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Comment by gambutin | Hacker News Reader

Noteworthy: It’s not that no one in Iran has no access. Actually some have internet access via “white SIM cards” (1). Reportedly 50,000 or so.

Essentially, they’ve created a two-tier system controlling who can access the internet.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_SIM_Card

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> Noteworthy: It’s not that no one in Iran has no access. Actually some have internet access via “white SIM cards”

Erm, dude, you did look at the graph on the Mastodon post linked to, right ?

You see that bit where it falls off a cliff to 0% netblocks ?

"white SIM card" or not, you're not getting internet if there's no BGP routes being announced.

The only way around 0 BGP announcements would be satellite...

I suspect your "white SIM card" was a pre-war status-quo ...

> Erm, dude, you did look at the graph on the Mastodon post linked to, right ? You see that bit where it falls off a cliff to 0% netblocks ?

Not sure if we're all looking at the same plot, but I see things hovering above zero, not exactly at zero.

That’s not the reality. Pro regime “white simcard” people have been spreading their propaganda since start of the war on twitter, instagram and elsewhere.

Which is a big reason why Iran has been able to do so well in the information war. Lies in public to appear in control and totalitarianism for their own citizens to keep them in the dark.

I'd hazard a guess that the big reason Iran is doing well in the information war is because the US/Israel combo launched an apparently unprovoked sneak attack in the middle of negotiations without thinking about the catastrophic global economic consequences it could unleash or how the attack, if executed, would help in any way. Trump still hasn't even found a crazy lie that sounds like a sane reason.

It is hard to spin that in a positive light. It looks a little unreasonable. Even without a propaganda effort by the Iranians there is a great scratching of heads in the west trying to figure out why we're embarking on this crazy crusade.

Although I hear the IRGC's lego game is on point so that is interesting.

Respectfully, I don't agree with you. There's no question that the IRGC and Iranian regime wanted to build nuclear weapons. They were planning to do this by constructing so many missile sites and launchers that no one would bother trying to stop them. Yes, the world could have done nothing and just watched, but that would have only delayed the problem and made it worse later. Just imagine what a nuclear-armed Iranian regime would do, not just to their own people but to their neighbors and the rest of the world.

Good? The US and Israel both have nukes. Iran probably should have them too, it needs the tools to defend itself and maintain its sovereignty despite the actions of these lunatics. It is clear that rains of conventional ballistic missiles and the threat of taking out the global economy isn't enough to make Israel consider negotiations.

If we wanted to worry about nuclear proliferation, negotiation was the path to take. There was a JCPOA and it seems like Khamenei Sr turned out to be serious about Iran not developing nukes in his lifetime. They've been a year or two away for more than a decade as I recall. Senseless violence isn't going to do anything to encourage disarmament - that is another part of why the Iranians have such an easy battle ahead of them in terms of propaganda.

If we're going to worry about Iran getting nukes, assassinating the anti-nuke guy and pummelling them as Trump is will not help the situation in the slightest. The only path where they survive as a state is the one where they build nuclear missiles.

I don't blame you, and you're entitled to your view. However, it's easy to sit in a comfort zone and support a totalitarian regime you never experienced living under.

Have a read: https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603102323 https://www.iranintl.com/en/202602031576

That sounds brutal, and I’m sure there were tons of abuses by security forces during the protests, but I am a bit skeptical of Iran International as a source:

https://web.archive.org/web/20260116190959/https://www.thegu...

> propaganda since start of the war on twitter, instagram and elsewhere.

That propaganda can also be spread by people who do not have "white simcards" simply by virtue of the fact they live outside Iran.

This includes, for example, the various posts made by Iranian embassies around the world.

Come on, this is a technical forum, I really shouldn't need to spell that out !

I was specifically referring to pro-regime supporters inside Iran who have free internet access thanks to "white SIM cards."

We're receiving war footage from iran. They aren't completely disconnected.

> We're receiving war footage from iran. They aren't completely disconnected.

As I said, satellite is a thing.

I also don't doubt there may be some traditional land-based BGP access going on too, maybe using "borrowed" prefixes. But I do not think it is as much as people think it might be.

I also doubt there are 50,000 "white SIM" active today... I suspect that Wikipedia "unofficial figure" reflects pre-war. Most have very likely been disconnected or blocked.

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