[liberationtech] Reports of slowdown in Iran

Fri Jan 6 10:18:15 PST 2012

Here's a WSJ article on this. Quoting from the article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203513604577142713916386248.html

*"The network slowdown likely heralds the arrival of an initiative Iran has
been readying—a "halal" domestic intranet that it has said will insulate
its citizens from Western ideology and un-Islamic culture, and eventually
replace the Internet. This week's slowdown came amid tests of the Iranian
intranet, according to domestic media reports that cited a spokesman for a
union of computer-systems firms. He said the intranet is set to go live
within a few weeks."*

Thanks,
Samujjal Purkayastha

On 3 January 2012 15:39, Collin Anderson <collin at averysmallbird.com> wrote:

> 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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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>> 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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