Restrictions on cyber cafes and plans to launch national internet prompt fears users could be cut off from world wide web
Iran is launching a major clampdown on web users before parliamentary elections in March with draconian new rules on cyber cafes and preparations to launch a national internet.
A series of tests for the launch of a countrywide network aimed at substituting services run through the world wide web has been carried out by Iran's ministry of information and communication technology, according to a newspaper report. The move has prompted fears among its online community that Iran may withdraw from the global internet.
Speculation over the ministry's intentions comes amid a major clampdown on Iranian internet users by the police, which this week imposed new regulations on internet cafes.
The cafe owners have been given a two-week ultimatum to adopt fresh rules requiring them to check the identity cards of their customers before providing any services.
"Internet cafes are required to write down the forename, surname, name of the father, national identification number, post code and telephone number of each customer," said an Iranian police statement, according to the news website Tabnak.
"Besides the personal information, they must maintain other information of the customer such as the date and the time of using the internet and the IP address, and the addresses of the websites visited. They should keep these informations for each individuals for at least six months."
In recent weeks, users in Iran have complained of a significant reduction in the speed of their internet, reported an Iranian reformist newspaper, Roozegar, which has recently resumed publication after months of closure. The newspaper said it appeared to be the result of testing the national internet.
"According to some of the people in charge of the communication industry, attempts to launch a national internet network are the cause of disruption in internet and its speed reduction in recent weeks," Roozegar reported. Some government websites, however, cited other reasons for the drop in speed.Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, an Iranian IT expert with close knowledge of Iran's national internet project, which he described as corporate-style intranet, said: "Despite what others think, intranet is not primarily aimed at curbing the global internet but Iran is creating it to secure its own military, banking and sensitive data from the outside world.
"Iran has fears of an outside cyber attack like that of the Stuxnet, and is trying to protect its sensitive data from being accessible on the world wide web." Stuxnet, a computer worm designed to sabotage Iran's uranium enrichment project hit the country's nuclear facilities in 2010.
The authorities in the Islamic republic have said for some years that Iran should have its own internet, a parallel network which would conform to Islamic values and provide "appropriate" services.
For Iranian officials, the need for such a network became more evident after the events in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in 2009, when many protesters used social networks.
Less than two months before Iran's parliamentary elections in March, its first national election since 2009, the regime appears to be attempting to bring the country's online community under control.
In June, the US was reported to be funding plans to launch new services facilitating internet access and mobile phone communications in countries with tight controls on freedom of speech, such as Iran, through a project called "shadow internet" or "internet in a suitcase". Iran responded to the move by stepping up its online censorship by upgrading its filtering system.
More than 5m websites are filtered in Iran, but many Iranians access blocked addresses with help from proxy websites or virtual private network services. An Iranian official said last year that more than 17 million Iranians have Facebook accounts, although the site remains blocked in Iran.