{"id":2258,"date":"2020-05-14T16:58:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T16:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/en\/?p=2258"},"modified":"2025-06-03T08:41:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T08:41:05","slug":"policy-monitor-april-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/2020\/05\/14\/policy-monitor-april-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy Monitor \u2014 April 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The COVID-19 crisis continues for another month, claiming lives and devastating families across the globe. In Iran, the rate of infection is continuing to grow daily, with the total official number of infections reaching 109,276 and the total number of deaths coming to 6,586 to date. Though according to the Health Ministry\u2019s statistics suggest some decline in the number of cases, some\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0have questioned whether the true figures could be much higher than the official totals.<\/p>\n

With President Rouhani easing some of the already limited social distancing and quarantine rules in April, there is a risk that the rate of infections will spike, causing a \u201csecond wave\u201d in the weeks and months ahead. But facing a lack of appropriate social security measures and an already strained economy, many have no choice but to continue their lives as usual.<\/p>\n

Iran has become increasingly reliant on technology to mitigate the effects of social distancing measures, with a new e-learning app deployed this month despite concerns around its accessibility. This roll-out has ignited fresh debate on Iran\u2019s digital divide, and the limited access to technology enjoyed by those on the country\u2019s social and economic margins.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, freedom of expression online remains restricted, with reports of thousands of individuals being arrested for \u201cspreading rumours\u201d online. Although limiting the spread of disinformation is a valid objective, this aim should not be achieved through such a punitive, non-transparent and far-reaching crackdown on Iranian users, and instead would be better served by opening up space for critical, independent journalism and credible sources of information. The lack of transparency and sheer number of arrests suggests that security and law enforcement forces in Iran are not seeking to fight disinformation online, but rather are focused on further shrinking virtual spaces for dissent.<\/p>\n

Our monthly\u00a0Network Monitor<\/a> supplements this report with a technical analysis of network disruptions and internet shutdowns. Take a look at it to get a better sense of how COVID-19-related slowdowns affected Iranian users.<\/p>\n

\"\"Supreme Council for Cyberspace Meetings Delayed \u201cDue to COVID-19\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In an interview on\u00a021 April<\/a>\u00a0Mohammad- Hossein Entezari, a member of the Supreme Council for Cyberspace (SCC), discussed the lack of progress in the macro-planning for the National Information Network (NIN). The NIN progress and planning review which was assigned to a team of specialists at the National Centre for Cyberspace by the SCC, began work\u00a0in February this year<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Entezari, some members of the SCC have held online meetings in relation to \u201ccertain issues\u201d, meetings headed by the President or relating to NIN planning review have not taken place \u201cdue to the COVID-19 crisis\u201d. He added that \u201cno SCC meetings have taken place since the spread of Coronavirus began\u201d.<\/p>\n

The SCC is required to meet every six weeks, however it appears that no official meetings have taken place\u00a0since February.<\/a>\u00a0The mandate for the SCC, which is issued by the Supreme Leader was last renewed on\u00a05 September 2015<\/a>\u00a0for a period of four years has now expired and has not been formally renewed .<\/p>\n

Judiciary\u2019s Head of Cyberspace Affairs is Replaced<\/strong><\/p>\n

On\u00a020 April<\/a>\u00a0it was confirmed that Javad Javidnia, the Deputy Prosecutor General responsible for Cyberspace, was leaving his position. It is unclear whether Javidnia has resigned or was removed from the role, however in a note posted on his channel on domestic messaging app Soroush, Javidnia attributed the move to \u201cnot being able to follow [the] Supreme Leader\u2019s orders\u201d. He went on to criticise the \u201clack of effort from those in charge\u201d in following Khamenei\u2019s line, especially lamenting the continued availability of Instagram, which he views as a major challenge to a harmonious society and the revolution.<\/p>\n

Javidnia, who has been serving in the position since October 2018 \u2014 and in its attached capacity as the Secretary of the Committee for Determining instances of Criminal Content (CDICC) \u2014 has played a major role in issuing a number of filtering orders\u00a0such as the filtering of the Google Play Store<\/a>\u00a0and was a vocal supporter of the November 2019 internet shutdown. He has also been behind the roll-out of the process for the sale of government controlled \u201clegal\u201d VPNs.<\/p>\n

On\u00a025 April<\/a>\u00a0it was confirmed that Javad Babaei has replaced Javidnia. Babaei previously served as the Head of the Computer Crimes Court. During his time in the role, he was\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran\u2019s Cyber Police (or FATA) Operation Spider\u00a0I\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0II<\/a>, which saw the surveillance and mass arrest of Iranian social media users and models not wearing a headscarf. Javidnia was also involved in these operations prior to becoming the Head of Cyberberspace Affairs at the Judiciary.<\/p>\n

There are no indications that the new appointment will bring any dramatic changes to the current scale of content filtering, however Javidnia\u2019s explanation of the move does suggest that there has been some level of resistance among policy-makers to further extending the scope of filtering to additional social media platforms.<\/p>\n

Legal VPNs Enter Planning Phase, In Preparation for Roll Out<\/strong><\/p>\n

On\u00a014 April<\/a>, the Secretary to the Supreme Council for Cyberspace (SCC), Abolhassan Firouzabadi announced that the CDICC has drafted the regulation relating to legal sale and use of VPNs. He added that the ICT Ministry will also be involved in executing the new \u201clegal VPN\u201d scheme.<\/p>\n

According to a\u00a0recent interview<\/a>\u00a0with Javidnia prior to his departure from his position as the Head of Cyberberspace Affairs at the Judiciary, university teachers, students, journalists, doctors, security and judicial organisations and certain professions which require access to filtered websites may apply to receive legal VPNs. A fee will be payable by those who are approved to receive the VPN, which will be set by the Communication Regulatory Authority (CRA).<\/p>\n

He added that while the legal criteria for legal VPNs have been drafted, the technical aspect of rolling out the VPNs and assigning operators and licences has been assigned to the ICT Ministry for consideration within the second phase of the plan. However, Javidnia also mentioned that there have been some delays in progress at this stage due to \u201clow attendance\u201d at CDICC meetings, with some MP members attending \u201cother meetings in their constituencies\u201d on Thursdays, when the CIDCC is scheduled to meet.<\/p>\n

Discussions around the state regulation of VPNs have been ongoing for some time, although discussions took a more serious turn as we reported\u00a0last October,<\/a>with the ICT Ministry providing a list of approved VPN vendors to the National Centre for Cyberspace.<\/p>\n

The sale of state-regulated \u201clegal\u201d VPNs is in line with what we have observed as an emerging structure developing in Iran\u2019s internet known as \u201clayered filtering\u201d. This system allows different sections of society to have different levels of access to the global internet, and to certain online services as assigned by the government. This not only violates the digital rights of Iranians, but this approach also risks entrenching existing socio-economic divides by creating a privileged class with some level of access to the global Internet. We have\u00a0already written<\/a>\u00a0about the potential impacts of this \u201clayered filtering\u201d model upon Iranian internet users.<\/p>\n

As well as allowing access to filtered websites, VPNs are also important online privacy and security tools, and government control and monitoring of these tools seriously undermines their benefits. Government interventions to regulate VPNs must be halted immediately, and citizens must be made aware of the risks that such tools pose to their online privacy.<\/p>\n

\"\"Iranian E-Learning Platform \u201cSHAD\u201d Risks Leaving Students Behind<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On\u00a09 April<\/a>\u00a0the Ministry of Education announced the launch of the new domestic e-learning platform officially known as \u201cSHADAP\u201d (and also commonly referred to as \u201cSHAD\u201d) is available to download via shaddl.medu.ir. Following the reiteration of the ban on the use of foreign messaging apps by public bodies, government organisations, schools and universities by the judiciary\u00a0this February<\/a>, the opportunity is being used to enforce and normalise the use of domestic analogues. However, SHADAP is already causing concern and challenges among users and digital rights activists.<\/p>\n

On\u00a014 April<\/a>\u00a0the Iranian refugee protection NGO HAMI raised concerns about the accessibility of the app by Afghan refugee children, as the app requires national ID numbers to be entered before they can be accessed, which refugee children often lack. According to HAMI, the Ministry Ministry of Education has now \u201cresolved\u201d the issue to allow foreign children to access the app.<\/p>\n

The app was created in\u00a0collaboration with Roobika<\/a>, a domestic messaging app, which has also raised security issues among users. Other concerns, such as low connectivity speeds and technical issues, lack of access to smartphones and internet by students, remain major\u00a0concerns<\/a>\u00a0by teachers and students.\u00a0According to the Education Ministry<\/a> the government is \u201clooking into\u201d providing free internet connections and tablets\u201d to students without existing access.<\/p>\n

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Iranians Face Up To 30% Increase in Mobile Phone Prices<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to a report by Iranian Magazine\u00a0Peivast\u00a0<\/em>on\u00a027 April<\/a>, the price of mobile phones have increased by between 20\u201330% compared to the previous year. Some have attributed the price increase to the sudden demand for devices for the use of the SHAD e-learning application, while others have claimed that the increase is due to stock shortages and import limitations.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the reason for the price increases, many families now face the added financial burden of acquiring smartphones and other devices in order to access online learning platforms including SHAD which is an additional strain on vulnerable groups who have been the most financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The current conditions could mean that the competitively priced domestic smartphones could become more popular among users,\u00a0posing risks for privacy and security<\/a> in the absence of data protection and privacy laws.<\/p>\n

\"\"Journalists Arrested for Allegedly Posting a Cartoon Mocking Religious Figures<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On\u00a023 April<\/a>\u00a0two Iranian journalists, Massoud Heydari, the Managing Director of the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA), and Hamid Haghjoo, the administrator of ILNA\u2019s Telegram channel were arrested for allegedly publishing a\u00a0cartoon<\/a>\u00a0on the news outlet\u2019s Telegram channel criticising religious figures touting unscientific remedies for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Heydairi has been released on bail while Haghjoo is being detained pending an investigation into the event. In a\u00a0statement<\/a>, ILNA has denied any involvement in the publication of the cartoon.<\/p>\n

A number of other journalists and online activists have either been arrested or have received warnings relating to their coverage of the crisis. According to\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0a number of journalists from the city of Saqez in Kurdistan Province were summoned or received warnings from the police in February, including Fardin Mostafaei, the administrator for Telegram news channel \u201cSaqezroodaho\u201d who was questioned by the police including on his his reporting on the number of infections. Some other online activists from the province received warnings from the police in relation to suspected deaths from COVID-19 and warnings about inadequate health care conditions in the city.<\/p>\n

Along with the safety of prisoners with the spread of COVID-19, freedom of expression and freedom of the press remains crucial especially during times of crisis. The journalists detained must be released immediately and journalists must be able to perform their duties without fear of arrest and intimidation from the government. The ILNA Telegram channel remains accessible.<\/p>\n

3,600 People Arrested for \u201cSpreading Rumours Online\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

On\u00a029 April<\/a>\u00a0Aboulfazl Shekarchi, a senior Spokesperson for the Armed Forces announced that to date 3,600 people had been arrested by the Police and Basij forces for \u201cspreading rumours in cyberspace\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is an incredibly high number of arrests, and there is lack of transparency as to the definition of \u201crumours\u201d and charges of these individuals. There must be full transparency from authorities about the charges being brought against detainees, and unwarranted arrests and detentions should be halted immediately. Iranians\u2019 right to criticise the government\u2019s response to this ongoing crisis must be upheld, without the fear of prosecution and harassment from authorities.<\/p>\n

US Tech Sanction Enforcement Extends to Non-US Companies<\/strong><\/p>\n

On\u00a016 April<\/a>\u00a0it was reported that the Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has settled a lawsuit against Swiss IT service provider Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Internationale de T\u00e9l\u00e9communications A\u00e9ronautiques SCRL (SITA) for $7.8 million for \u201capparent violations of the Global Sanctions Regulations, , 31 C.F.R. part 594 (GTSR)\u201d\u00a0.\u00a0<\/strong>SITA provides services to commercial air transportation industries, their clients also included Iranian airline companies Mahan and Caspian Air. Both airlines are sanctioned by OFAC due to their \u201cinvolvement in terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

Though SITA is not US-owned, it is believed that the company used US based servers and US made software for the services they provided to the Iranian airlines, leading to OFAC taking legal action against SITA.<\/p>\n

On\u00a012 October 2011<\/a>\u00a0the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against Mahan Air for providing \u201c financial, material and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).\u201d Caspian Air was sanctioned on\u00a029 August 2014<\/a>\u00a0for \u201c[providing] support to IRGC elements by transporting personnel, and illicit material, including weapons, from Iran to Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 crisis continues for another month, claiming lives and devastating families across the globe. In Iran, the rate of infection is continuing to grow daily, with the total official number of infections reaching 109,276 and the total number of deaths coming to 6,586 to date. Though according to the Health Ministry\u2019s statistics suggest someContinue reading \"Policy Monitor \u2014 April 2020\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-network-monitor","entry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}