[liberationtech] Reports of slowdown in Iran

[Collin Anderson]

To follow up on this, there does appear to be a general slow down on
connectivity in Iran. An acquaintance noted that their speed is about a
fourth of normal even when not using a proxy.

Interestingly, this doesn't seem to visibly affect Iran's research network,
which appears to take a more direct route out of the country.[1][2]

There is also an interesting note on a popular reformist site, Roozonline,
regarding the instability and an MoU being signed between Russia and Iran
to increase connectivity.[3] I suspect this is probably related to
long-standing talk about cooperation between Azerbaijan and Iran for
physical infrastructure.[4]

I would like to lend a qualification to Ehsan's point. Iran has very
clearly been making changes to its filtering system since September.
Whether or not they are building out in preparation for the Parliamentary
election is a well-reasoned hypothesis, but the current situation does not
appear to be throttling of the scale we have seen in the past.

I personally believe that they deployed infrastructure changes that were
not ready. This is a bit of conjecture, if it continues for another week,
it will probably warrant testing.

Collin

[1] http://www.iranet.ir/
[2] http://ipm-iranet.speedtest.net/
[3]
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fa&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.roozonline.com%2Fpersian%2Fnews%2Fnewsitem%2Farchive%2F2011%2Fdecember%2F29%2Farticle%2F-3a9c03aa0f.html
[4] http://www.news.az/articles/tech/32483


On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 7:07 PM, Ehsan Akhgari <ehsan.akhgari at gmail.com>wrote:

> There is also the upcoming parliment elections approaching. Traditionally
> the Iranian government launches special circumvention prevention measures
> in such times. Last week they issued a statement warning websites from
> publishing any material discouraging people from voting, and added extra
> measures in the coming weeks (including even more severe bandwidth
> throttling) would not be terribly surprising.
>
> Cheers,
> Ehsan
> On Jan 2, 2012 4:07 PM, "Luke Allnutt" <AllnuttL at rferl.org> wrote:
>
>> Thank you, Collin, thats very helpful.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2 Jan 2012, at 22:00, "Collin Anderson" <collin at averysmallbird.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Iranian authorities have been promising a national Internet for six year
>> now, there are well-defined infrastructural issues that prevent them from
>> doing so. These articles are generally just hashing up past comments and
>> tangential issues without much new information. However, there are two
>> components to watch for in the event of increasing rhetoric for the
>> Ministries of Economic Affairs and ICT:
>>
>> 1.) Increasing pressure for .ir and Iranian-focused sites to move into
>> the country
>> 2.) Throttling the bandwidth on external connections, especially non-HTTP.
>>
>> The second began about a month ago, and probably accounts for much of the
>> perceived slowdown. I am not aware of the speed issues applying to
>> non-circumvention connections.
>>
>> Cordially,
>> Collin
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 3:49 PM, Jillian C. York <jilliancyork at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> This is the most detailed piece I've seen, but I'm still looking to get
>>> confirmation from contacts in-country:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.oyetimes.com/news/107-middle-east/16723-launch-of-national-internet-reason-for-recent-drop-in-speed-report
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Luke Allnutt <AllnuttL at rferl.org>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Has anyone seen any similar reports to this from Payvand about a
>>>> reported Internet slowdown in Iran?
>>>>
>>>> http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1008.html
>>>>
>>>> If so, any evidence to suggest that it might be connected with "testing
>>>> of new filtering software"? Any info, on or off list, would be highly
>>>> appreciated, as ever.
>>>>
>>>> Best Wishes,
>>>>
>>>> Luke
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google voice:
>>> +1-415-562-JILL
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *Collin David Anderson*
>> averysmallbird.com | @cda | Washington, D.C.
>>
>>
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>


-- 
*Collin David Anderson*
averysmallbird.com | @cda | Washington, D.C.
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