The Unexpected Tech

Iran's "Second Internet" Rivals Censorship Of China's "Great Firewall"

Iran’s long-awaited “Halal Internet”—a nationwide intranet that will be heavily monitored and cut off from the rest of the world—finally has a launch date. According to Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taghipour Anvari, Iran’s new Internet will be launched in late May or early June. The project is the most ambitious effort yet by any government to censor the Internet, with the exception of China’s “Great Firewall.” Governments worldwide are watching the launch, which could fuel the growth of easy-to-monitor, censored, and publicly accessible national intranets in many different countries—if Iran’s Internet actually works.

The late spring launch is a delay on Iran’s part; their national intranet was originally expected to launch in February. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Golnaz Esfandiariquoted Taghipour Anvari as saying that “Supporting local software and creating secure communication infrastructure are among the most important strategic decisions in the field of cyber defense, and in this regard the first phase of this network will become operational in the month of Khordad.” The month of Khordad on the Persian calendar begins in late May. Taghipour Anvari made the announcement at a Tehran cybersecurity conference on February 20. According to reports from the Iranian Students’ News Agency obtained by Le Monde, Taghipour also announced that Iran would use new measures to block VPNs(français) at the same conference. VPNs are a preferred workaround in Iran, China, and other Internet-censorship regimes that allow users to access forbidden websites.