Iran is one of the high-censorship countries, scrutinizing what its people can read, listen to, watch and access. For instance, some of the most popular websites and social media services are not available in Iran, prompting users to turn to VPNs to regain their internet freedom.
So it was pleasant news to read that Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace Abolhassan Firouzabadi said that government-approved VPN operators will be made available in the country in the near future.
“We agree that different accessibility levels should be defined for different types of internet for users and for this purpose, we have tasked the Working Group to come up with a specific guideline regarding internet accessibility,” he said, adding: “We are hoping that this plan will come on stream soon.”
No specific dates were offered nor an explanation of what constitutes a government-approved VPN operator. It is, however, our thinking that in order to qualify for such a title, a VPN provider will have to share some (if not all) data with the government. And that kinda kills the point of a VPN, which not only lets users access geo-restricted content but also allows them anonymously browse the web.
Firouzabadi did note the government realizes VPNs are popular in his country.
“Since many organizations and people use VPN, and it has grown into quite a lucrative economy, we are hoping that legal VPN operators will be launched in the country in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (ICT),” he added.
That cooperation with the Ministry involves predefined rules and regulations through official operators, and that — as we’ve noted above — doesn’t smell like freedom to us.
Firouzabadi said the Iranian Parliament Research Center (IPRC) is responsible for launching this [VPN] plan, and as such – it will be raised at Parliament’s plenary session for final approval.
Again, we have our doubts about this plan, but we also like to see things moving forward. For what it matters — in the recent Freedom on the Net report by Freedom House, Iran ranked second only to Communist China as the worst country for online freedoms.
Speaking of China, we have recently reported about Beijing mulling a similar plan to relax rules on VPNs. Skeptics say this is a part of the government’s plan to better control its constituents, expanding its reach to those looking to bypass the Great Firewall of China.
We’ll be watching this space and get back to you as soon as we have something new to add. In the meantime, we suggest everyone — not just people of Iran — to use a VPN, just in case someone’s watching. Cause someone always does.