{"id":2907,"date":"2021-02-10T18:11:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T18:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/en\/?p=2907"},"modified":"2025-06-03T08:41:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T08:41:03","slug":"policy-monitor-january-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filter.watch\/english\/2021\/02\/10\/policy-monitor-january-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy Monitor – January 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran also experienced an eventful month with fuel shortages, the ongoing pandemic, and a number of internal political conflicts. Iranians <\/span>endured<\/span><\/a> major electricity blackouts for much of this month, along with widespread occurrences of toxic smog. Both of these problems were <\/span>blamed<\/span><\/a> on nationwide gas shortages caused by increased winter fuel consumption, and as well as reports that the government has been placing the <\/span>blame for additional<\/span><\/a> pressure on power grids from Bitcoin mining projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding to Iranians\u2019 worries, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei took to Twitter to spread misinformation about the US and UK made COVID-19 vaccines, before ordering a ban on their import.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, tensions between the ICT Ministry and the Judiciary came to a head, as ICT Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi was called on for questioning. Whether this is a political stunt designed to undermine any of Azari Jahromi\u2019s presidential aspirations, or the start of a sustained campaign against the ICT Minister remains to be seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite these tensions, a new cloud infrastructure project was announced in collaboration between the government and the private sector. Lastly, in another blow to digital rights, the messaging app Signal joined the long list of apps and services blocked in Iran, after its popularity surged following <\/span>announced<\/span><\/a> changes to WhatsApp\u2019s privacy policy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Iran and Russia Sign Cybersecurity Agreement\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On <\/span>26 January<\/span><\/a> Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov signed a bilateral agreement on cybersecurity cooperation in a meeting in Moscow. According to a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> released by Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two countries will cooperate in \u201cvarious fields such as strengthening information security, the fight against crimes committed with the use of information and communications technology, technical and technological assistance, and international cooperation including detection, coordination, and collaboration in regional and international organizations to ensure national and international security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The cooperation agreement is significant, and raises further concern about the trajectory of internet freedoms and digital rights in Iran. With both Iran and Russia working to pursue their own localised internets, this agreement could provide further opportunities for the two countries to share technologies and best practices to implement localisation, and engage in online surveillance against citizens. The cooperation agreement also signposts possible coordination of engagements in international internet governance fora, posing an additional threat to the free and open global Internet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Filterwatch will provide further updates on this\u00a0 story as more information becomes available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supreme Council for Cyberspace Meets Following Three Months of Absence\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Supreme Council for Cyberspace (SCC) met on<\/span> 5 January<\/span><\/a> following a three month absence. According to <\/span>Mehr News<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> the council <\/span>discussed<\/span><\/a> two resolutions: \u2018Requirements for Prevention and Combating the Publication of False News and Information Online\u2019, as well \u2018Protection of Children and Teenagers in Cyberspace\u2019 the text for the two resolutions are currently not publicly available. Majles Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf was absent from the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Candidate Registration for Iran\u2019s 2021 Presidential Election Moves Online\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Esmaeil Mousavi, Secretary to the Election Office announced on <\/span>16 January<\/span><\/a> that candidate registration for the 2021 presidential elections will only take place online via the Interior Ministry website or via a mobile phone application, in compliance with COVID-19 \u2018health protocols\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There has also been speculation as to whether voting in Iran\u2019s presidential elections could take place online, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While Mousavi said that there is still a \u2018possibility\u2019 that voting could take place online, a <\/span>number<\/span><\/a> of <\/span>officials<\/span><\/a> have already suggested that this remains unlikely, due to a lack of necessary infrastructure. Filterwatch will continue to monitor developments as we move closer to election day, which is scheduled to take place in June.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Internet Service Providers Receive 25% Reduction in Bandwidth Prices<\/b><\/p>\n

On <\/span>31 January<\/span><\/a> the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC) - the policy making arm of the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) -<\/span> passed a resolution confirming a 25% reduction in the cost of bandwidth sold to Internet Service Providers by the Telecommunications Infrastructure Company (TIC). In an interview Deputy ICT Minister and CRC Secretary Hossein Fallah Joshghani stated that the decision was made due to an increase in bandwidth use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked whether or not this announcement will lead to a reduction of prices for internet users, Joshghani added that such a decision needs to be reviewed by the CRA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Majles Moves to Handover Online Content Management to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On <\/span>12 January<\/span><\/a> the Parliamentary Budgetary Consolidation Commission passed a resolution allocating the management and oversight of online content to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). The Commission allocated a 20,000 billion IRR (estimated 475,002,960.00 USD) budget for online content creation split between the IRIB and the Islamic Development Organisation\u2019s Culture and Communications Organisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The resolution still needs to be debated in a public session in Majles and be approved by the Guardian Council before it becomes law. This is not the first time that plans to hand over content management and oversight being to the IRIB have been raised. The resolution has been met by criticism from the ICT Ministry, increasing tensions between the two institutions. Around <\/span>three years<\/span><\/a> ago ICT Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi described such a move as an \u2018obstacle\u2019 to realising content and services for the National Information Network (NIN).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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City of Mashhad to be Assessed by ITU Smart Sustainable City Indicators\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>Mehr News <\/span><\/i>on <\/span>3 January <\/span><\/a>the city of Mashhad in Razavi Khorasan Province is to be accessed by the International Telecommunication Union\u2019s (ITU) Smart Sustainable City <\/span>indicators<\/span><\/a>, the first city to be assessed in Iran. According to Alireza Yari, the Head of the Information Technology Research Institute, the indicator data has been collected and the institute and ITU are working together on their assessment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While smart cities promise to deploy data-driven technologies to improve public services, they also frequently incorporate technological systems which can be used for the surveillance and monitoring of citizens \u2013 an issue of particular concern in politically closed countries. Questions around the violation of citizens\u2019 right to privacy should be carefully <\/span>considered<\/span><\/a> when assessing the records of smart cities in Iran, particularly given the amount of attention and support given to such initiatives by the central government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018Iran Cloud\u2019 Project Launched in Collaboration Between the Government and Private Technology Sector\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On <\/span>13 January<\/span><\/a> the \u2018Iran Cloud\u2019 project was launched at a ceremony attended by Deputy ICT Minister Amir Nazemi, and two representatives from the private sector. The project marks another major step towards the localisation of Iran\u2019s Internet infrastructure. The Iran Cloud project is a collaboration between the government and a number of Iranian private technology companies including Asia Tech, Fanap, Arvan Cloud, XaaS Cloud and Omid ZharfNegar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The project is the result of an estimated 24,000 billion IRR investment (an estimated 57,000,355.20 USD), comprising a reported 5,000 billion IRR investment from the government, and 19,000 billion IRR from the private sector.<\/span><\/p>\n

The expansion of infrastructure capacity and capabilities is key to the realisation of the NIN, which reduces the use of international services in favour of domestic equivalents, granting greater control and access to Iranian authorities. In addition, domestic infrastructure can be used to allow services to remain online during an Internet shutdown, reducing the disruption and cost of shutdowns when they occur. We saw some evidence of this during November 2019, when many domestic applications and services remained accessible during a shutdown event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Iran\u2019s ICT Minister is Summoned for Questioning by the Judiciary\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On 20 January a number of Iranian news outlets reported that ICT Minister Azari Jahromi had been summoned by the Attorney General to the Culture and Media Court for questioning in relation to a number of claims made against him. Early reporting suggested that the questioning related to the ICT Ministry refraining from implementing a judicial order to block Instagram. The full list of claims against Azari Jahromi were clarified in a tweet from ICT Ministry spokesperson Jamal Hadian, which included:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n