Iran's internet crackdown risks sliding into North Korea style isolation

Iran's government is continuing to tighten internet restrictions after imposing a nationwide shutdown last week that largely cut the country off from the outside world during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

According to Fars News Agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the government has activated an alternative National Information Network.

The network, the agency said, allows access to domestic websites and messaging platforms while restrictions remain in place on services hosted outside Iran.

Fars added that a reduction in unrest following the shutdown meant continued limits on internet access were necessary on public safety grounds.

It is not the first time the network has been activated alongside shutdowns. Mahsa Alimardani, associate director at the human rights group Witness, told The New Arab that the system has existed for around 15 years.

"During every shutdown, they workshop having only domestic connections for the whole country," she said, adding that at times the service has been "glitchy", such as during a 2019 shutdown, and that there have been arguments within the country's elite over the economic implications of cutting outside connections.

What is new, Alimardani said, is the announcement of potentially permanent restrictions, which, if sustained, could place Iran's internet controls on a level comparable to North Korea.

A 'digital airlock' and two-tier internet

To mitigate the impact of a total shutdown, Alimardani said authorities have issued so-called “White SIM cards”, which provide uncensored access to the global internet for individuals close to the government.

The policy has allowed state-affiliated media and institutions to remain online while the broader population remains disconnected.

Kaveh Ranjbar, former chief information and technology officer at RIPE NCC, described the system as a "Digital Airlock".

Ranjbar told The New Arab that official claims the National Information Network could replace the global internet were misleading.

"The technical reality is that you cannot hermetically seal a modern digital economy: there are thousands of invisible dependencies that require the global internet," he said.

"You cannot run a modern economy on LAN [Local Area Network]. Every hour of shutdown bleeds millions from the tech sector and small businesses," he added, calling the move "economic suicide".

According to Whisper Security, a cybersecurity firm founded by Ranjbar and currently tracking the shutdown, Iran is losing an estimated $37.5 million per day.

Protests initially erupted in Tehran's bazaars over economic grievances following a sharp depreciation of the rial.

Previous estimates suggest that a week-long shutdown in 2019, imposed after anti-government protests, cost Iran up to $1.5 billion.

In the absence of a fully functional intranet capable of sustaining economic activity while enabling repression, Ranjbar said the authorities have resorted to "a two-tier internet: connectivity for the state, darkness for the people".

"We scanned 16.7 million IPs [Internet Protocol addresses] yesterday. While the public was disconnected, specific state-affiliated infrastructure (banking cores, propaganda outlets) remained online and reachable from the outside," Ranjbar added.

The battle to stay connected

Since the shutdown began, rights groups estimate that thousands of people have been killed in the crackdown. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights said at least 3,428 protesters have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested, figures it described as an "absolute minimum".

Paige Collings, senior speech and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The New Arab that "cutting off telecommunications and internet access is not only a violation of basic human rights, but a direct attack on the ability of people to access information and communicate with one another".

"Fundamental to the free and open internet is no government interference, which includes government shutting down internet and telecommunications services that are owned by the state itself or by others," she added.

Despite the restrictions, footage and testimony documenting the crackdown have continued to surface online, with activists turning to Starlink, Elon Musk's low Earth orbit satellite network, to maintain external connections.

Rex Fox O'Loughlin, a junior adviser at IISS Six Analytic, told The New Arab that activists began smuggling Starlink terminals into Iran as early as 2021 in anticipation of future shutdowns, with tens of thousands of devices now believed to be in the country.