Starlink de la Musk ar putea aduce serviciul de internet în Iran în timpul represiunii guvernamentale

Topline

Nearly a week after Iran’s internet went dark amid widespread—and deadly—anti-government protests in the wake of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service may be able to begin providing internet access after U.S. officials lowered key technology sanctions.

Fapte-cheie

Secretarul de stat Antony Blinken a anunțat the policy change Friday in a tweet, saying it would help provide “access to digital communications to counter the Iranian government’s censorship.”

Musk replied to Blinken saying simply, “Activating Starlink. . .”

A new license issued by the Treasury Department appears to have been created to be broadly used for internet service providers like Starlink, based on comments given la Reuters.

Internet outages were reported throughout the week as service on some of the biggest phone operators in the country, leaving millions offline, while authorities blocat the use of WhatsApp and Instagram.

Nonetheless, alarming videos have emerged on social media platforms from Iran showing growing protests —and an often violent police response—with a reported eight dead so far.

Many of the videos show women tăiere their hair and ardere hijabs—an act of defiance against the country’s so-called “morality police.”

Tangentă

Musk, de asemenea extins Starlink, the satellite broadband service that SpaceX first launched in 2019, to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country in February, and after Russian forces distrus cell phone towers in an attempt to silence Ukrainian communications in the early months of the war. The expansion could also serve as a test for Musk’s satellite service as the company speranțe to be available worldwide by the end of the year.

Fundalul cheie

Iranian authorities had blocat nearly all internet access on Thursday following the national protests over the death of Amini, who is believed to have been killed while in police custody for improperly wearing a headscarf, violating the country’s strictly-enforced dress code for women. Iran has cracked down on internet service for years, recently after protests in May, as well as protests last februarie și în timpul Proteste din 2019 over gas price hikes, in an apparent move to suppress anti-government information from spreading online. Iran is also dealing with an economic crisis deepened by Western sanctions over the country’s growing nuclear program. In recent months, President Joe Biden and Western European leaders have announced plans to reînvia the Obama-era nuclear agreement that provides Iran sanctions relief in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program—which former President Donald Trump chiulit in 2018. Biden a spus at a United Nations summit earlier this week the U.S. “won’t let Iran get a nuclear weapon.”

Lecturi suplimentare

Iranul blochează aproape tot accesul la internet pe măsură ce protestele antiguvernamentale se intensifică (Forbes)

U.S. adjusts sanctions to help Iranians evade online surveillance, censorship (Reuters)

Elon Musk greenlit to activate Starlink internet for Iranians (Al Jazeera)