Iran builds its own domestic internet

Abstract: The Iranian government announced in Sunday that it will build its own domestic internet to enhance cybersecurity and is expected to be fully operational by March 2013. Many Iranians worry that this is the latest move by the government to control people's access to foreign websites. Meanwhile, Iranian state television also declared

The Iranian government announced in Sunday that it will build its own domestic internet to boost cybersecurity and is expected to be fully operational by March 2013. Many Iranians worry that this is the latest move by the government to control people's access to foreign websites.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television has announced that Google's search engine and email service will be banned in "hours". An Iranian official, who declined to be named, said: "Google search and Gmail will be filtered across Iran, and follow-up measures will be announced." ”

The Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported that Google's ban was linked to an anti-Islamic film broadcast on YouTube. The film has sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. But that claim has not yet been officially confirmed.

Iran is one of the world's toughest filters on the internet, making it impossible for Iranians to visit a large number of websites. But many Iranians think websites such as YouTube and Facebook have been blocked because they played an important role in anti-government protests after the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Websites that are thought to spread anti-government rhetoric are often banned. Iranians usually avoid government filtering by using Virtual private network (VPN) software. But Iranian government officials long ago disclosed the intention to build the Internet, which would be largely insulated from the global Internet.

"All government agencies and offices have been connected to the national information network in recent days," said Ali Hakim-javadi, Ari Hakim-Jawadi, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information technology at Iran's hull news agency. He added that the second phase of the plan was to connect ordinary Iranians to the national information Network.

Iranian media reported that Iran's domestic internet will be fully implemented in March 2013, but it is not clear that once the network system online, the visit to foreign websites will be blocked. In February this year, before the parliamentary elections, many Iranians still had problems accessing email and social networking sites even though they used VPN software.

The Iranian government has been strengthening its cyber-security construction since 2010, when the Iranian nuclear program was hit by Stuxnet. The virus attack had caused the centrifuge of a major uranium enrichment facility in Iran to stop functioning. The Iranian government accuses the United States and Israel of being behind the Stuxnet attack.

The Iranian authorities said in April this year that they had detected a computer virus at the terminal of the Jazireh-ye Khark (kharg Island) control system, but the terminal remained operational. Jazireh-ye Khark is responsible for handling most of Iran's crude exports.

Lisa Tazipur Reza Taqipour, Iran's communications and Information technology minister, said last month that Iran needed to develop its own Internet system to safeguard its information security. "The control of the Internet should not be held in the hands of one or two countries," he said. You can't trust this kind of network at all, especially in the event of major problems and crises. ”

The Iranian government threatened to take legal action against Google this May, as Google did not label the word "Persian Gulf" in Google Maps. Many Arab countries call the sea between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula "the Arabian Gulf", but the Iranian government considers it unacceptable.