Comment by gambutin
5 days ago
Noteworthy: It’s not that no one in Iran has no access. Actually some have internet access via “white SIM cards” (1). Reportedly 50,000 or so.
Essentially, they’ve created a two-tier system controlling who can access the internet.
> Noteworthy: It’s not that no one in Iran has no access. Actually some have internet access via “white SIM cards”
Erm, dude, you did look at the graph on the Mastodon post linked to, right ?
You see that bit where it falls off a cliff to 0% netblocks ?
"white SIM card" or not, you're not getting internet if there's no BGP routes being announced.
The only way around 0 BGP announcements would be satellite...
I suspect your "white SIM card" was a pre-war status-quo ...
> Erm, dude, you did look at the graph on the Mastodon post linked to, right ? You see that bit where it falls off a cliff to 0% netblocks ?
Not sure if we're all looking at the same plot, but I see things hovering above zero, not exactly at zero.
That’s not the reality. Pro regime “white simcard” people have been spreading their propaganda since start of the war on twitter, instagram and elsewhere.
Which is a big reason why Iran has been able to do so well in the information war. Lies in public to appear in control and totalitarianism for their own citizens to keep them in the dark.
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> propaganda since start of the war on twitter, instagram and elsewhere.
That propaganda can also be spread by people who do not have "white simcards" simply by virtue of the fact they live outside Iran.
This includes, for example, the various posts made by Iranian embassies around the world.
Come on, this is a technical forum, I really shouldn't need to spell that out !
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We're receiving war footage from iran. They aren't completely disconnected.
> We're receiving war footage from iran. They aren't completely disconnected.
As I said, satellite is a thing.
I also don't doubt there may be some traditional land-based BGP access going on too, maybe using "borrowed" prefixes. But I do not think it is as much as people think it might be.
I also doubt there are 50,000 "white SIM" active today... I suspect that Wikipedia "unofficial figure" reflects pre-war. Most have very likely been disconnected or blocked.