SAEDNEWS: The head of Tehran’s Guild Association of Internet Businesses said that free internet is the undeniable right of all citizens. Majid Khakpour stated that the association opposes tiered (class-based) internet access and believes that free internet is the right of all citizens.
According to SaedNews news website, citing Digiato, thirteen days have passed since the widespread internet shutdown. The damage caused by this outage during this period has not been limited to businesses alone and has also affected the general public. Meanwhile, as some guilds negotiate with the Ministry of Communications to obtain special access, talk of “tiered internet” is being heard more than ever. However, the reality is that even if some businesses gain internet access, as long as the general public is deprived of free access, conditions will not return to normal. In this regard, the head of the Tehran Internet Businesses Trade Association also announced that this association opposes any form of tiered internet.
Majid Khakpour, head of the Tehran Internet Businesses Trade Association, emphasizes that providing access to only some businesses is not the right solution under the current circumstances, because free internet is an undeniable right of all citizens and should not be limited to businesses. He told Digiato:
“Internet shutdown is not merely a commercial concern limited to businesses; rather, access to free, high-speed, and high-quality internet is a fundamental and self-evident right of every Iranian citizen. Conditions should not be framed in a way that makes this right appear to be only a demand of businesses, because every Iranian has the right to access a free flow of information. The approach that assumes the problem can be solved by granting selective access to some businesses is completely wrong. As the Internet Businesses Trade Association, we explicitly oppose granting access to one group while depriving others.”
He continued, noting that at least ten million jobs are currently affected by the internet shutdown: “Ten million job opportunities in Iran are directly or indirectly tied to foreign platforms and startups. We are dealing with a wide range of economic actors whose sales platforms for goods and services are on Instagram, Telegram, and WhatsApp, and who essentially have no website, mobile application, or other tools to operate.”
Referring to the fact that a large portion of business activity has come to a halt, Khakpour stated: “Numerous entities with direct connections abroad—from exchange offices that cannot continue operating without international connectivity, to travel agencies, migration institutions, and student placement organizations—are all facing a dead end. The scope of this damage is very broad and also includes sectors such as hosting, domains, and servers.”
Finally, the head of the Tehran Internet Businesses Trade Association pointed to the main problem of the internet shutdown and said:
“But the issue goes beyond all this; we are facing a much larger infrastructural problem. When the domestic internet network is disconnected from the global internet, security infrastructures, network stability, and even very basic services used in software development and content production are all disrupted. At present, artificial intelligence tools, which are mostly online, are out of reach. This infrastructural disruption does not only affect businesses, but also poses serious challenges for the private sector and even governmental bodies.”
He concluded by stating that the claim that the problem can be solved by granting limited access to certain individuals is, in fact, misleading users and the public. The reality is that the current issue is a problem that all citizens are grappling with.
