ASSESSMENTS

Bending the Internet: Iran Brings the National Information Network Online

Jun 19, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

A laptop screen displays the message that pops up when users try to access Facebook, a blocked website in Iran.

A laptop screen displays the message that pops up when users try to access Facebook, a blocked website in Iran.

(BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Wary of the internet's power as a tool for political dissent and even revolution, Iran's conservatives have pushed for more stringent oversight online.
  • Part of the strategy involves banning foreign apps and services, such as Telegram, and offering users closely monitored domestic alternatives.
  • Iran's intranet, the National Information Network, will help authorities in this endeavor by giving them greater control over internet users, internet service providers and online content.

For as long as Iran has had cyberspace, the Iranian government has been trying to control it. The spate of color revolutions in the 2000s, followed by the Green Movement in Iran in 2009, further illustrated the dangers of electronic communication, prompting the Islamic republic's hard-line factions to push for more stringent oversight online. And since the United States has begun backing a policy akin to regime change and supporting domestic opposition movements, the need to control the internet is greater now for Tehran than perhaps ever before....

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