Turika Bose: This is 60 Second Science. This is Turika Bose. Iranians have protested violently and relentlessly against the government. This was sparked by the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini who died in custody of the country’s “morality police”. Although it has refused to accept restrictive laws, authorities are cracking down with violence, arrests and surveillance. I’m with Scientific American’s technical her editor, Sophie Bushwick. Sophie interviewed Amir Rashidi, Director of Digital Rights and Security at Miaan Group. Miaan Group is an Austin, Texas-based advocacy group working to improve human rights in Iran.
Bose: Hey Sophie.
Sophie Bushwick: Hi. Sophie.
Bose: So how did you find this story?
Bushwick: We had heard that some demonstrators in Iran were concerned about the government’s use of facial recognition. I reached out to Amir to ask about this technology specifically, and what I learned is that the use of technology for repression in Iran goes far beyond facial recognition. In fact, the government is actively trying to create its own national intranet, separate from the global internet, to give citizens more control over what they can see on the internet.
Bose: Do you think it will affect you in the near future?
Bushwick: What I have learned within Iran is that the government has been interested in this intranet project for some time. It’s not just a matter of building your own server, you need your own data center and your own app. They cut off access to WhatsApp and don’t want people to communicate with the outside world or access that kind of information. It means that they are trying to influence the adoption of a national app and a nationwide intranet. They’ve done things like making a national intranet cheaper and faster than accessing the global internet.
Bose: Is Iran taking a page from someone else’s strategy here?
Bushwick: Yes, there are many authoritarian governments that are very interested in using technology for surveillance and censorship. In particular, Iran has a technology-sharing agreement with China. There is a category of apps called super apps. For example, WeChat is a Chinese app that lets you stream your favorite videos, buy tickets, chat, and browse the internet. An app that small apps might focus on. Iran has an app trying to do the same. So the problem with this is that if you get kicked out of that app, for example, you lose access to your own life. If managed by a company, they are very quick to access everything you do online. The concept of having a country-wide intranet instead of using the global internet is also unique to Iran not. Russia has announced it wants to do this, but has not actually done so completely privately. It is becoming clear that multiple dictatorships want to have small islands of the internet, separate from the global internet.
Bose: That sounds pretty scary.
Bushwick: That’s not great. Not great for people living in government controlled countries. And it’s not great for those who believe in the concept of the Internet as a unified source of information where people around the world can connect with each other and read what each other is doing.
Bose: Aside from being cut off like the global internet, what else could happen?
Bushwick: A recent report actually hints at one way governments may be limiting connection speeds, at least for mobile phone users. That is a computer tool called SIAM. Once a telecommunications company installs it, it basically allows the government to target internet speeds on individual phones. It’s even scarier than that. It also has other surveillance access to your phone, potentially allowing you to track its location, decipher messages and other information. And in general, it looks like it’s surveillance tools that telecom companies are handing over to the Iranian government.
Bose: What do you think is the biggest takeaway from this story, and what should people know going forward?
Bushwick: Governments that want to control their citizens are learning from each other. But internet freedom activists have also learned from each other, with supporters around the world trying to help Iranians. I think one example is the value of the global internet, the way it enables people all over the world to connect with a common purpose for a common purpose.
Bose: Thank you for listening to 60 Seconds Science. This is Turika Bose.
