(English version below)

In dem Report bietet TFI einen Überblick über die Verfasstheit des iranischen Internet, sowie die Policies mit denen der iranische Staat die Online-Sphäre zu regulieren und kontrollieren versucht. Im zweiten Teil des Reports werden die Ergebnisse von Experten-Gesprächen wiedergegeben, die TFI in zahlreichen Interviews und einem 3-tägigen Workshop geführt hat.

Hierbei hat TFI staatliche und nicht-staatliche Experten konsultiert: Internet-Aktivisten, Wissenschaftler, Analysten und Praktiker, die seit Jahren die Entwicklungen in Irans Cyberspace dokumentieren und mit Gegenmaßnahmen versuchen zur sicheren Kommunikation und zum freien Fluss von Informationen für Irans Internetnutzer und Online-Aktivisten beizutragen.

Durch die Formulierung von Policy-Empfehlungen versucht TFI schließlich zur Verbesserung dieser „Internet Freedom“- Maßnahmen beizutragen.

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INTERNET FREEDOM:

Snapshots of the Case of Iran

 

In the following report TFI provides an overview of the developments of Iran’s online environment and Internet policies, and we process our consultations with a range of external stakeholders – researchers, Internet freedom advocates and practitioners – who have been closely observing and reacting to Iranian Internet policy developments for a number of years and whose actions and policies aim to advance the free flow of information and the communications security of Iran’s netizens.

The overall goal of this report is to contribute to a refinement of measures and policies that work towards that end.

„The ubiquity of new information and communication technologies influences and changes politics and societies worldwide, and their enthusiastic adoption by Iran’s citizenry, heralding the outlook for sociopolitical change, has triggered drastic and pervasive counter-reactions by Iran’s ruling establishment in the form of jammed satellite signals, censored websites, blocked Internet services and surveillance of communications, just to name a few.

Already, this battle is increasingly focused on the Internet and Internet-based services, with Iran being considered as the “least free” country in terms of Internet freedom. Meanwhile, a multiplicity of actors has aligned in order to counter the Iranian state’s Internet censorship and information control. They range from governments, commercial and non-profit entities, to scholars and journalists. Significant monetary and non-monetary resources are being leveraged to meet the needs of Iran’s netizens in the face of the state’s stifling Internet policies, which, in return, allocates even greater resources to crackdown on connectivity and users alike.

Consequently, the struggle for Internet freedom is in great part characterized by cycles of measures and countermeasures between advocates and opponents. As this dynamic suggests, the continuation of this cycle engenders a learning curve, which in return allows both sides to readjust individual measures as well as to formulate policies and strategies that could guide broader shifts. (…)“

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Download the report:

Internet Freedom: Snapshots of the Case of Iran
English, PDF, 540kb