Iran: Internet “Freedoms”
It is not a secret that state of Islamic Republic of Iran uses extensive surveillance and prohibitions to curtail Internet Freedom and it's citizens' net privacy. This article seeks to set out the legal regulations are used by the state to justify censorship and their impact in practice.
In recent years, Iran has had a steady increase in the percentage of the population with Internet access. Around 26% of the population has access to internet, as opposed to 35% world average[1]. However comparing it with other countries in the region, Pakistan (10%), India (12.6%) and Bangladesh (6.3%) the net has proliferated more in Iran than the rest. While these official figures may be taken with a grain of salt, they do demonstrate the fact that Iran is home to a large population of active net-users.
Freedom of Expression is protected in the Article 24 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran[2]a. Article 25 of the Iranian constitution provides right to privacy by prohibiting any governmental interference with letters, recording/ bugging telephone conversations or censorship, unless specified in law[2]b. Furthermore, Iran is signatory to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[3], (“ICCPR”), which also protects the rights to privacy and free expression in Articles 17 and 19. However, international law allows governments limits these rights in limited instances when.
The 1986 Press Law,[4] as amended in 2000, along with the 2009 Computer Crimes Law, and the 2010 Cybercrime Law regulate the access to Internet in Iran. The 1986 law requires publications, including online publications like blogs, to obtain licenses to operate and prohibits the press from insulting Leader of Revolution, attack Islamic Republic, revolutionary guards or the army, or disseminate false information. The Press Supervisory Board provides licenses to publications that want to disseminate news, information or write articles.
Internet Service Providers are required to register with the government and websites must get a license from the Telecommunication Company of Iran. ISPs are also required to store all data sent and received for three months[5]. The 2009 Computer Crimes Law creates a “working group to determine instances of online Criminal Content” which decides what online content is permissible and what is illegal[6]. There is also a Supreme Council for Cyberspace created by the Supreme Leader that oversees internet. Internet publications including Blogs seeking to work within Iran need to register with both these organizations and the Ministry. This process allows the government to arbitrarily and without transparency limit certain forms of expression.
At least since 2006, Iran has put in place SmartFilter, which prevents access to prominent English-Language websites and filters Persian-language sites. Since then Iran has been using domestic filters to control the internet. Iran is also known to use Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) as Data interception tools. It is claimed that user devices, including allegedly that of ZTE and Huawei, were used to get data. DPI allows for data analysing including checking email content, browsing history and blocking access to sites.[7]
Iran has a Cyber Police force called the FATA, founded in 2011. FATA works as enforcement police, but also creates some regulations in relation to internet. Blogger Sattar Beheshti was arrested by FATA for publishing material on social networks "against national security”. He later died in the police custody in 2012, which led to chief of Police being dismissed after investigations by Parliament and Judiciary [8]. This story drew worldwide attention on the real threats to Iran's new class of netizens from their government.
Foreign Media is not fully allowed in Iran, as they were blamed for the 2009 Green Movement after the hotly contested Presidential election[9]. Similarly, there are restrictions on online foreign news websites. There was the odd instance in January 2013 when people trying to visit BBC Persia (www.bbcpersian.com) were redirected to www.bbcpersian.ir . The latter is a pro-establishment website, which carries pro-government news.
Legal Framework
Internet Restrictions
By Sindhyar Talpur