UPDATES

Can Iran block America’s ‘Internet in a suitcase’?

Jul 20, 2011 | Geoffrey Levin

Can Iran block America’s ‘Internet in a suitcase’?
news_item/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran_and_Commanders_3.jpg

Several weeks ago, the New York Times reported an Obama Administration effort to distribute a device it had developed called ‘Internet in a suitcase’, which could bring web access to dissidents in authoritarian countries across the world. The report stated:

Financed with a $2 million State Department grant, the suitcase could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global Internet…The State Department, for example, is financing the creation of stealth wireless networks that would enable activists to communicate outside the reach of governments in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya, according to participants in the projects.

This week, Iranian intelligence minister Heidar Moslehi responded to the news:

The minister, Heidar Moslehi, told Muslim worshippers that Iran was aware of the program from the start. “We prepared a solution for it,” he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio. He did not elaborate

Earlier this month, Iran’s telecommunications minister, Reza Taqipour, said Iran is taking technical measures to combat the program. Taqipour was quoted by state media as saying that the program is part of a “cultural invasion” by Iran’s enemies aimed at promoting dissent and undermining Iran’s ruling system.

The Arab Spring protests highlighted the important role the Internet plays in modern uprisings and protest movements, with Libyan dissident Malik Ibrahim Sahad saying that he did not think the Libyan uprising would have been impossible “without the existence of the World Wide Web.”

There is reason to doubt the Iranian officials who claim to be able to block this technological advance, which threatens a regime with a reputation for quashing free speech. Last month, an AIJAC Update noted Iran’s plan to create its own internet, thus cutting online ties with the rest of the world. In 2009, the anti-Ahmadinejad Green Movement in Iran failed to achieve the democratic reforms it hoped for, but technologies like these could ensure that next time, things may end differently. Until then, the Iranian regime’s horrors, such as the acts of torture recorded by Maziar Bahari in Newsweek, show no sign of ending. 

Geoffrey Levin

Tags:

RELATED ARTICLES


D11a774c 2a47 C987 F4ce 2d642e6d9c8d

Bibi in DC, the Houthi threat and the politicised ICJ opinion

Jul 26, 2024 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

Nine months after Oct. 7: Where Israel stands now

Jul 10, 2024 | Update
Palestinian Red Crescent workers from Al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip (Image: Shutterstock)

Hamas’ impossible casualty figures

Mar 28, 2024 | Update
455daec3 C2a8 8752 C215 B7bd062c6bbc

After the Israel-Hamas ceasefire for hostages deal

Nov 29, 2023 | Update
Screenshot of Hamas bodycam footage as terrorists approach an Israeli vehicle during the terror organisation's October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel, released by the IDF and GPO (Screenshot)

Horror on Video / International Law and the Hamas War

Oct 31, 2023 | Update
Sderot, Israel. 7th Oct, 2023. Bodies of dead Israelis lie on the ground following the attacks of Hamas (Image: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)

Israel’s Sept. 11, only worse

Oct 11, 2023 | Update

RECENT POSTS

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (centre) announces his request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders on May 20 (Screenshot)

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

International Criminal Court 2018

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

Screenshot 2024 11 20 At 4.49.05 PM

Australia out of step with US and other allies on UN vote: Joel Burnie on Sky News

UNRWA is portrayed as the “backbone” of Gaza aid efforts, but actually supplied only 13% of aid there over recent months (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

An empire of perpetual suffering

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and PM Anthony Albanese have degraded our relationship with our most important Middle Eastern partner (Screenshot)

The consequences of Australia’s Mideast policy shifts since October 7

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (centre) announces his request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders on May 20 (Screenshot)

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

International Criminal Court 2018

AIJAC slams ICC decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant

Screenshot 2024 11 20 At 4.49.05 PM

Australia out of step with US and other allies on UN vote: Joel Burnie on Sky News

UNRWA is portrayed as the “backbone” of Gaza aid efforts, but actually supplied only 13% of aid there over recent months (Image: Anas Mohammed/ Shutterstock)

An empire of perpetual suffering

Foreign Minister Penny Wong and PM Anthony Albanese have degraded our relationship with our most important Middle Eastern partner (Screenshot)

The consequences of Australia’s Mideast policy shifts since October 7

SORT BY TOPICS