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Iran designing its own version of the Internet

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#21

Post by rdl »

jim_kaiser wrote: post #19
rdl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't underestimate Iran. They aren't quite the US or Japan, but ahead of any middle eastern non Israel nation, probably ahead of India in many ways, and on par with Brazil or Spain or maybe Italy in terms of domestic engineering talent and ability.

On the other hand, they are not geniuses to solve the problems of internet security once and for all. All they might manage to do is stop free flow of information into and out of the country. The "Iron curtain" never helped anyone. To use Huawei's equipment to achieve their national security needs is just naive. You might as well handover your country's internet infrastructure to China itself. [EDIT: Added some links…

DoD runs multiple separate versions of the Internet (I'd call them Internets vs. just a big intranet due to size and scope); NIPRnet for unclassified and SIPRnet for Secret are the two big ones. It's totally reasonable for Iran to do something at that level.

Huawei probably won't help the USG vs. Iran, so using Huawei for this is a better choice than using Cisco, actually.

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#23

Post by dfc »

mindstab wrote: post #14

The internet is (obviously) one of the best examples of the network effect. Sure you can technically wall of a subset of it and live on your own, but why would any sane person want to? I mean I get it, they want to limit access to non ideologically compatible ideas, which is most of everything. But then that severely limits the utility of their new internet. Right now the economy is coasting pretty heavily on oil exp…

They will be able to harness a lot of the network effects of the Internet. Contrary to the linkbait title, they are not building "their own version" of the Internet; they are building a separate special purpose network of networks, much like SIPRNet. As long as they don't mess with any of the protocols they will be able to take advantage of advances in COTS hardware and software. Furthermore they seem to be taking advantage of China's surveillance machine. Instead of building their own version of the "panopticon router" they are buying China's.

Most importantly, your analogy misses the point about the Internet and the current power structure in Iran. If they do nothing to stem the free flow of information they will not be able to hold on to power long enough to run out of oil money. Comparing Qatar to Iran is apples to oranges. The political climate in Qatar is remarkably different than the political climate in Iran.

To a large extent your analysis is spot on. However you are assuming that the Iranian leadership is a semi-benevolent organization whose central goal is the betterment of the average Iranian's life. This is simply not the case in Iran. The Iranian leaders are more concerned with maintaining power and the destruction of Israel than they are with improving the lives of Iranians.

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#24

Post by hughesey »

The Internet is Iran is already quite unique, thanks to the strict Government controlled filters in place.

There was a recent study testing the top 100 websites in each of Alexa's site categories. It tested if each was available in Iran using the Iran Firewall Test (http://viewdns.info/iranfirewall/).

The result? Approximately 27% of sites we tested were blocked. Categories such as adult sites saw much higher rates.

The research piece is here for anyone interested: http://viewdns.info/research/current-state-of-internet-censo...

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#25

Post by pooriaazimi »

jim_kaiser wrote: post #17

This is obviously not going to solve the problem of cyber attacks. As I remember, even the stuxnet attack on their nuclear reactor was ultimately caused by transmission through a pen drive into an isolated network. No reason, the same cannot be achieved even if they isolate the country's network. More entry points as I see it.

They say it's meant to be a solution for cyber attacks, and to a tiny extent, it might be; but as everyone knows, the actual purpose is to cut off people from "information super-highway" completely (one step at a time).

As we all know, "Ignorance is Strength", and they'd like it better if we could only watch state TV and read stories from official news agencies. Would solve a lot of problems, or so do they think.

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#26

Post by zingahgud »

rdl wrote: post #15
zingahgud wrote: post #5

Oh man, that headline made me laugh.

Don't underestimate Iran. They aren't quite the US or Japan, but ahead of any middle eastern non Israel nation, probably ahead of India in many ways, and on par with Brazil or Spain or maybe Italy in terms of domestic engineering talent and ability.

I fear I was misunderstood. What made me laugh was the thought that the internet is a sort of wild west of ideologies and Iran, from what little I know, is a very tightly controlled ideological context. I did not even read the article. It's just the title that struck me as paradoxical. "Internet" == uncontrollable, Iran == tight control, "Internet" + Iran == WTF? Hope that makes sense.

I realise internet here probably just means a research network. I have tremendous respect for the Iranian people and certainly their computer professionals. From what little I've seen they are very bright. As for comparisons in terms of engineering talent I was thinking almost on par with Russia. If I'm way off the mark it just shows how little I know. Pay no mind.

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#28

Post by moo »

dfc wrote: post #23
mindstab wrote: post #14

The internet is (obviously) one of the best examples of the network effect. Sure you can technically wall of a subset of it and live on your own, but why would any sane person want to? I mean I get it, they want to limit access to non ideologically compatible ideas, which is most of everything. But then that severely limits the utility of their new internet. Right now the economy is coasting pretty heavily on oil exp…

They will be able to harness a lot of the network effects of the Internet. Contrary to the linkbait title, they are not building "their own version " of the Internet; they are building a separate special purpose network of networks, much like SIPRNet. As long as they don't mess with any of the protocols they will be able to take advantage of advances in COTS hardware and software. Furthermore they seem to be taking a…

The West also censors. My understanding is Britain censored Press TV for spurious reasons using front organization Ofcom. French embassy refused visas for Iranian reporters. Germany also blocks Iranian news. Noam Chomsky, an old man who preaches the Golden Rule, was refused entry into Israel. Lily Sussman had Arab characters taped on her laptop keys and the Israeli border security shot holes through it. Fretting about another countries surveillance on its citizens seems a little silly today. Ahmadinejad was also elected, the electorate preferred potatoes over Western appeals to be able to wear bikinis.

Re: Iran designing its own version of the Internet

#30

Post by __alexs »

moo wrote: post #28
dfc wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will be able to harness a lot of the network effects of the Internet. Contrary to the linkbait title, they are not building "their own version " of the Internet; they are building a separate special purpose network of networks, much like SIPRNet. As long as they don't mess with any of the protocols they will be able to take advantage of advances in COTS hardware and software. Furthermore they seem to be taking a…

The West also censors. My understanding is Britain censored Press TV for spurious reasons using front organization Ofcom. French embassy refused visas for Iranian reporters. Germany also blocks Iranian news. Noam Chomsky, an old man who preaches the Golden Rule, was refused entry into Israel. Lily Sussman had Arab characters taped on her laptop keys and the Israeli border security shot holes through it. Fretting abou…

I'm not saying that we don't have a fascist government willing to censor anything they don't like the look of but the Press TV thing might not be the best example.

They had their license revoked after broadcasting a "confession" by Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari that was conducted after torturing him and under threat of execution.

Then they apparently admitted to being editorially controlled by their Iranian branch, who are not licensed to broadcast in the UK.

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/broadcast-licen...

If they were any good at the international diplomacy soft power game they'd have just made sure only pro-Iranian people got hired to work at Press TV. Kind of like RT and Al Jazeera.

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