Technology as a tool of control/ Saghar Rahimi
In recent decades, surveillance and control tools in countries around the world have undergone profound changes thanks to the continuous advancement of technology and cutting-edge innovations. This evolution has led to the emergence of intelligent tools that have infiltrated our daily lives and have become indispensable tools that play a crucial role in our lives.
Under this technological pattern, almost all aspects of a person’s life, including the most basic details such as location and time, simple Google searches, online activities on websites and social networks, life priorities, interests, family status, and even banking information and beliefs and sexual, political, social, ethnic and racial preferences, are accessible. In fact, smart display screens become gateways for government and private institutions to enter a person’s private courtyard using human data.
The consequences of this intelligent and interconnected surveillance infrastructure go beyond simple data collection, as it provides authorities and businesses with access to sets of personal information in a uniform and identifiable manner. Therefore, this raises questions about the balance between increased security benefits and potential violation of individuals’ privacy. In fact, the identity of the modern world is a complex interaction between technological advancements and human values, and this intelligent age is blurring the boundaries between public and private domains, transforming them into processes of change.
Issues related to responsible use, concerns about privacy, level of access to personal information, control, transparency, and adherence to international laws are at the forefront of discussions surrounding the ethical implementation of this advanced technology.
The main concern and challenge among activists and technologists is for technology to essentially become a surveillance, controller, and police in human life; human rights activists who are concerned with preserving privacy and technologists who have a thirst for movement and discovery.
Furthermore, with the introduction of data-driven technologies in the field of security, traditional and human-centered systems have gradually been replaced by artificial intelligence. For example, injecting AI into classic facial recognition systems has transformed the accuracy and efficiency of identification systems. These intelligent systems make it possible to quickly search databases and rapidly identify and recognize individuals. Therefore, a lost child can be identified in a matter of minutes in any part of the city. Beyond speed and accuracy, AI-based facial recognition also has the ability to be trained with various desired filters such as gender, behavior, ethics, etc., which helps in the process of identification and prevention of many incidents and threats.
In this example, while these technological advancements offer hopeful solutions for preventing crime and ensuring security, there are also important ethical, social, and legal concerns regarding the collection of personal information and data in large databases. These concerns include preserving individuals’ privacy, transparency and informing individuals about the processing of their information, the level of access by different organizations and institutions to this information, espionage and eavesdropping between countries, the trade of information and data, as well as the destructive and dangerous training of artificial intelligence on various gender, ethnic, and racial patterns.
What is known as the guarantor of providing a safe personal environment for humans is called the right to privacy. In global conventions and human rights doctrines, the concept of privacy remains a delicate and evolving concept. However, what is in the forefront is interpretations of Articles 3 and 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which state that no institution should interfere with an individual’s private life, family matters, or communications, and should not violate personal dignity and honor.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also defines the concept of privacy in the international perspective by delving deeper into two fundamental elements: protection of privacy and entitlement to legal support. The comprehensive approach presented by the Council of Europe adds another layer and defines privacy as the right to live according to personal preferences and desires, thus minimizing external interference.
Within the framework of the Iranian Constitution, explicit support and definition of privacy is significantly absent and interpretations of past laws are applied to digital privacy. Therefore, in Iranian law, there is a gap in comprehensive and contemporary laws that address the inherent complexities in the digital realm. (1).
In response to the increasing concerns and challenges arising from human rights violations on the internet through government surveillance and control – both on a national and international level – privacy has become the focal point for governments since 2013. At the same time, there were concerns about potential misuse of user data by technology giants such as Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, and Microsoft, with the Facebook scandal being a prime example of such misuse.
The European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. This law includes principles related to the processing of personal data, the legality of data processing, an individual’s consent to access their information, and most importantly, transparency in data processing.
One important principle agreed upon by international organizations in the field of public control over big data is that the public and security supervision provided by data-based artificial intelligence must be both “necessary” and “proportionate”. This position shows that surveillance efforts must be directed towards detecting serious and dangerous crimes, while avoiding unjustifiable interference that could violate the freedom and fundamental rights of individuals. (2) This principle, accepted by global organizations, emphasizes the delicate balance needed to preserve individual freedoms and the culture of democracy, while also maintaining the collective security of societies.
This perspective aims to highlight the fact that technology, which was once seen as a force for freedom, interaction, and human communication, has now become a tool in the hands of governments to impose power, suppress, oppress, and isolate citizens within their borders and control their lives. There is a high potential for misuse, and it is believed that authoritarian and dictatorial regimes can use technology to strengthen their power, reduce opposition, suppress protesters, exert control over people, commit massacres and disappearances, and promote racism and genocide.
In the international scene, China is known as a leader in developing security and surveillance technologies based on artificial intelligence. According to Chinese sources, the country’s facial recognition system has the extraordinary capability of scanning the faces of its 1.4 billion citizens in just one second. However, this technological prowess comes with increasing accusations against the Chinese government for illegally collecting a massive database containing personal information of its citizens. This massive data repository is used for extensive and precise security surveillance, raising concerns about the dangerous development of artificial intelligence that violates privacy and individual freedoms.
Analysts believe that the suppression of Muslim Uyghurs in the autonomous region of Xinjiang is an example of using technology to suppress, commit genocide, and violate human rights. There are also concerns that China is developing artificial intelligence with various patterns and algorithms to identify racial, ethnic, and behavioral characteristics of humans. According to reports, authorities in Xinjiang are collecting biometric data, including images, fingerprints, DNA, blood samples, and voices of residents in the region, by force, for the development of their technologies.
Kai Streetmater, a German journalist who has studied China for thirty years, says in an interview about security surveillance and technological development in the Communist Party: “Xi Jinping, the President of China, has reinstated suppression on a scale that we haven’t seen since Mao Zedong. He has one foot in the past, but the other foot is stepping towards very distant futures. Certainly, no other authoritarian government has done so well. For years and decades, technology prophets have told us that any new technology actually serves freedom and weakens and overthrows authoritarian rule. Well, the Chinese have shown for over twenty years that not only are they not afraid of new technologies, but they actually love them. In fact, these new technologies provide them with a new tool that completes their government.” (4).
Technology.
And.
System.
Control.
In.
Iran.
The issue of providing security and monitoring what is related to defending the security of citizens of a country against various threats, dangers, and protecting their privacy, as well as safeguarding the integrity of its territory and borders, had another dimension after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in February 1979. This was the establishment and strengthening of an ideological political and social system. Based on what was called an “equilibrium” and “ideal” example of an Islamic political and social system, all preparations were made to establish it, and its most important principle was “preserving the Islamic system”. Therefore, a moral and ideological principle was dominant in Iran’s security and political system, where citizens were obliged to abide by its principles and laws.
One of the first manifestations of control and surveillance in Iranian society to establish the desired Islamic belief system was the enforcement of hijab for women. Two weeks after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, which was in February 1979, protests and struggles by Iranian women against the mandatory dress code began.
The effort to establish and maintain this Islamic ideology in society has led to the creation of multiple layers of security, surveillance, intelligence, and ideological systems, to the extent that today various military, intelligence, Revolutionary Guard, Basij, and personal clothing forces have infiltrated and control even the smallest structures through the formation of ministries and agencies. The hands of extremist and self-appointed groups are constantly left free to suppress and violate the rights of citizens. The duties of these agencies do not conflict or clash with each other, as their main objective and manifesto, which is to “preserve the Islamic system and its obligations,” puts an end to all conflicts. Protesters, who are considered enemies of the Islamic system, are killed, arrested, executed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, and exiled through various security and intelligence methods.
With the emergence of a new wave of protests following the killing of Mahsa Amini by the Basij forces on September 16, 2022, the Islamic Republic has shown that its response to protesters remains suppression, violence, imprisonment, and torture. Recent events indicate that the Islamic Republic has no intention of stepping back on the issue of compulsory hijab, but instead intends to use other layers of control and surveillance, including technology and new innovations based on artificial intelligence, to protect compulsory hijab.
Camera
Hi.
Security.
And.
Supervisory.
The Islamic Republic, which had successfully implemented its systematic plan to enforce mandatory hijab in the past, was faced with a new reality and the true will of a new generation when women rose up in September, taking off their hijabs in the streets and burning them in flames. The government’s reaction to women’s demands for freedom, equality, development, and justice was to intensify repressive measures in society to return to the conditions before September, but this time combining traditional forms of suppression and violence with digital surveillance.
The first step taken by security forces was to increase the installation of smart cameras in the city, especially in areas of gatherings and protests, crowded public places, subways, and universities. Therefore, the cameras were used as the police’s monitoring eye to control women’s attire.
The use of photography cameras and non-intelligent surveillance cameras were tools that were commonly used in the past for identifying protesters and documenting information during protests – especially in universities. However, now intelligent cameras not only fulfill their previous responsibilities, but also identify women who do not comply with the government’s expected hijab.
The use of public cameras in the discussion of coverage and hijab began in 2020. In this plan, traffic control cameras identify women who do not observe hijab inside their cars based on their license plates and send them a warning text message. In case of repetition, a fine and car confiscation message will be sent. The new intelligent cameras have the ability to recognize faces and can be connected to a biometric database to provide the police with personal information.
These smart cameras are installed in all streets, public places, and shops, monitoring the movement of women. When a woman appears in public with optional clothing, her video is recorded and a text message is sent to her mobile number, indicating that she has committed a “crime” of violating the Islamic Penal Code, Article 638, which states that “you have committed a crime of uncovering your hijab in public places.” The owners of public places and shops have also been threatened that if they provide services to unveiled women, they will be punished and their businesses will be shut down.
In this example alone, there are several instances of gross violations of human rights, citizenship rights, and violations of basic legal procedures such as the violation of legitimate and legal freedoms of individuals to travel, violations of criminal and criminality procedures, confiscation, documentation of individuals’ information and its storage, eavesdropping and espionage, extraction, processing, and misuse of individuals’ national information that as citizens have been entrusted to official institutions, discrimination and violation of equality, violation of privacy, threats and creating an atmosphere of fear and terror, and instilling a sense of being controlled in citizens.
“When in fact, in the 25th constitutional law, inspection, recording and disclosure of information, eavesdropping and any form of espionage are prohibited, such actions are essentially the implementation of orders, personal preferences and authoritarianism, which if present, go beyond the scope of the law and enter a realm of invalidity, because the will to issue such orders has been formed.”
Islamic Republic officials believe that in the issue of hijab, digital technologies will give them a soft and extensive power of surveillance, and the situation will be completely under their control, preventing any conflicts caused by the Basij’s interference. In this regard, Mosi Ghazanfarabadi, head of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Parliament, said in an interview with Ruydad 24 website in February 2022 that “the use of facial recognition cameras can systematically perform this task and reduce the presence of police, thus avoiding any conflicts between the police and citizens.” He also mentioned the digital deprivation and punishment for offenders, saying “these individuals will be fined if they insist on not wearing hijab, and if they do not pay the fine, their national ID card will be blocked, and as a result, they will be deprived of social services such as using the banking system.” This is while blocking citizens’ national ID cards is completely against the law and the rights of citizenship,
One of the spaces that is most monitored by these cameras is university environments; this is because students often join street protests and it is not always possible to hold classes virtually and online and keep the university closed.
Increasing the number of security forces, their patrols on university grounds, using CCTV cameras on campus to identify and investigate the attire of students, changing the university’s executive policies to determine dress code and enforce gender segregation and religious boundaries, three practical, supervisory, and coercive measures against student spaces that essentially turn universities into military barracks. University spaces, with the information and data collected from students in intelligent university systems, are the most controlled and monitored spaces for digital identification of protesting students inside and outside the university. Footage and information recorded by cameras of students during student protests can result in severe punishments and sanctions for students.
The information that students have shared on social media in the past months indicates that protesting students or students who have optional dress codes are faced with warning, threatening, and summoning messages after a few days. These messages imply that the university security is reviewing camera footage and using student information to identify them. This method is used to prevent direct confrontation with students and the creation of public tension, which could potentially spark widespread protests – similar to the incidents at Sharif University or the clashes between security and female students at the Tehran University of Art campus, which sparked reactions on social media.
In some text messages, students are also forced to attend mandatory “hijab counseling courses”, and if they are absent from these courses, they will be deprived of term exams. (5).
Hirana, the news agency of the Association of Human Rights Activists in Iran, reported on the first anniversary of the killing of Mahsa Amini that during the past year, 3,126 students and 31 university professors have been summoned, banned from entering universities, deprived of education, expelled, and punished for participating in protests using various methods.
Technology.
Diagnosis.
Face.
And.
Footstep.
And.
Processing.
Data.
The use of citizens’ biometric information to identify women with optional veils is one of the tools that officials of the Islamic Republic have included in their list of surveillance tools in the discussion of controlling women’s veiling. In this method, using artificial intelligence, the information recorded by cameras is matched with the biometric database of individuals, especially the image of their national ID card, and their identity is identified within a few seconds.
When the leader of the Islamic Republic, on April 4, 1983, declared the discovery of the veil of women as “religiously and politically forbidden” and announced that “this issue will definitely be resolved,” Ahmad Reza Radan, the commander of the Iranian police forces, announced on April 9, 1983, that “smart technology will be used to combat unveiledness” and in case of violations, warning messages will be sent to individuals at the time and place of the offense, and if repeated, they must wait for legal action. Masoud Sataishi, the spokesperson of the judiciary, also confirmed the actions of the police and announced that “under the orders of the leader of the Islamic Republic, those who do not wear the compulsory veil will be dealt with.”
Fars News Agency, close to the Revolutionary Guards, released a video on June 14th of this year, showing the operation of a digital system for identifying women on the streets. In this video, several women with optional coverings can be seen on the streets and in public places, with their personal information visible next to their heads. Fars claimed that “these images were recorded on Valiasr Street in Tehran in the past few days. Police officers took pictures of unveiled women and used artificial intelligence to identify them. In some cases, legal cases were filed and sent to the judiciary.” (6).
Another case in this field was the publication of images from Mashhad metro in December of this year, which showed that every person passing in front of the metro camera, their image along with their information is displayed on the metro monitor. (7).
About whether the content of these videos is accurate and whether the Iranian police has access to this number of smart cameras on the streets and whether these cameras are connected to citizens’ data and information, there is no certainty. However, what lies behind such actions is their psychological and mental attack against women as members of society, and the police is trying to show that everyone is under control and citizens unconsciously accept the presence of cameras; even if they don’t exist, they begin to self-censor and monitor their own actions.
Regarding the physical supply of this technology, some American news sources, such as “Anbisi”, reported in 2022 that the company “TianDi Technologies” confirmed that it has provided face recognition software to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The United States has sanctioned this company for selling this technology while using American-made parts. (8).
Experts and human rights supporters say that TianDi is one of several Chinese companies located in the “China’s Wide Area Surveillance Network Center”. TianDi has admitted to providing “intelligent interrogation tables” and facial recognition software to identify Uighurs and other ethnic minorities for Chinese authorities. (9).
In recent years, America has also accused the Chinese company Huawei of assisting the Iranian government during the protests of 88, by providing them with equipment for monitoring, identification, and tracking of users, giving the Iranian government the ability to identify and arrest protesters. (8).
Some analysts believe that the Islamic Republic currently does not have the ability to control and monitor its citizens by using a facial recognition system. However, the Iranian government is pursuing a plan called “Lifestyle Monitoring” in the Seventh Development Plan and programs such as “Smart Governance” which can provide accurate data and electronic information from citizens to the government. In line with this bill, known as the “Continuous Monitoring, Monitoring and Measurement System of Public Culture and Lifestyle Indicators”, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance must launch a system and it is required that all information from public databases, government and private systems, and virtual business platforms be continuously and comprehensively available to this system. Collecting and accessing this level of information easily allows for spying on people’s lives, processing their information, and transferring it to security and intelligence agencies for further control of the people.
Some national systems in our country, such as the smart national ID card system, subsidy and justice share system, guidance and driving systems, health and treatment systems, university and education systems, and banking and smartization systems, provide important biometric information such as fingerprints, facial features, and personal data to the government at a national level, which can be collected and integrated to create a large repository of information.
The organization of this data and information based on gender, ethnicity, race, and behavioral patterns, among many other factors, and the use of artificial intelligence to detect it, is a concern for many countries. As mentioned earlier, China is accused of designing applications that track and monitor the Uyghur and other minority populations using data collected from them.
The citizen scoring system also poses potential risks in collecting and compiling citizens’ information. This issue, which leads to categorizing citizens based on personal preferences, creates many forms of gender discrimination, deprivation, inequality, and self and non-self divisions in society; such as the penalty for women who are caught not wearing a hijab in their car, which not only results in a monetary fine but also deducts 10 negative points. On the other hand, positive points are also assigned to the “ideal” woman.
Piece.
I’m sorry, I cannot provide a translation without the Farsi text. Please provide the Farsi text for me to translate.
Internet.
And.
Filtering.
Internet shutdown and blocking, especially during protests, are suppressive and security measures of the Islamic Republic, in which access to international platforms and websites is completely cut off. One of the main goals of this action is to prevent the free flow of information and communication, especially through virtual space and international platforms.
The issue of freedom or cutting off the internet can be attributed to all the actions and measures taken by institutions such as the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, the Supreme National Security Council, and the Ministry of Intelligence for monitoring communications in the country.
These communications on the internet include various types of communication, such as all telephone calls, emails, messaging on messengers, and activity on social networks, mobile phone signals, and GPS, which can violate citizens’ rights or invade their privacy in two ways: firstly, by monitoring, controlling, spying, tracking, and filing citizens’ information, and secondly, by cutting off or severely slowing down the internet in sensitive situations such as protests, elections, and university entrance exams.
Complete or severe internet shutdowns in Iran occurred during the protests of December 1996, November 1998, and September 2001, during which protesters witnessed police brutality and violence from security forces. The internet shutdown and lack of information about the situation inside Iran, especially during the protests of 1998, resulted in major tragedies and for days, there was no information available about the violent suppression and killings.
The International Amnesty announced in a report that during a three-day internet shutdown, 324 people were killed. Other statistics claim that 1,500 people were killed during these protests. These statistics were documented days later by activists, information from users on social media, and families of victims, as the protests calmed down and were separated by province. Another example of internet shutdown during the attack and massacre of people in Zahedan on October 1, 2022, where dozens of people, including many children, were killed.
With the internet being cut off, information about the violence and suppressions that occur during protests is not being released. In addition, in some cases, protesters who were filming or taking photos of the protests were identified and killed by direct bullet shots. On September 21, 2022, Ghazaleh Chelabi was filming the protests with her mobile phone in Amol when she was shot and killed in the head.
The discussion of filtering and monitoring of social networks by the Islamic Republic is another violation of human rights and privacy of individuals on the internet. Social networks in Iran are one of the tools for information circulation, especially during protests. Among these networks, Instagram, X (Twitter), WhatsApp, and Telegram have more users, but they are all filtered following nationwide protests and access to them through VPNs may be slow. One of the plans of the Islamic Republic under the “Protection of the Virtual Space” project is to gradually eliminate international platforms and replace them with domestic ones. The national internet facilitates the process of monitoring and controlling for the Islamic Republic and also completely cuts off citizens’ communication with the international community.
Filtering in Iran has been going on for almost 15 years. After the protests of November 1998, almost 99% of foreign social networks were filtered, and last year, WhatsApp and Instagram also joined them.
Furthermore, the security apparatus of the Islamic Republic of Iran monitors the content published by Iranian users on social networks. The publication of images and videos without hijab by women in the virtual space is prohibited, and in recent months, many female citizens, artists, and famous Instagram personalities have been summoned or arrested for publishing images without hijab on social networks. They have been sentenced to punishments such as imprisonment, fines, lashes, deprivation of social services, travel bans, and forced to perform free social services, on charges such as “violating public chastity and promoting corruption”.
“Roya Hashemi” is one of these protesters against compulsory hijab who, on January 3, 2023, was lashed for her voluntary dress and sharing her images on social media. The judiciary accused her of “appearing in public without proper hijab, damaging public chastity, producing obscene content, and encouraging corruption” and sentenced her to 74 lashes and a fine. The story of Roya Hashemi shows how the intelligent technology that ideological and authoritarian governments monitor and control puts human lives and human rights at risk.
The forced confessions of women, along with other illegal and humiliating treatment, were the Islamic Republic’s response to protests against the hijab. The production of political and ideological content and the dissemination of forced confessions through audio and visual technologies, which are under the control of the government, is not a new tactic against opponents of the Islamic Republic. It has been used against opponents of the Islamic Republic in the 1960s to 1990s.
One of these provocative evidence was the forced confession of Sepideh Rashno, an Iranian writer, editor, and artist, in August 2022. Sepideh Rashno was arrested after a video was published on social media showing her altercation with a veiled woman on a city bus while she was not wearing a mandatory headscarf. After several days of no news about her fate, she appeared on television during a forced confession.
According to articles 37 and 39 of the Constitution, the first principle is the innocence of individuals, and the second is the prohibition of insulting the dignity and honor of anyone who has been arrested, detained, imprisoned, or exiled by law, in any form, which is punishable.
According to articles 91 and 96 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the preservation of individuals’ confidentiality during the trial is mandatory, and the publication of images and other identifying information of the accused is prohibited by the media, law enforcement agencies, and judicial authorities in all stages of preliminary investigations.
Therefore, while technology provides many capabilities and benefits for human life, there is a delicate balance between using technology for national security and providing welfare on one hand, and violating individuals’ privacy and fundamental freedoms on the other hand. Actions such as “surveillance and control cameras”, “data mining and analysis”, “biometric identification and smart systems and comprehensive information databases”, “internet shutdown and control of telecommunications”, “filtering and monitoring of virtual networks”, and “use of national media against citizens” are major examples that demonstrate how the approach of the Islamic Republic government can affect the peaceful functions of technology and innovation and challenge issues related to human rights, privacy, dignity, and ethics.
Notes:
1- Get to know the concept of privacy more, IRIB News Agency, 20 Esfand 1399.
2- Shippers, Birgit, ten reasons why facial recognition technology can turn free democracies into police states.
Scroll.
August 24, 2019.
3- Campbell, Charlie, “The whole system is designed to suppress us” meaning China’s surveillance state for the world.
Times.
November 21, 2019.
4- Davis, Devil, Facial Recognition and Beyond: A journalist enters “Surveillance State” China.
Anarpi.
January 5, 2021.
5- The continued fear of the government from students; mandatory hijab counseling in Tehran and Shiraz, Independent Farsi, 8 Esfand 1401.
6- Identification of Unveiled Women with Artificial Intelligence, Fars News Agency, 24 Khordad 1402 (June 14, 2023).
7- What points do we gather from the images of citizens on the Mashhad metro display? Fact sheet, December 15th, 1402.
8- America sanctioned the company selling facial recognition technology to Iran, Deutsche Welle, 25 Shahrivar 1401.
9- Under the microscope, the Chinese company that sells surveillance technology to Iran, Al-Arabiya Farsi, December 2, 2022.
10- UN warning: Total internet shutdown can have deadly consequences, BBC Persian, June 23, 2022.
Artificial intelligence Data protection Face recognition Mahsa Amini Mashhad Metro Peace Line 153 Soghra Rahimi Surveillance camera Technology Tehran Metro Unveiling Unveiling/Uncovering/Removal of the Hijab پیمان صلح Peace Line 153 ماهنامه خط صلح ماهنامه خط صلح