The entire Iranian telecom and technology industry should be blacklisted and closed to foreign companies unless they can certify to the U.S. government that any sales of technology to Iran will facilitate Iranians’ access to safe and open communications, Mark Dubowitz and Toby Dershowitz write Thursday, April 12, 2012, in The Wall Street Journal. This is the aim of U.S. legislation proposed by Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), which Congressmen Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Robert Dold (R-IL) are also working on introducing in the House of Representatives. As President Obama declared last month, the Iranian government employs an “electronic curtain” with which technologies “that should empower citizens are being used to repress them.” Tearing down the electronic curtain will require concerted action by Western governments.