Parliament Committee Approves Framework of Bill to Maximize Internet Restrictions and Increase Military Control

The joint parliamentary commission, operating under the title “Supporting Users’ Rights in Cyberspace,” approved the framework of a bill designed to maximize internet restrictions and increase military control over the internet with 18 votes in favor and one against.

The session reviewing this bill, titled “Regulation of Virtual Space Services Framework” and also known as the “Sayanat” bill, was held on Tuesday, the third of Esfand, while the Iranian parliament was engaged in reviewing next year’s budget. Some representatives insisted that the commission session be held after the budget review was completed, but this request was not accepted by supporters of internet restrictions.

The “Sayanat bill” was placed on parliament’s agenda after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, in several speeches described Iran’s virtual space as “neglected and abandoned” and criticized responsible institutions for not restricting it.

The ISNA news agency reported that in the joint commission session, Jalal Rashidi Kouchi, a parliamentary representative, said: “Some people contact me in favor of this bill and threaten me. This is while, after some time since the joint commission began its work, people are still concerned about the passage of this bill.”

Opponents of the “Sayanat Bill for Protecting Users’ Rights in Cyberspace” have warned that the issue is not limited to restricting important foreign messengers such as Instagram, and if this bill is passed, fundamental changes will occur in how users operate, internet supervision, and bandwidth. The goal is to impose severe restrictions on internet access.

If this bill is passed as law, as stated in its text, “all data will subsequently be recorded and stored,” and according to this bill, “storage and processing of Iranian users’ data in accordance with council resolutions and relevant regulations and rules” will become a normal procedure.

According to this text, it has also been determined that the creation, maintenance, and operation of internet border gateways by the private and non-governmental sector will be prohibited after this law comes into effect, and this will be entrusted to the military.

Critics also say that supporters of this bill are seeking to implement more widespread filtering and subsequently replace certain applications. One of the proposed applications is the Rubino app, which is supposed to replace Instagram.

This application is run by a company affiliated with the Executive Headquarters of the Imam’s Order. The Executive Headquarters of the Imam’s Order is the largest economic holding affiliated with the office of the leader of the Islamic Republic.

The planning and investment of the Iranian government for greater internet restrictions is taking place as “Freedom House” announced the internet freedom index of countries in its recent 2021 report, 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.

The Iranian government, in parallel with pursuing the passage of this bill, has for years been attempting, under the pretext of security reasons and to control protests and suppress or censor suppression events, to separate the domestic internet (intranet) from the global internet under the guise of launching a “National Network.” This plan, also referred to as the “switch to cut off global internet connections,” is supposed to be finalized by the end of 1402.

Some Iranian government officials have suggested that in developing a national information network, the experience of countries such as Russia and China should be used.

On the other hand, in recent days multiple reports have been published about the deliberate reduction of internet speed to disrupt access to popular social networks such as Instagram.

In this regard, yesterday the Zoomit website, which covers technology news, reported that some internet companies said that the bandwidth of foreign networks such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Clubhouse has been “intentionally reduced.”

The “Etemad” newspaper, Tehran edition, also reported on the second of Esfand that one of the goals of reducing internet speed is to limit access to popular social networks, and “it seems that what happened to the Viber messenger in 1394 is supposed to happen to Instagram as well, and its bandwidth will be reduced so much that users will practically forget that a social network called Instagram ever existed.”

Source: Radio Farda