[x-pubpol] Iran will launch "Halal Intranet" this spring

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.fastcompany.com/1819375/why-irans-building-a-second-internet

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 Esfandiari quoted Taghipour
Anvari<http://www.rferl.org/content/irans_national_internet_gets_late_spring_launch_date/24491847.html>
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<http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2012/02/21/vives-critiques-en-iran-apres-de-nouvelles-coupures-d-internet_1646117_3218.html>
(français)
at the same conference.

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