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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Iran's walled garden is being launched [nytimes.com]:

Iran's official news agency is reporting the country has inaugurated first phase of its "National Network of Data." Iran has long sought to create its own national Intranet. The Sunday report by IRNA says the network aims to promote online Islamic content, and encourage less dependency on the Internet while providing safer data transfer and protection against cyber-attacks.

The Associated Press copy talks of restrictions on users and social media crackdowns. Meanwhile, Tehran Times reports [tehrantimes.com]:

The network is guaranteed to give the best service to all the users nationwide with the capability of making a safe connection to all the organizations and important bodies within the country. The network also facilitates encryption and digital signature for the users and provides high speed broadband for them. As announced by the secretary for the Supreme Council of Cyberspace the next two phases of this project are scheduled to finish by February 2017 and World Communication Day, May 8, 2017 respectively.

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