Khaberni - A report issued by a British human rights organization revealed that Iran's control over the internet and its ability to shut it down in the country relies largely on technology imported from China, including advanced surveillance tools and facial recognition capabilities.
The report, prepared by "Article 19", mentioned that these technologies include facial recognition tools, in addition to the Chinese navigation system "Baidu", which serves as an alternative to the American GPS system.
It explained that strict censorship policies and imported equipment "formed the basis for the development of an advanced surveillance system in Iran, enabling the authorities to almost completely disconnect the country, with a population of about 93 million, from the global internet during the peak of protests in January last year".
Internet services in Iran have not returned to their previous level, but are now subject to an intermittent censorship regime that allows users sporadic access to the network.
The report pointed out that the ability to block the internet in Iran represents the outcome of a decades-long project implemented with cooperation from Chinese authorities.
According to the report, "the contracts signed between Iran and China in the field of digital infrastructure are based on a shared vision of what is known as cyber sovereignty", which is the idea that the state has absolute control over the internet within its borders.
The British newspaper "The Guardian" quoted the report’s author Michael Caster as saying: "The most significant turning point in the development of digital authority in China and Iran was in 2010, when the countries began to take more serious steps towards establishing a national internet."
The report mentioned that Chinese companies have provided Iran with key categories of surveillance technology, including internet filtering equipment from telecommunications companies like "Huawei" and "ZTE", as well as surveillance technologies from companies such as "Hikvision" and "Tiandi".
"Tiandi" provides Iran with facial recognition technologies, and describes itself as "seventh globally in surveillance", supplying branches of the Revolutionary Guards and the army with these technologies.
Researchers from "Project Initia" and "Outline Foundation" added that there is a third category of equipment provided by smaller Chinese companies, which are largely unknown and have "disturbing capabilities", making it difficult for researchers to determine how the Iranian authorities use them to monitor users.
Caster said: "They acquire technologies available on a large scale, then repurpose and weaponize them for surveillance".
