Iran Monitoring Civilians

Group

Give students a list of surveillance tools and ask them to categorize them as Hardware or Software.

Discussion Question: Which is more dangerous—the hardware or the software? Why?

Case Study: Iran’s Monitoring Tools (12 minutes)

Explain how Iran uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to monitor citizen communications.

Deep Packet Inspection: A method of examining the content of data as it passes through a network.

Reality Check: It allows the state to see not just where a message is going, but what it says (if not encrypted).

Firm Highlight: Sandvine (a Canadian firm) was accused of providing the software used by the Iranian government to censor the internet and track dissenters.

Should companies be allowed to sell surveillance software to governments with poor human rights records?

Is it the responsibility of the firm (like Sandvine) or the government to ensure tools aren't abused?

If you lived in a country with this level of monitoring, how would you change your online behavior?