Internet in Iran
Encyclopedia
In 1993 Iran
became the second country in the Middle East
to be connected to the Internet
, and since then the government has made significant efforts to improve the nation's ICT infrastructure
. Iran's national Internet connectivity infrastructure is based on two major networks: the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the public data network. The PSTN provides a connection for end-users to Internet service providers (ISPs) over mostly digital lines and supports modem-based connections. The Data Communication Company of Iran
(DCI), a subsidiary of TCI
, operates the public data network.
) was a project supported by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA), connecting various academic and defense research centers in the US. This network supported only email and simple data transfer (ftp). A similar network supported by IBM was known as BITNET
. In Europe, only universities and academic centers were connected to the European Academic Research Network (EARN) which was part of the BITNET network.
Iran’s entrance into the Internet was then spearheaded by IPM and its deputy director, Dr. Siavash Shahshahani. The link was at first through the BITNET network and Iran’s membership in EARN (which developed later to the Trans-European Research and Educational Networking Association – TERENA). It consisted of a single 9600 baud leased line to the University of Vienna
in Austria
in January 1992. The first email
from Iran was a simple greeting from IPM’s director, Dr. Larijani, to Vienna University administrators. The link later developed into a full-fledged Internet link with the assignment of 500 IP addresses to the country and acceptance of Iran as a Class C node. Primary users of the connection at first were academics and research institutions, all being served through their own connections to IPM.
Reports show that Iran has plans on creating a so-termed "national Internet" separated from the rest of the internet, specifically for domestic use. Creating such a network, similar to one used by North Korea, would prevent unwanted information from outside of Iran getting into the closed system. Myanmar and Cuba also use similar systems.
Public access to the Internet and the rapid growth of Persian
sites which provided the public with the news censored
in the country’s publications made the government to move to impose the censorship laws on the Internet
too. In May 2001, an order titled “Overall policies on computer-based information-providing networks” issued by Ali Khamenei
, the leader of the country, urged the authorities to “make access to the global Information-providing network only possible through authorized entities”. Following this order, the Cultural Revolution High Council through a set of laws passed in 6 successive meetings put the control of the Internet in the hands of the government. These laws (Letter no. 3091/sh, December 3, 2001) conflicted with the approvals made by the Council in the previous year (July 2, 2000) stating that the access to information must not be exclusive and “multiplicity of Access Service Providers is strongly approved”. The new legislation states that the government is exclusively in charge of supervising all Access Service Providers across the country. It also states that all ASPs must give up their direct connection and all ISPs and Coffee Nets must obtain license from the government. The new legislation also states that all ISPs must install and use filtering systems
to “block access to forbidden immoral and political websites and other undesirable sites” and record the activities of the users to provide to the [Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (Iran)|Ministry of ICT]. The recorded information must be endorsed by the Ministry of Information, Justice Administration and the Police. The records may at the request of the Supreme National Security Council
or a judge be provided to the Ministry of Information.
Any individual applying for an ISP license must be an Iranian citizen
, practically
committed to the Constitution, a believer of one of the country’s officially accepted religions and must not be a member of an anti-revolutionary or illegal group. Internet service providers may not without a license use any codes for the exchange of information or offer any extra services (such as Voice over IP
). Individuals applying for running a CoffeeNet must be married. The new legislation also restricts the contents of the websites. It prohibits and considers a crime to publish on the internet any material in conflict with or insulting the Islamic doctrine, revolution’s values, the thoughts of Imam
Khomeini, the Constitution, jeopardizing national solidarity, instilling cynicism in the public regarding the legitimacy or efficiency of the ruling body, propagating a good image of illegal groups, revealing state classified information, promoting vice, advertising smoking, accusing or insulting state officials. Finally on December 31, 2002, the government issued the “Decree on the Constitution of the Committee in charge of Determination of Unauthorized Websites” stating that, “In order to safeguard the Islamic and national culture, a committee comprising the representatives of the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Broadcasting, the Cultural Revolution High Council, and Islamic Propagation Organization shall be set up by the Ministry of Information to determine and notify to the Ministry of ICT the criteria respecting unauthorized websites”. Websites notified to the Ministry of ICT by the committee are added to the list of the websites subject to censorship
.
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
became the second country in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
to be connected to the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and since then the government has made significant efforts to improve the nation's ICT infrastructure
Communications in Iran
Iran’s telecommunications industry is almost entirely state-owned, dominated by the Telecommunication Company of Iran . Fixed-line penetration in 2004 was relatively well-developed by regional standards, standing at 22 lines per 100 people, higher than Egypt with 14 and Saudi Arabia with 15,...
. Iran's national Internet connectivity infrastructure is based on two major networks: the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the public data network. The PSTN provides a connection for end-users to Internet service providers (ISPs) over mostly digital lines and supports modem-based connections. The Data Communication Company of Iran
Telecommunication Company of Iran
Telecommunication Company of Iran was established in 1971 with a new organizational structure as the main responsible administration for the entire telecommunication affairs, and Iran Telecommunication Industries was also founded in the same year to manufacture the required equipment for the...
(DCI), a subsidiary of TCI
Telecommunication Company of Iran
Telecommunication Company of Iran was established in 1971 with a new organizational structure as the main responsible administration for the entire telecommunication affairs, and Iran Telecommunication Industries was also founded in the same year to manufacture the required equipment for the...
, operates the public data network.
History
Origins of the effort to bring the Internet to Iran date back to 1987. At the time, the Internet (also called ARPANETARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
) was a project supported by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA), connecting various academic and defense research centers in the US. This network supported only email and simple data transfer (ftp). A similar network supported by IBM was known as BITNET
BITNET
BITNET was a cooperative USA university network founded in 1981 by Ira Fuchs at the City University of New York and Greydon Freeman at Yale University...
. In Europe, only universities and academic centers were connected to the European Academic Research Network (EARN) which was part of the BITNET network.
Iran’s entrance into the Internet was then spearheaded by IPM and its deputy director, Dr. Siavash Shahshahani. The link was at first through the BITNET network and Iran’s membership in EARN (which developed later to the Trans-European Research and Educational Networking Association – TERENA). It consisted of a single 9600 baud leased line to the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in January 1992. The first email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
from Iran was a simple greeting from IPM’s director, Dr. Larijani, to Vienna University administrators. The link later developed into a full-fledged Internet link with the assignment of 500 IP addresses to the country and acceptance of Iran as a Class C node. Primary users of the connection at first were academics and research institutions, all being served through their own connections to IPM.
Reports show that Iran has plans on creating a so-termed "national Internet" separated from the rest of the internet, specifically for domestic use. Creating such a network, similar to one used by North Korea, would prevent unwanted information from outside of Iran getting into the closed system. Myanmar and Cuba also use similar systems.
Legislation
As mentioned earlier, the Internet infrastructure expanded very rapidly in Iran. The first public use of the Internet in the country dates back to 1995 when students could use Internet console through Dial-up. The demand for using the Internet rapidly increased afterwards making the Internet very popular in a few years leaving the government behind ignorant of the capabilities of this powerful medium. By 2000, CoffeeNets of different size and shape which were connected to the Internet through a satellite dish were abundant around many cities.Public access to the Internet and the rapid growth of Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
sites which provided the public with the news censored
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in the country’s publications made the government to move to impose the censorship laws on the Internet
Internet censorship in Iran
In the first few years of the 21st century, Iran experienced a great surge in Internet usage, and, with 20 million people on the Internet, currently has the second highest percentage of its population online in the Middle East, after Israel. When initially introduced, the Internet services...
too. In May 2001, an order titled “Overall policies on computer-based information-providing networks” issued by Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
, the leader of the country, urged the authorities to “make access to the global Information-providing network only possible through authorized entities”. Following this order, the Cultural Revolution High Council through a set of laws passed in 6 successive meetings put the control of the Internet in the hands of the government. These laws (Letter no. 3091/sh, December 3, 2001) conflicted with the approvals made by the Council in the previous year (July 2, 2000) stating that the access to information must not be exclusive and “multiplicity of Access Service Providers is strongly approved”. The new legislation states that the government is exclusively in charge of supervising all Access Service Providers across the country. It also states that all ASPs must give up their direct connection and all ISPs and Coffee Nets must obtain license from the government. The new legislation also states that all ISPs must install and use filtering systems
Firewall (computing)
A firewall is a device or set of devices designed to permit or deny network transmissions based upon a set of rules and is frequently used to protect networks from unauthorized access while permitting legitimate communications to pass....
to “block access to forbidden immoral and political websites and other undesirable sites” and record the activities of the users to provide to the [Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (Iran)|Ministry of ICT]. The recorded information must be endorsed by the Ministry of Information, Justice Administration and the Police. The records may at the request of the Supreme National Security Council
Supreme National Security Council
Supreme National Security Council is the national security council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the current secretary of which is Saeed Jalili. This institution was founded during the 1989 revision of the constitution...
or a judge be provided to the Ministry of Information.
Any individual applying for an ISP license must be an Iranian citizen
Iranian nationality law
Iranian nationality law contains principles of both jus sanguinis and jus soli. Children acquire nationality of Iran through their fathers, but not their mothers...
, practically
committed to the Constitution, a believer of one of the country’s officially accepted religions and must not be a member of an anti-revolutionary or illegal group. Internet service providers may not without a license use any codes for the exchange of information or offer any extra services (such as Voice over IP
Voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
). Individuals applying for running a CoffeeNet must be married. The new legislation also restricts the contents of the websites. It prohibits and considers a crime to publish on the internet any material in conflict with or insulting the Islamic doctrine, revolution’s values, the thoughts of Imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
Khomeini, the Constitution, jeopardizing national solidarity, instilling cynicism in the public regarding the legitimacy or efficiency of the ruling body, propagating a good image of illegal groups, revealing state classified information, promoting vice, advertising smoking, accusing or insulting state officials. Finally on December 31, 2002, the government issued the “Decree on the Constitution of the Committee in charge of Determination of Unauthorized Websites” stating that, “In order to safeguard the Islamic and national culture, a committee comprising the representatives of the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is the ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible for restricting access to any media of which the Islamic Regime in Tehran does not approve....
, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Broadcasting, the Cultural Revolution High Council, and Islamic Propagation Organization shall be set up by the Ministry of Information to determine and notify to the Ministry of ICT the criteria respecting unauthorized websites”. Websites notified to the Ministry of ICT by the committee are added to the list of the websites subject to censorship
Internet censorship in Iran
In the first few years of the 21st century, Iran experienced a great surge in Internet usage, and, with 20 million people on the Internet, currently has the second highest percentage of its population online in the Middle East, after Israel. When initially introduced, the Internet services...
.
See also
- Communications in Iran
- Blogging in Iran
- Internet Censorship in IranInternet censorship in IranIn the first few years of the 21st century, Iran experienced a great surge in Internet usage, and, with 20 million people on the Internet, currently has the second highest percentage of its population online in the Middle East, after Israel. When initially introduced, the Internet services...
- Media in Iran