Internet censorship in Iran

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Internet Censorship in Iran – Internet shutdown in Iran
Many of the world's most popular websites have been blocked in Iran.[1] The Iranian government, in response to the 2019 Iranian protests, implemented an internet shutdown that reduced internet traffic in the country to 5% of its usual amount. Iran is widely seen by many to be a country with internet censorship.[2][3][4]

Iran is among countries most strongly identified with internet censorship.[5][6] In 2012, the country blocked on average 27% of internet sites.[7] In the following year, Iran blocked 50% of the top 500 visited websites worldwide.[8] The Iranian government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Sepah also blocked several social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Netflix, Hulu, Telegram, Snapchat, and Medium.[9][10] It also blocked sites related to health, science, sports, news, pornography, and shopping.[11]

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran and the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of Iran manages the internet in Iran.[12][13] The head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran is elected by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei,[12][14] who believes that the internet was invented by the enemies of Iran to use against its people.[15][16][17] The sixth president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also supports internet censorship in the country.[18][19][20][21][22] Despite their support of censorship, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have shared posts on social networks that are blocked in Iran,[23] such as Facebook and Twitter.[23][17][24] Iranians use social media despite government restrictions.[25][26]

Many bloggers, online activists, and technical staff have faced jail sentences, torture, harassment, and abuse.[27][28]

History[]

At the beginning of the 21st century, Iran experienced a great surge in Internet usage.[29] When first introduced, the internet services provided by Iran's government were comparatively open. Many users saw the internet as an easy way to get around Iran's strict press laws.[30][31]

As international internet usage grew, internet censorship in Iran increased and many popular websites were blocked.[29][32] As of 2018 it is estimated that between 64% and 69% of Iranians are internet users.[33][34]

Internet censorship increased with the administration of conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005. Regime opponents in Iran are said to rely heavily on web-based communication with the outside world.

In 2005–2018,[9][35] Ayatollah Khamenei sent letters to the presidents of Iran, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran, and the Revolutionary Guards (Sepah), ordering them to form a national intranet called the National Information Network.[15][36][37][38] The National Information Network (NIN) was unveiled during the 2019 Iranian protests.[6] NIN works in a way similar to the Great Firewall of China, but with more strict monitoring.[9][39][16][38] After YouTube was blocked in Iran,[40] Aparat, an Iranian online video-sharing platform was founded. In 2020, due to the activity of an Aparat user, the CEO of Aparat was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[41][42] The business of selling virtual private networks (VPNs), SOCKS, and proxy servers in Iran is worth millions (USD) due to their large demand.[43] The twelfth minister of Iran Communication State announced that the lucrative business of selling VPNs and proxies has generated substantial profits for its manufacturers and retailers, and there are efforts to stop these businesses.[43][44]

In 2006 and 2010, the activist group Reporters Without Borders labeled Iran one of the 13 countries designated "Enemies of the Internet."[45][46] Reporters Without the Borders sent a letter to UN High Commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay to share its deep concern and ask for her intervention in the case of two netizens/free speech defenders, Vahid Asghari and Hossein Derakhshan.

In preparation for the March 2012 elections, the Iran government instituted strict rules on cybercafés and prepared to launch a national internet.[47] They also require all Iranians to register their websites with the Ministry of Art and Culture.[48]

At the beginning of March 2012, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader instructed the Iranian authorities to set up a body to oversee the internet. That overseeing body, called the Supreme Council of Cyberspace of Iran, consists of the president of Iran, Minister of Intelligence, and IRGC chiefs. Their mission is to define policy and coordinate decisions regarding the internet. This is thought to be the strongest country's authorities attempt at internet censorship so far.[49]

At the beginning of March 2012, Iran began implementing a national Intranet. This effort was partially in response to Western actions to exploit its internet connectivity, like the Stuxnet cyberattack, which has fueled suspicions of foreign technologies.[50] The government and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Sepah's response has been to require the use of Iranian email systems, to block popular web-mail services, inhibit encryption use by disabling VPNs and HTTPS, and to ban externally developed security software.[9][51][52]

Beginning on November 17, 2019,[53] in response to the 2019 Iranian fuel protests, an internet shutdown reduced internet traffic in the country to 5% of normal levels.[54][55][2] Internet access was gradually reactivated later that month.[56][6]

Post 2009-election developments[]

Following the 2009 election protests, Iran ratified the Computer Crimes Law (CCL) in 2010.[57] CCL established legal regulations for internet censorship. Notable provisions of the CCL include: Article 10, which effectively prohibits internet users and companies from using encryption, or protecting data, in a manner that would “deny access of authorized individuals to data, computer and telecommunication systems”; Article 14, which criminalizes “producing, sending, publishing, distributing, saving or financially engaging in obscene content”; Article 21, which requires ISPs to maintain records of internet traffic data and the personal information of their Internet users; and Article 48, which requires Internet Service Providers to record data from telephone conversations over the internet.[58]

In April 2011, Ali Agha-Mohammadi, a senior official, announced the government had plans to launch a halal internet[59] that would conform to Islamic values and provide government-approved services.[47] Such a network, similar to one used by North Korea, would prevent unwanted information from outside of Iran from getting into the closed system. Myanmar and Cuba use similar systems.[60]

As of early 2012, Iran's ministry of information and communication technology was reportedly testing a countrywide "national internet" network, its goal is to be a substitute for services ran through the World Wide Web.[47] The government is also working on "software robots to analyze exchanging emails and chats" in order to find more "effective ways of controlling user's online activities." One Iranian IT expert source defended the program as aimed not "primarily" at curbing the global internet, but at securing Iran's military, banking, and sensitive data from outside cyber-attacks such as Stuxnet.[47]

In addition, by late January 2012, internet café owners were required to record the identities of their customers before providing services. According to the news website Tabnak, an Iranian police statement states:

Internet cafes are required to write down the forename, surname, name of the father, national identification number, postcode, and telephone number of each customer. Besides the personal information, they must maintain other information of the customer such as the date and the time of using the internet and the IP address, and the addresses of the websites visited. They should keep these informations for each individual for at least six months.[47]

In May 2012 Iran criticized Google for dropping the name "Persian Gulf" from its maps, leaving the feature unlabeled. Six days after Khamenei's statement, Iran announced that Google and Gmail would be added to the list of banned sites, to be replaced by the national internet network. Iranian media reported that the new system would be ready by March 2013.[61] The network already hosts some government and academic sites.[62]

The isolation of the separate network was also touted as an improvement to network security, in the wake of the Stuxnet worm attack on Iranian's main uranium enrichment facility. A computer virus was also found in Iran's major Kharg Island oil export terminal in April. Communications and Technology Minister Reza Taqipour said, "Control over the internet should not be in the hands of one or two countries. Especially on major issues and during crises, one cannot trust this network at all."[61]

In September 2012 Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Western leaders to censor the film trailer for Innocence of Muslims, which was posted to YouTube. Khamenei alluded to bans on Nazi-related or anti-gay sites in some countries, asking "How there is no room for freedom of expression in these cases, but insulting Islam and its sanctities is free?".[63]

As of mid-2014, the government of President Hassan Rouhani is seeking to ease internet restrictions in the country, with Ali Jannati, the culture minister, likening the restrictions to the ban on fax machines, video recorders, and videotapes that were implemented following the 1979 revolution.[64] In December 2016, Iranian Prosecutor Ahmad Ali Montazeri, who heads Iran's internet censorship Committee banned and closed 14,000 websites and social networking accounts in Iran.[65] He underlined that President Rouhani and the Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli agree with him and have addressed "serious warnings" on this issue.[65]

Blocking in 2017–18 protests[]

See also: Telegram in Iran

During the 2017–18 Iranian protests, the Iranian government blocked internet access from mobile networks, blocked access to Instagram, and blocked access to Telegram in an effort to stymie protests. At some points, the government completely blocked internet access in parts of the country.[66][67] A January 2018 report by four special rapporteurs of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern about the blocking and stated: "Communication blackouts constitute a serious violation of fundamental rights."[67]

2019 total Internet shutdown[]

Main article: 2019 Internet blackout in Iran

In November 2019, the Iranian government imposed a week-long total internet shutdown in a response to 2019 protests. The blackout was organized by SNSC and MICT.[68][69] It was the largest wide-scale internet shutdown ever in Iran.[70]

List of blocked websites[]

Page shown when trying to access Google Developers in Iran

Internet censorship in Iran has increased since 2010 and many mainstream websites have been blocked in Iran.[29][9][13][18][71][45][72] Even so, many Iranians remain on social media despite the government restrictions.[72]

Iran's SmartFilter blocks sites deemed immoral; this includes access to most pornographic sites, gay and lesbian sites, reformist political sites, news media, sites that provide tools to help users cloak their internet identity, and other sites nebulously deemed to be immoral. Iran has been accused by its critics of censoring more of the internet than any other nation besides China.[45] As of 2006, Iran's SmartFilter is configured to allow local Persian-language sites, and block prominent English-language sites, such as the BBC and Facebook.[73] By 2008, Iran had blocked access to more than five million websites, whose content was deemed as immoral and anti-social.[citation needed]

Numerous websites are blocked in Iran.[9][72] Below is a list of well-known websites that are blocked.[74][75][73]

On Sunday, September 6, 2020, Abolhassan Firoozabadi, director of the National Cyberspace Center of Iran, described China as a successful "model" in censoring and filtering the internet, which they did by simulating applications and tools. He added that "if the operating system does not comply with Iranian law" or "create cultural, social, political and security problems" for the government, they will be filtered.[76][77]

There is also a newfound state awareness of how domestically produced content considered undesirable can pervade the internet, highlighted by the 2006 controversy over the appearance of a celebrity sex tape featuring a popular Iranian soap opera actress (or a convincing look-alike).[45] (See the Iranian sex tape scandal)

Methods[]

The primary engine of Iran's censorship is the content-control software SmartFilter, developed by San Jose firm Secure Computing.[78] The American company alleges that Iran did not purchase the software legally.[79] Iran has since developed its own hardware and software to filter the internet.[80] All internet traffic is routed through the state-controlled telecommunications infrastructure of the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI), which implements additional surveillance measures.[80]

Dozens of internet service providers (ISP) operate in Iran.[80] All of them must implement content-control software for websites and e-mail, with strict penalties for failure to comply. As of 2008, at least twelve ISPs have been shut down for failing to install adequate filters. Before it begins to operate, an ISP must be approved by both the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.[81] It then must store all data sent or received by a client for at least three months.[citation needed]

Iran uses the lawful intercept capabilities of telecommunications systems to monitor communications by political dissidents. A monitoring center installed by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) intercepts and archives internet communications for Iranian law enforcement officials.[82]

Online social networks, especially Facebook, are monitored. Citizens returning home from living abroad have been questioned and detained due to the contents of their personal Facebook web pages. After protests outside Iran following the 2009 elections, such social media monitoring increased.[83]

Iran throttles the speed of the internet to frustrate users and limit communication. Mass-scale throttling has been observed following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the weeks leading to the 2013 election, and during times of international political upheaval.[26] In October 2006, the government ordered all ISPs to limit their download speeds to 128 kbit/s for residential clients and internet cafes. No reason was publicly announced. The purpose, as widely believed according to Reuters, was to constrain the consumption of Western mass media.[84] As of 2010, ISPs in Tehran may offer a higher speed of at least two Mbit/s for only businesses while the residential speed limit remained.[85] Since then, speed restrictions have been relaxed.[citation needed]

Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a technology that analyzes the contents of transmissions, even if they have been encrypted. Iran may use it to detect connections to TLS-based VPNs and use TCP reset attacks to interfere with them.[86] In 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that NSN may have sold DPI software to Iran for monitoring and altering the content of internet voice and e-mail communications.[87] Andrew Lighten, an employee of NSN, claimed that it sold Iran software for lawful interception, but that the company does not sell any products with deep packet inspection.[88]

Punishment of dissidents[]

Lily Mazahery, a human rights and immigration lawyer who represents Iranian dissidents, reported that one of her clients was arrested because of instant messaging he had participated in with Ms. Mazahery.

He told me he had received a call from the Ministry of Intelligence, and this guy when he went to the interrogation, they put in front of him printed copies of his chats with me. He said he was dumbfounded, and he was sent to prison.[82]

Circumvention[]

Methods[]

A proxy server is a technology that can be used to access a blocked site, as long as the proxy itself is not blocked. In 2003, the Voice of America, an American government service, began to operate a proxy server for Iranian citizens, free of charge, with internet privacy company Anonymizer. Whenever the proxy is blocked, it uses a new IP address until that one is also blocked.[89] Some websites and keywords related to pornography are blocked in the American proxy. "There's a limit to what taxpayers should pay for," an IBB program manager explained.[89] The list of banned words, 82 long, is publicly available.[90] Non-pornographic websites may be inadvertently blocked; for example, the banning of ass blocks access to the website of the United States Embassy.[91]

United States sanctions[]

See also: United States sanctions against Iran

Following the 2009 Iranian presidential election, the US Senate ratified the Victims of Iranian Censorship Act (VOICE), which allocated $50 million to fund measures "to counter Iranian government efforts to jam radio, satellite, and internet-based transmissions."[92]

The Trump administration increased American economic sanctions against Iran starting from 2018. They were not meant to prevent Iranian civilians from accessing basic internet services like e-mail or web browsing. Since then, multiple American technology companies have blocked access to their services in Iran. Certain types of Iranian users are sanctioned, including those who work with the Iranian government or are involved in terrorism. A company is liable to be punished by the US government if it sells web services to such a user. It is often difficult to verify the identity of an internet user, so some companies have decided that serving any users in Iran is too risky.[93]

Since 2018, Apple's App Store[94] and the messaging platform Slack[95] have been unavailable in Iran. In 2019, access to free services on Github, Gitlab, and the Amazon Cloud were suspended for users in Iran.[96][97] Several American video game developers have done the same.[93]

Such suspensions may inadvertently strengthen censorship. Without Apple's App Store, users are unable to download VPN and communication apps.[citation needed] Amazon Cloud, another banned service, hosts most tools that help Iranians bypass the censorship filters. internet developers have been forced to use less secure hosting tools, which leave websites vulnerable to cyberattacks and risk users' security.[98]

These suspensions continue despite a General License D-1, first issued by the Office of Foreign Asset Controls (ORAC) in 2014, which authorizes private companies to provide certain "personal communications" technologies to users in Iran.[99] When sanctions were re-imposed by the United States, the US Treasury Department highlighted that General License D-1 would help with "fostering internet freedom and supporting the Iranian people."[100]

See also[]

References[]

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