'Tool of repression': Iran and regimes from Ethiopia to Venezuela limit Internet, go dark online

Nearly a week after Iran imposed a near-total Internet and mobile data blackout amid protests over a rise in gas prices, its connectivity to the rest of the world remains limited and reflects what researchers and activists claim, disputed by Iran, is a "tool of repression" used by regimes from Ethiopia to Venezuela.

But the shutdown in Iran, which began Nov. 17 and remains below 20% of normal levels, according to NetBlocks, a firm that tracks cybersecurity, has not only allowed officials in Tehran to exert control over information about the unrest.

It has also cut off Iranians from their friends and family abroad, seemingly strengthened the Trump administration's perception that its "maximum pressure" policy on Iran is working after Washington exited the nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions, and further obscured what's happening and who's to blame in a Middle Eastern nation whose political and economic isolation has fluctuated in the four decades since its 1979 revolution that ushered in its Islamic Republic.

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Marcin de Kaminski, a technology and human rights expert at Civil Rights Defenders, a Sweden-based civil rights watchdog, said that Internet blackouts are part of a growing trend of governments trying to shut their citizens off from the world during fraught periods. "They use it to limit freedom of expression or freedom of assembly and quite often it's connected to elections or conflict or to different forms of civil unrest. This is happening in many different contexts from Uganda to Burma (also known as Myanmar)," he said.

Ethiopia has been intermittently shutting down Internet access since a failed coup in June. Venezuela periodically blocks access to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and other services that require Internet or mobile data access as part of an effort to stymie political opposition and prevent the efficacy of mass protests. India shut off Kashmir's Internet access more than three months ago amid political upheaval.

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The protests in Iran accelerated after gas prices were increased by 50% at a time when the sanctions reinstated by President Donald Trump have contributed to soaring inflation and stagnating salaries. The World Bank forecasts Iran's economy will shrink by 8.7% this year, a consequence of plummeting revenues from blocked oil exports and restrictions on its petrochemicals, metals and mining sectors. Some consumer goods and essential medicines can be hard to get.

"When I was in Iran in March there were people standing in lines to buy government rations and subsidized meat," said Hoda Katebi, a Chicago-based Iranian American writer and community organizer who has published a book about Iran's underground fashion industry.

"Nothing's coming in. The currency is worthless," she said.

Iran's currency has lost more than half of its value against the dollar since the Trump administration reimposed sanctions.

Katebi spoke to USA TODAY on the sidelines of VOICES, an annual gathering for fashion industry leaders and trailblazers that takes place near Oxford, England.

At the event, Katebi appeared on a panel with Shirin and Shiva Vaqar – Iranian sisters who had traveled from Tehran to talk about their eponymous fashion label.

"It's very hard for us, not just as emerging designers but as Iranians," said Shiva Vaqar. "We face lots of sanctions and restrictions. Sourcing fabrics, finding production houses, convincing them to make our pieces . ... We have problems sending our products outside Iran. (We don't have) FedEx, (the) banking (system) is on lockdown." Still, she said, "We try to make it."

Katebi and the Vaqar sisters, who are longtime friends, had not been able to communicate with each other ahead of the event because of Iran's Internet crackdown. Katebi said she has not been able to reach her family in Iran.

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Amir Rashidi, an Internet security specialist, said Iran has previously weighed the idea of creating different levels of access to the Internet. He pointed to a Nov. 1 interview with Hamid Fatahi, a senior official in Iran's ministry of information and communications technology, in which Fatahi discusses the possibility of partitioning access based on "social class" or "occupational needs."

It was not immediately clear if Iran is still considering such an initiative, which could be used to suppress dissenting voices. China and Russia have either taken steps or are experimenting with ways to route Internet traffic through state-controlled channels. Iran's domestic banks, hospitals, government agencies and other major state infrastructure and services such as the police have remained connected to the Internet during the blackout, according to digital security experts and Iranians contacted by USA TODAY over the course of the last week.