didn't learn a lesson from the past," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also accuses the U.S. of plotting riots in Iran.

There are rumors of another riot to mark the 31^st anniversary of the Islamic revolution on February 11, and Iran’s national police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam has warned the opposition to not use text messages or emails for organizing anti-government protests. Is the U.S. involved in organizing these protests? I’m sure no one can say for sure or to what extent. What can be said for sure, though, is that the Internet is being utilized by the opposition to form a movement. And that is, at the very least, in the American spirit.

Photo Credit: indigoprime (via Flickr under CCL)