In Censorship Move, Iran Plans Its Own Internet

An anonymous reader writes "Iran is taking steps toward an aggressive new form of censorship: a so-called national Internet that could, in effect, disconnect Iranian cyberspace from the rest of the world (summary of paywalled WSJ report). The leadership in Iran sees the project as a way to end the fight for control of the Internet, according to observers of Iranian policy inside and outside the country. Iran, already among the most sophisticated nations in online censoring, also promotes its national Internet as a cost-saving measure for consumers and as a way to uphold Islamic moral codes." The article also mentions unconfirmed local press reports suggesting that Iran is building its own national operating system.

Comments

Last Post!

[Mikkeles]

in Iran.

Re:Last Post!

[HungryHobo]

I'm sure it'll go really well when buisness owners can't get email and have problems communicating with the outside world to sell their products.

Re:Last Post!

[MightyMartian]

Iran certainly needs the outside world to buy its oil and sell some of it back as refined and distilled petroleum products, seeing as the military and the Ayatollahs, who now amount to little more than a theocratic face on the military dictatorship, have basically let Iran's infrastructure rot.

Their plan is moronic and would only further marginalize their crippled economy. At least China is run by sane despots. Iran is being increasingly run by idiots.

Re:Last Post!

[MightyMartian]

The Iranian people were betrayed at every step of the way; first by the US and Britain, which deposed a democratic regime and put the Shah back in charge. Then by the Shah, who, while he wanted to modernize Iran, did so in the age old model of having secret police torturing and murdering dissidents. Then by Ayatollah Khomeini, Mr. Holy Man himself, who actively deceived Iranian reformers, convincing them that he was only interested in being a distant figure in Qom, but in reality wanted to set up a regime every bit as tyrannical as the Shah's, but many times more incompetent.

Re:Last Post!

[MightyMartian]

They are being held down the old fashioned way, by fear. A man (or woman) will, no matter how much they want to see a regime brought down, think about their immediate family first and foremost, and as long as the regime can make the cost of a revolution in the blood of oneself and one's kin high enough, they can maintain the tyranny.

In reality, everything hinges on the army, and it's been that way in every state that has had a standing army, whether it be Rome, France, Russia, and so on. What wiped out the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt wasn't the uprisings. It was the armies of those two countries abandoning the leadership. You can ask a soldier to do a lot of things, but to ask him to open fire and his own people can be a risky thing for any regime.

Khomeini was a religious fanatic and monster, but he was also a very goddamned clever man. He reconstructed the Iranian army into two different groups, the regular armed forces on one hand and the Revolutionary Guard and Basij on the other. In other words he created a parallel military structure, with the Revolutionary Guard and Basij essentially the clerics' personal armed forces. So even if you had the kind of revolution that we've seen in Egypt or Tunisia, and the regular army decided to stay out of it, the clerics have a potent fist despite that, not to mention that the army is likely riddled with the Iranian Muslim version of "political officers" whose purpose to assure orthodoxy in the regular army units.

For a revolution to work in a modern state it requires the armed forces to either back it, or at least stay out of the way. Iran is a terrible situation where such a revolution would quickly evolve into a civil war. At least that's my opinion, any ways.

"An anonymous reader writes"

[Hazel Bergeron]

No, that was in fact quoting the Fox News article verbatim.

Even if we don't like copyright, we like correct attribution, right guys?

Iranian walled garden.

[Anonymous Coward]

"disconnect Iranian cyberspace from the rest of the world (summary of paywalled WSJ report)".

Oh snap.

cultures are living things

[circletimessquare]

they cross breed and pollinate with each other, and therefore survive and prosper. when cultures wall themselves off in isolation, they wither and die. you can't preserve your country by locking it up. that's a recipe for obsolescence

iranian govt: you want persian minds to grow up in an echo chamber, unaware of the wider world. which simply means you want persian minds to be inferior minds. you are also extremely condescending and insulting to your own people: you don't think that they can handle exposure to other cultures. you think they will lose their persianness, as if iran is a weak thing that will go *POOF* at the first exposure to the decadent west. well, considering your street protests you brutally suppressed in 2009, you are close: the iranian GOVERNMENT is weak and will go *POOF* when it's people see how much better it is without your control freak nature at the helm. soon enough, you ignorant, arrogant assholes, your people will understand the problem is not the decadent west, but YOU

you would rather hobble your own people than liberalize the iranian government. all you do is hurt iran, just because you are insecure

long live iran: death to its feeble govt

Re:Private Mesh Networking?

[HungryHobo]

If you're living under a really opressive government those things don't really help.

pass a law making it illegal to run a mesh network(leave it vague so you can enforce it against whoever you like) and kick down the doors of a few people running "illegal network points" and justify it with something about terrorism or whatever enemy you like.

If they want to cut of their population

[dk90406]

from the rest of the world, no one can stop them. But the rest of the world should, as a consequence, stop routing ANY traffic to Iran or Iranian controlled entities. That would also isolate the Iranian government and business. As a concequence:

• Any international business can only be done over phone and Fax
• Any international advertising for Iranian businesses can only be in papers
• Any international communications must be mail, phone or fax. Including communication to embassies
• It would affect international travel booking
• ... (you get the picture)

The country and regime couldn't survive that. But if they want to: Good luck in your little bubble Iran.

Re:If they want to cut of their population

[hodet]

Yes this is what I want, governments all over the world getting together and manipulating the internet for political reasons. Today Iran, tomorrow any other country deemed undesirable. Ok well that's enough heavy lifting for today. Let's come back tomorrow and agree on some criteria. Should be easy right?

Hmm...

[Just Brew It!]

Does this mean we can reclaim their IPv4 address space? Forget their oil, we want their IP addresses!

Re:Let Them Go. Just... Let Them Go...

[Rob Kaper]

The Iranian people are generally nice and progressive, it's their government that sucks. So go fuck yourself, I'm sure your country (whichever) has some assholes in charge itself.

All Nonsense.

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Iran "bans" satellite television, too. But everyone there has a dish, and they all saw Iron Man II before you did.