Internet filtering has failed in Iran, cyberspace council member says
Mohammad Sarafraz says internet filtering has failed in Iran, increasing security risks and VPN costs. He also criticizes privileged access through white SIM cards.
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Internet shutdowns and social media filtering have failed in Iran and worsened security and social problems, Mohammad Sarafraz, a member of the country’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, said.
Sarafraz, a former head of state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, told that the restrictions had driven the vast majority of people to use tools that bypass filtering, including virtual private networks, or VPNs.
He said this reliance on circumvention tools had created security problems for communications networks and increased users’ spending on VPN subscriptions. Free VPNs could expose users to malware or intrusive advertising, he added.
Sarafraz also said the tools slowed internet connections, increased battery use and posed cultural risks for children.
Criticism of preferential access
Sarafraz criticized the provision of “white SIM cards,” which gave selected people and groups internet access while connections were cut for most of the population.
He described the arrangement as discriminatory and conducive to corruption, saying it had created a black market for the cards. The result of efforts to exercise complete control over the internet, he argued, had satisfied neither the authorities nor the public.
Satellite internet and domestic alternatives
Sarafraz said no country could place all internet data under the control of a single center. He predicted that mobile phones would receive satellite internet directly in the future and argued that authorities would be unable to eliminate it, just as they had been unable to cut off satellite television.
In making that comparison, he said Iran could not be governed like North Korea.
Sarafraz called for domestic services that could meet people’s needs in education, commerce, health, entertainment and access to information, including social networks and messaging platforms of a global standard. People should use those services by choice and with enthusiasm, he said, rather than through compulsion.
He also advocated using new, intelligent technologies to oversee foreign social networks.
