Iran will provide state-run email addresses to all citizens

Iran is creating the building blocks of a state-controlled internet, and its next major effort appears to be email. Reuters reports that Iran is planning to dole out a government-run email address to each of its citizens and to use the addresses as a way to communicate with them. While that would give the Iranian government a fairly progressive means of communicating with its people, the continued worry is that the state will only use it as another way of monitoring their private lives. Iran is promising to maintain privacy within the service, though full details haven’t been revealed.

Reuters reports that data centers are now being set up throughout Iran to handle traffic for the new service, which will be located at mail.post.ir. Though it’s a sign that Iran is continuing toward a closed, censored internet, the country’s incoming president may be less keen on such plans. According to Mehr News Agency, president-elect Hassan Rouhani said that he believes strong government “does not interfere in the people’s private lives.” It could mean a turn of events when he takes office in August, but for now, Iranian citizens must continue to deal with increased efforts to regulate their internet access.