Iran has been without internet for almost two weeks, with 92 million people without access to web services; telecommunications and text messaging have also been disrupted, the BBC reports.
The Iranian government shut down the internet on the 8th of January in an attempt to stifle dissent and prevent news of the crackdown on protests. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the shutdown was a response to terrorist operations led by external forces. The government has not said when internet access might be restored, but recent reports suggest that the Iranian clerical government plans to permanently restrict internet services.
On the 15th of January, the IranWire news website reported that a government spokesman had told journalists that the world wide web would be unavailable at least until the Iranian New Year, which falls at the end of March.
Internet watchdog FilterWatch believes the Iranian government is rushing to implement new systems and regulations that will allow it to cut off the country from the global web. Citing anonymous government sources, the watchdog said there was no hope of restoring access to the global web, and even then, users’ access to international web resources would not be the same as before. Although the BBC has not been able to independently confirm these reports, journalists who spoke to the Persian language broadcaster said they had been told that access to the internet would not be restored anytime soon.
The Iranian government has been tightly controlling the internet for years,
and most Western social media and platforms, as well as foreign news sites, including the BBC, are blocked in the country. However, many residents have been able to access popular social media sites using virtual private networks, or VPNs. Access Now has said that Iran is consistently using internet shutdowns to prevent the spread of news about widespread violence and the brutal suppression of protests. The current shutdown is the longest on record.
The internet shutdown is reported to have already had a significant impact on livelihoods, with e-commerce businesses particularly affected.
On the 18th of January, the human rights organization HRANA reported 3,300 verified cases of protesters being killed, with nearly 5,000 cases still under investigation. The organization also reported that the number of arrests had reached more than 24,000. The real number of protesters killed and detained is believed to be much higher, but the lack of access prevents this from being confirmed.
FilterWatch said that
what is currently happening marks the beginning of extreme digital isolation, and widespread surveillance of online activities.
A spokesman for the organization Miaan Group told the BBC that the authorities are moving towards creating a multi-tiered system in which access to the World Wide Web would require approval.
According to FilterWatch, the plans are not being discussed publicly, and decision-making has been transferred to security agencies, not civilian ministries. The government’s efforts to protect Iran from cyberattacks, which have been a frequent occurrence in recent years, are another justification for the extreme measures.
Experts have warned that the plan may not be fully implemented or may be implemented unevenly due to internal tensions and broader economic and technical factors.
If Iran succeeds in implementing its plan to control the internet in the country, it will be similar to the systems in place in Russia and China. China is a surveillance giant, not only censoring online discussions but also controlling which websites are available. The so-called Great Firewall of China blocks citizens from accessing much of the global web and Western social networks. They are only accessible via VPNs, and even that is becoming increasingly difficult to use. Russia also began testing a similar system in 2019. However, unlike China, which began its controls decades ago when the internet was just starting to spread, the Russians will have to implement controls on existing, complex systems. Russia is planning to go a step further than China and introduce the possibility of completely cutting off the country from the global web, which could be used in crisis situations. A system that would create a “digital border” (an internal network that works, but cannot be breached) is still being developed.
If the reports are true, Iran is planning to combine the Russian and Chinese approaches.
Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey and a computer security expert, said that Iran plans to cut off everyone from accessing the internet unless the government approves. He believes that the Iranian government has begun to implement long-term plans, using the current shutdown to carry out technical work. Miaan Group noted that the issue is no longer technical, but political, and whether the system will be implemented depends entirely on political will.
Starlink and other satellite internet service providers are making it difficult to achieve control. They allow users to access the web via satellites, bypassing shutdowns and censorship. The government managed to disrupt Starlink’s operations, but the BBC has confirmed that the terminals continue to work after the company’s updates.
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