Iran's cyber police have imposed more restrictions on internet cafes. They have issued a list of 20 new requirements that must be complied with within 15 days by all such businesses or else they will face prosecution. This news comes fromNCR-Iran.
Cyber police have said that all businesses that offer internet services must be owned by "committed, married individuals that have no criminal or judicial records."
The cafes must now also keep details of their customers' identities, including their address, national number and telephone number.
The businesses also have to keep detailed records of when and how their customers used the internet, including a list of the websites they visited. The information must be kept for a minimum of six months.
Setting up 24-hour surveillance cameras and keeping those recordings for up to six months is another requirement for internet cafes.
Also the use of VPNs, technology that allows users to go around internet blocking, is also forbidden in internet cafes. VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks, are used to get around internet firewalls. The shutdown of VPN ports takes away the ability for Iranian citizens to get on to sites that they could usually get on. "Within the last few days illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," said Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard. This comes from Reuters.
This is yet another example of the lack of internet freedom in iran.