Internet censorship in Iran

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Lecture on Internet censorship in Iran at the 32C3 (English)

In the first years of the 21st century, Internet usage in Iran rose sharply and reached the second highest value in the Middle East after Israel with around 7.5 million users. In the first time after the introduction of the Internet, the providers operated by the Iranian state were comparatively open. Many users saw the Internet as a way to bypass the strict censorship laws in Iran. The first censorship measures took place after the election of Mohammed Chatemi as Iranian president and the establishment of the Khordad movement . The controls were tightened further under the Conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who was elected in 2005 . Many bloggers, online activists, dissidents and technicians have been sentenced to prison, discriminated against or abused in connection with activities on the internet. In November 2006, Reporters Without Borders named Iran an "enemy of the internet" as one of 13 countries. During the protests after the 2009 presidential election, the opposition used the Internet, especially Web 2.0, to organize protests. As a result, the Internet in Iran was temporarily blocked and hindered.

Blocked websites

In 2006, the following websites, among others, were blocked: New York Times , Amazon.com , IMDb , Amnesty International , Blogger , Facebook and YouTube , WordPress . Also filtered are reform policy websites, news services, pages with information on anonymization on the Internet, pornographic and homosexual websites and websites that are immoral or need to be censored for other reasons. Iran blocks most websites after China . The Kurdish version of Wikipedia was banned for several months in 2006, according to Reporters Without Borders. In July 2009, Iran blocked most of the domain names on the whistleblower site WikiLeaks . In September 2012, Iran blocked access to Google's Gmail mail service .

Methods

Internet service provider

Every Internet Service Provider (ISP) must be approved by the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Education before it can be used. The use of filter software for websites and e-mails is mandatory. According to Iranian press releases, in 2003 the government drew up a list of 15,000 pages to block for ISPs. ISPs are sentenced to heavy fines for non-compliance with the filter conditions. By 2006, at least 12 ISPs had been closed for non-compliance with filter regulations. When signing a contract with an ISP, customers must guarantee not to visit "anti-Islamic" websites. In 2008, 5 million websites were filtered, the content of which is mostly described by the authorities as immoral and anti-Islamic. ISPs are regularly instructed to filter websites with content on politics, human rights or women-specific topics, as well as weblogs with dissident, pornographic or anti-Islamic content. Facebook or YouTube and news services were also affected several times by blockings .

Control software

The Iranian authorities mainly use the content control software Secure Computing developed by the US company Secure Computing to control the Internet . Secure Computing stated that it did not sell the software to Iran, the authorities used the software illegally without a license. The program is set to filter local Persian-language websites and English-language websites.

Deep packet inspection

In 2008, Nokia Siemens Networks sold the Iranian authorities a system that enables the monitoring, control, recording and modification of nationwide content on the Internet using deep packet inspection . Nokia Siemens Networks claimed that the system only had the functionality to monitor illegal activities. In a resolution of February 10, 2010, the European Parliament sharply criticized Nokia / Siemens for supplying the Iranian authorities with the technology necessary for censorship and surveillance, which are used to persecute and arrest Iranian dissidents.

Reduction in transmission speed

In October 2006, the Iranian authorities ordered all Internet service providers to reduce the transmission speed for all private users and Internet cafes to 256 kilobits per second. The background was possibly the interest of the authorities in reducing access to Western media. The authorities' awareness of new media increased after a pornographic video allegedly showing a well-known Iranian television actress attracted nationwide attention in 2006. In 2007, most ISPs offered 2 megabits per second (Mbit / s) for 2.5 million rials , 4 Mbit / s for 5 million rials and 8 Mbit / s for 10 million rials for a one-off payment .

Blocking of VPN connections

In 2013, Internet access via the VPN network was blocked. This excludes officially registered VPN access. VPN connections were used in Iran to circumvent censorship measures.

Workarounds

The bypass of locks is among other things a proxy server and the Tor network possible. Since 2003 the US-American International Broadcasting Bureau , Voice of America and the company Anonymizer, Inc have provided a freely accessible proxy server for Iranians. The server changes its address as soon as it is blocked by the Iranian authorities. The proxy server filters pornographic websites. The blocked words include gay (German: "gay"), which means that it is not possible to access pages with topics relevant to homosexuals.

Nationwide intranet

In April 2012 it became known that Iran would like to set up a nationwide intranet based on the North Korean model. The Ministry of Communications named the project Halal Internet . According to Iranian media, the intranet should be activated in March 2013. The decoupling from the global Internet is to take place in 2015.

Web links

Commons : Internet censorship in Iran  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

credentials

  1. ↑ a b c d e Tait, R. (2006.) Censorship fears rise as Iran blocks access to top websites . The Guardian UK . Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  2. ↑ Feuilherade, P. (2002.) Iran's banned press turns to the net . BBC News. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  3. ^ BBC News. (2003.) Iran Steps Up Net Censorship . BBC News. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  4. ^ Amnesty International. (2004.) Iran: Civil society activists and human rights defenders under attack . Amnesty International.org . Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  5. ^ Reporters Without Borders. (2005.) Reporters Without Borders welcomes release of blogger Arash Sigarchi ( Memento from December 22, 2015 on the Internet Archive ) RSF.com . Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  6. ^ Web Pries Lid of Iranian Censorship , New York Times, June 23, 2009 (accessed October 21, 2012).
  7. ↑ Iran Cracks Down On Internet Use , Voice of America, October 12, 2006 (accessed October 21, 2012).
  8. ↑ Iran blocks WikiLeaks ( memento of July 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), there itself, July 16, 2009
  9. ↑ Iran blocks Google mail service Gmail ( memento from September 24, 2012 on WebCite ), tagesschau.de from September 24, 2012 (accessed on September 24, 2012).
  10. ↑ Iran steps up net censorship. BBC News, accessed January 3, 2018 .
  11. ^ Reporters Without Borders. "Report on Iran" ( Memento of February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  12. ↑ OpenNet Initiative. (2006.) Internet Filtering in Iran in 2004-2005: A Country Study . Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  13. ↑ a b Iran blocks access to over five million websites: report , AFP dated November 19, 2008 (accessed October 21, 2012).
  14. ↑ a b Knight, W. (2005.) "Iranian net censorship powered by US technology" . The New Scientist. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  15. ↑ "Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology" by Christopher Rhoads in New York and Loretta Chao in Beijing, The Wall Street Journal , June 23, 2009. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
  16. ^ Provision of Lawful Intercept Capability in Iran , press release June 23, 2009 (accessed October 21, 2012).
  17. ↑ Situation in Iran: Resolution of the European Parliament of February 10, 2010 on Iran Democracy and Human Rights / Pkt. 11.
  18. ^ Reuters. (2006.) "Iran cuts Internet speeds to homes, cafes" , Reuters, October 18, 2006 (accessed October 21, 2012).
  19. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Internet blocks in Iran: Authorities close loophole against censorship - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Netzwelt. Retrieved April 7, 2017 .
  20. ^ Poulson, K. (2003.) "US sponsors Anonymiser - if you live in Iran" . The Register UK . Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  21. ↑ McCullagh, D. (2004.) "US blunders with keyword blacklist" . CNET News.com. Retrieved December 9, 2006.
  22. ↑ a b Kuhn, Johannes: How Iran would like to turn the network into an intranet , Süddeutsche.de, April 3, 2012 (accessed October 22, 2012)
  23. ↑ Iran to launch giant domestic intranet , Al Jazeera, September 24, 2012 (accessed October 22, 2012).