Iranian government's efforts to further restrict the internet; National Information Network budget tripled

Despite severe economic problems that have led to a sharp decline in Iranian government revenues, plans to restrict the internet have intensified, and Ali Asghar Ansari, Iran's deputy communications minister, has announced a tripling of the budget for the National Intelligence Network in next year's budget.

For years, the Iranian government has been trying to separate the domestic Internet (intranet) from the global Internet for security reasons, to control protests and repression, or to censor events related to repression, under the guise of launching a "national network." This plan, called the "key to disconnect from the global Internet," is scheduled to be finalized by the end of 1402.

Iran’s deputy communications minister told Mehr News Agency that the budget allocated for next year’s budget will be spent on “supporting messaging apps and social networks and other practical services.” In previous years, the Iranian government spent huge sums to support domestic messaging apps and social networks, most of which ended in failure.

As estimated by the Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in May of this year, about 19 trillion tomans have been spent on creating the "national internet" since last year.

Issa Zarepour, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, recently promised that the network will be fully operational within the next three years, noting that 35 to 40 percent of the network has been launched.

He, who has called himself the "field commander" of the launch of this network, emphasized that "a virtual space on the level of the Islamic Revolution" must be launched.

The Iranian government's planning and investment to further restrict the internet comes at a time when Freedom House, in its new report for 2021, announced the Internet Freedom Index of the world's countries, and in this table, Iran is ranked as one of the worst countries with the least internet freedom - even lower than countries such as Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.

In recent months, after the Leader of the Islamic Republic called cyberspace in Iran "unbridled" in a speech and criticized the failure of responsible institutions to restrict it, the "Protection of Cyberspace" bill was placed on the agenda of the Iranian Parliament, which focuses on restricting social networks.

The plan, known as "Protecting the Rights of Users and Basic Functional Services of Cyberspace," which is also known as the "Protection Plan," is structured in 37 articles and is currently being reviewed by the Parliament's Research Center.

Opponents of the "Plan to Protect Users' Rights in Cyberspace" have warned that the issue is not limited to restricting important foreign messaging services such as Instagram, and that if this plan is approved, it will create fundamental changes in the way users operate, monitor the Internet, and bandwidth, and its goal is to impose severe restrictions on Internet access.

Critics also say the plan's backers are seeking to impose broader filtering and then replace some apps. One of the proposed apps is Rubino, which is supposed to replace Instagram.

This application is operated by a company affiliated with the Executive Headquarters of the Imam's Decree. The Executive Headquarters of the Imam's Decree is the largest economic holding company affiliated with the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

Source: Radio Farda