<
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/02/why-tehrans-two-tiered-internet-is-so-dangerous.html>
"Iran is slowly emerging from the most severe communications blackout in its
history and one of the longest in the world. Triggered as part of January’s
government crackdown against citizen protests nationwide, the regime
implemented an internet shutdown that transcends the standard definition of
internet censorship. This was not merely blocking social media or foreign
websites; it was a total communications shutdown.
Unlike previous Iranian internet shutdowns where Iran’s domestic intranet—the
National Information Network (NIN)—remained functional to keep the banking and
administrative sectors running, the 2026 blackout disrupted local
infrastructure as well. Mobile networks, text messaging services, and landlines
were disabled—even Starlink was blocked. And when a few domestic services
became available, the state surgically removed social features, such as comment
sections on news sites and chat boxes in online marketplaces. The objective
seems clear. The Iranian government aimed to atomize the population, preventing
not just the flow of information out of the country but the coordination of any
activity within it.
This escalation marks a strategic shift from the shutdown observed during the
“12-Day War” with Israel in mid-2025. Then, the government primarily blocked
particular types of traffic while leaving the underlying internet remaining
available. The regime’s actions this year entailed a more brute-force approach
to internet censorship, where both the physical and logical layers of
connectivity were dismantled.
The ability to disconnect a population is a feature of modern authoritarian
network design. When a government treats connectivity as a faucet it can turn
off at will, it asserts that the right to speak, assemble, and access
information is revocable. The human right to the internet is not just about
bandwidth; it is about the right to exist within the modern public square.
Iran’s actions deny its citizens this existence, reducing them to subjects who
can be silenced—and authoritarian governments elsewhere are taking note.
The current blackout is not an isolated panic reaction but a stress test for a
long-term strategy, say advocacy groups—a two-tiered or “class-based” internet
known as Internet-e-Tabaqati. Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, the
country’s highest internet policy body, has been laying the legal and technical
groundwork for this since 2009.
In July 2025, the council passed a regulation formally institutionalizing a
two-tiered hierarchy. Under this system, access to the global internet is no
longer a default for citizens, but instead a privilege granted based on loyalty
and professional necessity. The implementation includes such things as “white
SIM cards“: special mobile lines issued to government officials, security
forces, and approved journalists that bypass the state’s filtering apparatus
entirely."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
