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Internet in Chains

May 13, 2024

Social Media Admin Facing Execution in Iran for Online Posts

Same Judge Sentenced Rapper Toomaj Salehi to Death Few Weeks Earlier Death Sentence for Social Media Posts Shows Intensifying Repression in Iran May 13, 2024 ...

May 26, 2022

85 Lawyers Call on Iranian Government to Respect Right to Protest

In an unprecedented display of unity in defense of the Iranian people, 85 lawyers from Iran have signed an open letter calling on the Iranian government to respect the right to protest. “It is the people’s satisfaction towards the ...

July 30, 2021

Total Control Over Internet Use in Iran Sought by Security Agencies with New Legislation

Parliament Maneuvers to Pass Bill Without Full Vote to Avoid Public Scrutiny  Move Comes on Heels of State’s Internet Shutdowns During Crackdown on Protesters July 30, ...

November 17, 2014

New Report Reveals State’s Growing Efforts to Control Internet Access in Iran

The Rouhani administration should use all its authority to end the government’s initiatives to restrict Iranians’ access to the Internet, immediately cease state efforts to monitor users’ online accounts, and end the prosecution of individuals for their peaceful online activities, the International Campaign for Human ...

November 11, 2014

National Email

Developing national email providers has also been a component of government efforts to control and access online content and activities. In 2012, Reza Taghipour, Minister of Telecommunication in the Ahmadinejad administration, wrote letters to his deputy and the Central Bank of Iran insisting on ...

November 11, 2014

The National Browser

The Iranian government has employed two means to ensure the widespread use of its national SSL security certificates (and thus achieve their root certification). One is through the Iranian web browser, Saina, which is provided by state agencies and into which the authorities have built ...

November 11, 2014

National SSL Certificates

National (government-issued) SSL security certificates are also a central component of Iran’s National Internet. SSL certificates ensure that the connection used in any Internet transmission is encrypted and thus secure. When they are issued by a legitimate source, they do indeed ensure security. The government ...

November 11, 2014

Conclusion

In 2013, Reporters Without Borders named Iran one of the world’s five worst enemies of the Internet, along with China, Syria, Bahrain and Vietnam. This report by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has shown that if the Iranian government is able ...

November 11, 2014

The National Operating System

The other means employed by the Iranian government to spread the use of its SSL security certificates is through the national operating system, “Zamin” (or Earth). Zamin was jointly developed by the Information Technology Organization and the Iran Telecom Research Center and released as ...

November 11, 2014

National Search Engine And National Social Networks

As part of the National Internet, the Iranian government has also developed services such as a national search engine and national social networks, which are designed and implemented largely by the Ministry of Telecommunication’s Information Technology Company. Hadi Malek, research director at the Information Technology ...

November 11, 2014

The Rouhani Administration and Internet Freedom

While Hassan Rouhani campaigned for the presidency in Iran on a platform explicitly promoting Internet freedom, one year into his presidency there has been little progress to date on this front. In fact, as this report has shown, development of Iran’s National Internet continues, the ...

November 11, 2014

Seeking International Technology Firms’ Compliance

In spite of all the authorities’ efforts to censor the Internet and punish those who seek to use it for social or political activism, the government has yet to achieve full control over the Internet and its use. Recognizing that Iran’s National Internet and all ...

November 11, 2014

Security Agencies and the Prosecution of Online Activists

In addition to the Iranian state’s efforts to develop the technological infrastructure of Internet control, the Judiciary and security organizations have also pursued the identification and prosecution of online activists. This is done through a variety of organizations, some of them official, some semi-official, and ...

November 11, 2014

National Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)

One of the principal ways that Iranians have been able to maintain access to the global Internet has been through the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which allow users to circumvent government filters by providing encrypted links to networks based abroad, effectively enabling a ...

November 10, 2014

Executive Summary

Censorship and state control over the Internet in Iran is changing: it is becoming more systemic and less detectable, posing an ever-greater threat to Iranian users. Increasingly, the state is focusing on developing the technological infrastructure to effectively control access to the Internet inside Iran ...

November 10, 2014

Introduction

The Rouhani administration has pushed back some--a statement defending the need for open Internet access is made, a block on an application is removed--but ...

November 10, 2014

National Data Centers

The National Data Centers are one of the most important infrastructure components of the National Information Network. These Centers will be set up in Tehran and other cities across the country, and will house the various telecommunications and storage systems used by the Network and ...

November 10, 2014

Internet in Chain

November 10, 2014

The National Internet And Domestic Politics in Iran

Officials in Iran have attributed the delays and uneven progress in the development and implementation of the country’s National Internet to technological problems, difficulties created by international sanctions against the country, and budgetary constraints. Yet these delays must also be seen within the context of ...

November 10, 2014

Security Agencies and the Prosecution of Online Activists

November 10, 2014

The National Information Network (National Internet)

HISTORY While the state devoted considerable resources and institutional capacity to filtering the Internet up to this time, a new dimension began during the Ahmadinejad period (2005-2013) regarding Iran’s approach to the Internet. Namely, the development of a national infrastructure that would give the authorities full ...

November 10, 2014

Internet Censorship and Filtering

The Internet first became available in Iran in 1993 with the start of dial-up services. Over the next few years, there were no clear guidelines for filtering sites and filtering remained relatively limited, with only intermittent instances of blocking of political or dissident sites, ...

Latest News

  • Op-Ed: Iran Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens. The World Needs to Respond.
    Op-Ed: Iran Is Terrorizing Its Own Citizens. The World Needs to Respond.
    July 4, 2025
  • Iran Launches Sweeping Crackdown: Hundreds Detained, Executions Underway
    Iran Launches Sweeping Crackdown: Hundreds Detained, Executions Underway
    June 26, 2025
  • Lives of Prisoners in Iran in Immediate Danger
    Lives of Prisoners in Iran in Immediate Danger
    June 23, 2025
  • Political Prisoners on Death Row in Iran at Grave Risk Amid War
    Political Prisoners on Death Row in Iran at Grave Risk Amid War
    June 19, 2025
  • Iranian Political Prisoner in Evin Prison Urges Action to Protect Prisoners As War Escalates
    Iranian Political Prisoner in Evin Prison Urges Action to Protect Prisoners As War Escalates
    June 18, 2025
  • Immediate Ceasefire Needed as Attacks on Civilians Intensify
    Immediate Ceasefire Needed as Attacks on Civilians Intensify
    June 16, 2025
  • CHRI: Civilians Must Not Be Targets in Iran
    CHRI: Civilians Must Not Be Targets in Iran
    June 12, 2025
  • UNICEF’s Silence on Iran: Nobel Laureate Demands Action on Children’s Rights Abuses
    UNICEF’s Silence on Iran: Nobel Laureate Demands Action on Children’s Rights Abuses
    June 11, 2025
  • Iran’s Truck Drivers’ Strike Sweeps 163 Cities, Dozens Arrested
    Iran’s Truck Drivers’ Strike Sweeps 163 Cities, Dozens Arrested
    June 4, 2025
  • Urgent Appeal from Evin Prison: Imprisoned Scholar Mahvash Seydal Exposes Iran’s Denial of Medical Care to Women Political Prisoners
    Urgent Appeal from Evin Prison: Imprisoned Scholar Mahvash Seydal Exposes Iran’s Denial of Medical Care to Women Political Prisoners
    May 27, 2025
  • Iran Moves to Silence Literary Voices with Arrests, Prison and Death Sentences
    Iran Moves to Silence Literary Voices with Arrests, Prison and Death Sentences
    May 20, 2025
  • Crackdown on Justice: CHRI Reveals Systematic Persecution of Iran’s Human Rights Lawyers
    Crackdown on Justice: CHRI Reveals Systematic Persecution of Iran’s Human Rights Lawyers
    May 14, 2025
  • ‘We Are Alive, But in Captivity’: Letter from Imprisoned Kurdish Labor Activist
    ‘We Are Alive, But in Captivity’: Letter from Imprisoned Kurdish Labor Activist
    May 5, 2025
  • Iran’s Workers: Battered by Brutal Repression and Lethal Work Conditions
    Iran’s Workers: Battered by Brutal Repression and Lethal Work Conditions
    April 30, 2025
  • Op-Ed: Combine ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran with Maximum Support for the Iranian People
    Op-Ed: Combine ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran with Maximum Support for the Iranian People
    April 24, 2025
  • Iran’s Mass Executions of Drug Offenders Are a Human Rights Emergency
    Iran’s Mass Executions of Drug Offenders Are a Human Rights Emergency
    April 16, 2025
  • EU Sanctions Iranian Judicial Officials Over Abductions of European Nationals
    EU Sanctions Iranian Judicial Officials Over Abductions of European Nationals
    April 14, 2025
  • Five More Political Prisoners Hanged in Iran as Use of Death Penalty to Crush Dissent Surges
    Five More Political Prisoners Hanged in Iran as Use of Death Penalty to Crush Dissent Surges
    April 9, 2025
  • Landmark Resolution: UN Human Rights Council Expands Fact-Finding Mission on Iran
    Landmark Resolution: UN Human Rights Council Expands Fact-Finding Mission on Iran
    April 3, 2025
  • Imprisonment of Christians Jumps Six-Fold in Iran as Persecution Intensifies
    Imprisonment of Christians Jumps Six-Fold in Iran as Persecution Intensifies
    April 1, 2025
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