On 9/23, Misha Glenny reported for The Guardian on Iran’s efforts to move all of its citizens to an intranet separated from the broader internet. The idea is that the Iranian government will create a completely separate network that “will function in Iran alone and not communicate with the outside world.” The Iranian government cited cybersecurity concerns as the impetus for the decision, but a number of Iranian citizens have questioned whether censorship is the primary goal.
Glenny gave insightful commentary on the move’s implications:
This will represent a major step in the fragmentation of the internet into a series of giant intranets, each subject to the specific regulations of individual nation states. The move reduces Iran’s risk of being infected by new viruses, though it will not eliminate it completely. But it would also be a devastating blow to ordinary Iranians, Iranian commerce and Iranian academics who keep abreast of global research through the net.
Just goes to show how much power governments have in cyberspace.
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Along the same lines, Zahra Hosseinian and Yeganeh Torbati reported for Reuters on the Iranian intranet. The article included a few additional bits of information: Iranian governmental agencies have already been connected to the intranet, Iranian citizens will be connected soon after, and the entire system will be finished by March of 2013. The article noted that it is unclear whether “access to the global Internet would be cut once the Iranian system is rolled out.” Google and GMail have also been completely blocked.
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