Engineered Internet, a silent crime under the shadow of global disruption

The engineered internet in Iran is a narrative of silent crime and nationwide disruption that the government launched in a limited and weak manner for its own interests.

After days of widespread internet outages and disruptions in Iran, evidence and reports show that what the Islamic Republic government is promoting as the "return of the internet" is not a sign of normalization, but rather part of a controlled and security project. A project under whose shadow one of the greatest silent crimes against the Iranian people took place: the deliberate deprivation of citizens from communication, information, and digital security.

Netblocks announced on Sunday, January 18, 2020, citing the 238 hours of widespread internet disruption in Iran, that traffic data shows that access to some online services, including Google, has returned to a significant extent, indicating that "heavily filtered" access has been activated.

This report clearly shows that the government has activated part of the internet, albeit in a limited and weak manner, not out of accountability, but simply to manage pressures and advance its own interests.

At the same time as some limited movements were observed on the Iranian Internet on Saturday, January 17, and messages from a number of users reached outside the country's borders, the "Filterban" platform, which monitors the state of the Iranian Internet and is active in the field of digital security and free access to the Internet, warned about this situation.

In a post on his social media, Filterban emphasized that the government has not liberalized the internet and wrote: "The government is organizing its own government whitelist."

According to the data published by the platform, what is happening is not the return of the internet, but rather its temporary and selective opening to organize a “security white list.” Filterban has clarified that the internet has only been activated for people on specific security lists or using so-called white SIM cards. This situation in no way means that conditions are returning to normal or that free internet access is returning to the general public.

All of this evidence shows that by cutting off and controlling the internet, the Islamic Republic government has deliberately placed the Iranian people in an insecure, isolated, and defenseless situation, while at the same time, whenever its political and security interests require it, it has limitedly and demonstratively reduced the severity of this disruption. A crime whose consequences go beyond a technical disruption and directly target the citizens' right to life, security, and freedom.