Iran to ban anonymous Internet users from the web in latest online crackdown
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/17504-iran-to-ban-anonymous-internet-users-from-the-web-in-latest-online-crackdown
- Tuesday, 11 November 2014 13:02
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Deputy Information and Communication Technology Minister Nasrullah Jahangardi said on Monday: "The identity of everyone accessing a network must be known and anonymous users will be blocked.
"Only those having a clear identity will be allowed to use the Internet or access mobile networks. And this will be done when the transition from the IPV4 to IPV6 network is accomplished in Iran."
Jahangardi also insisted this same restriction was being imposed in other countries around the world - a claim rejected by experts as false.
It is also feared the crackdown by so-called moderate President Hassan Rouhani will intimidate all web users with the knowledge that their private Internet use is being constantly monitored by regime officials.
His remarks come a day after the Iranian Ministry of Information and Technology announced that an 'intelligent filtering system' aimed at blocked websites would be operational in Iran within six months.
The move by Minister Mahamoud Vaezi would give the regime much tighter control over the websites able to be accessed by users.
Vaezi also reacted to complaints about slow Internet speeds in the country, insisting that once the new 'national internet', speeds would increase beyond those in many other countries.
According to a recent report by Reporters Without Borders, Internet speed is often drastically reduced in Iran during demonstrations to prevent the circulation of images of the anti-government protests.
China has been assisting Iran's bid to create a national Internet that would be disconnected from the World Wide Web and under the government’s complete control.
Deputy information minister Nasrolah Jahangardi announced the move during a recent visit by a delegation from China’s State Council Information Office, and said the Chinese were currently advising Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Supreme Council for Cyberspace and the Working Group for Identifying Criminal Content.
The crackdown on online usage under Hassan Rouhani has intensified in line with the general surge in executions and suppression on women.
The latest October report by the Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, states that there are 'severe content restrictions, intimidation and prosecution of Internet users and limitations on Internet access through throttling and filtering'.
He wrote: "Some five million websites remain blocked. The top 500 blocked websites include many dedicated to the arts, social issues, news and those ranked in the top tiers of popularity nationally."
Last month saw an intensive crackdown on social network users, with Iran's state-run TV broadcasting the 'televised confessions' of 11 people jailed for posting jokes about Supreme Leader Ali Khomeini on a social networking site.
The Iranian regime's Revolutionary Guards Corp Commander Esmaeel Mohebipour accused the 11 of publishing comments insulting Khomeini on WhatsApp, Viber, Tango and Telegram.
As a result, Iran’s Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei issued a one-month ultimatum for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to ban the applications WhatsApp, Viber and Tango.
Kamal Hadifar, the head of the regime's Cyberpolice responsible for monitoring Internet activity, said on October 12 that the departments under his authority now control all social network activity including Viber and WhatsApp.
Scores of online activists, users and bloggers have been jailed, tortured and killed for comments about Iran's ruling dictators, which have always been a common way to express dissent.
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