Iran’s incoming Minister of ICT Isa Zarepour has indicated that the country’s long-delayed National Information Network (NIN) project should be completed by 2025.
Local news outlet The Financial Tribune quoted Zarepour as saying: “After around two decades of foot-dragging, it is finally time to give the initiative one last push.”
The initiative aims to create a closed national intranet which would feature locally produced Islamic content. TeleGeography reports that Iran’s government would control the NIN, with content subject to approval.
Industry watchers have argued that this level of control would enable Iran’s government to push the NIN project as a replacement to the global internet, rather than a complement. Abusing the NIN in this way could allow the government to restrict local access to the World Wide Web.
