ATLANTA and TEHRAN, Iran and WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the last week, the Iranian Government terminated nearly 95% of all public Internet access in Iran. President Rohani has allocated much of the remaining connectivity to government-controlled websites operated on .ir country-level domain names.
In response to the most extreme censorship measures in Iranian history, VPN.com CEO Michael Gargiulo released this letter to President Trump, Treasury Secretary Mnuchian and Mr. Marby, CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to warn of the growing dangers of Internet, censorship and nuclear activity in Iran.
Specific regulatory and sanction recommendations have been included. A full copy of the letter issued can be found below.
President Donald Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500 USA
Secretary Steven Mnuchin
United States Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220 USA
Mr. Göran Marby, CEO
℅ Mr. John Jeffrey, General Counsel
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90094 USA
Dear President Trump, Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Marby:
Thank you, Mr. President, for your review and consideration of our prior communication regarding North Korea and the .kp country code top-level domain property.
As a global leader in cybersecurity, Internet access and domain names we urge you to impose countermeasures against Iran in response to President Hassan Rouhani’s latest malign and oppressive decision to eliminate Internet access and freedom of speech for 82 million citizens.
This censorship of expression and information is a human rights violation as defined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly.
As a result, the only remaining websites with reliable Internet connectivity are controlled by the Iranian government and are operating on the .ir domain delegation, also known as the Iranian country code top-level domain (ccTLD).
In response to the U.S. Department of Treasury press release from November 22, 2019, Treasury Designates Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology in View of the Regime’s Repressive Internet Censorship, there are additional pressures, targeting Iran, that can be applied to fast track diplomacy with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
The Minister of Information and Communications controls only part of the Internet in Iran. The Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences controls all remaining access and .ir domains. The organization is controlled directly by President Rouhani but remains unsanctioned.
Furthermore, we urge the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who delegates all country code top-level domain properties, to terminate all access to .ir domains by removing the .ir domain delegation from the DNS root zone until these sanctions are lifted.
In addition, we request new regulation and terminination of other ccTLDs operated by governments that enable human rights violations, censorship and terrorism, as demanded by the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It is unacceptable that ICANN has intellectual property dispute policies for commercial abuses but has no accountability or regulation for acts of terrorism and basic human rights violations carried out by the governments they grant ccTLD property to.
Please find an outline of our suggested diplomatic recommendations, below. We encourage the Trump Administration to evaluate these recommendations to provoke diplomacy, promote peace and freedom of expression for the people of Iran.
If a free and open Internet cannot be accessed by all citizens of Iran, the luxury and freedom of speech granted by the .ir domains should not be afforded to the Iranian government.
As recently noted by the U.S. Envoy and Special Representative for Iran, Mr. Brian Hook, the United States is actively working to restore Internet access to Iranians with anti-censorship tools like Virtual Private Networks but even this approach has found limited success against the oppression from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In conclusion Mr. President, I bring this information to your attention as we strive for a globally recognized diplomatic solution with Iran for denuclearization, freedom of speech, and civilian access to a free and open Internet.
As President Herbert Hoover said, “It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.”
A decision to sanction the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences would send a clear message to Iran and ICANN that the United States is committed to combat state sponsored criminal activity, terrorism and the censorship no matter where it exists in the world or Internet.
Respectfully,
Michael Gargiulo
CEO at VPN.com
cc: Ms. Tripti Sinha, Chair
Governance Committee
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
For media and interview inquiries, please email: pr@vpn.com or visit: https://www.vpn.com/press
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