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Fresh Take:
Iran's hijab crackdown is ramping up with the employment of dogged tech! According to a United Nations report revealed on Friday, the regime is leveraging slick tech tools such as drones, facial recognition, and a citizen-reporting app, dubbed 'Nazer', to nab violators of the mandatory veil rules.
A significant component of this effort is the government-backed Nazer app, which enables the police and 'vetted' citizens to report purported infractions by women in vehicles, including ambulances, public transport, and taxis. This digital snitch app allows users to upload the vehicle license plate, location, and time of the apparent violation, setting off an alert for the authorities. Surprisingly, the offender receives a real-time text message warning, threatening vehicle impoundment for non-compliance.
The report claims that authorities are sweeping Tehran and southern regions with drones, scrutinizing hijab adherence in public spaces and allegedly installing facial recognition software at the entrance of Tehran's Amirkabir University last year.
While the report is set to hit the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, these revelations paint a chilling picture of Iran's growing digital authoritarianism.
Though it's not fully detailed in the reports, Iranian authorities are also employing other technologies such as IMSI-Catchers, contactless card readers, and urban surveillance cameras to monitor and intimidate women defying the hijab rules [1][5]. The use of these advanced surveillance tools suggests a nationwide digital monitoring network for enforcing hijab.
Furthermore, since 2023, traffic cameras have been used to snatch unveiled women in cars. Vehicle owners are hit with automated warnings, and repeated offenses can lead to car impoundment [2]. The tech-savvy regime is stepping up its digital surveillance in pursuit of compulsory hijab, marking a significant shift in the authoritarian landscape [4].
Despite the reports' lack of detail regarding the exact use of drones and facial recognition technologies, it's clear that Iran is deploying a broad spectrum of digital surveillance tools to reign in hijab dissidents [5]. The enigma surrounding the 'Nazer' app and its apparent involvement in hijab enforcement remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the Iranian government's creepy expansion of net control over its citizens continues unabated.
- The advancements in technology, such as drones, facial recognition, and smartphone apps like Nazer, are being utilized by Iran for cybersecurity purposes, targeting individuals who violate mandatory hijab rules.
- Amidst the rise of digital authoritarianism, Iranian authorities are not only focusing on cybersecurity but also implementing artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, like IMSI-Catchers and urban surveillance cameras, to monitor and intimidate women who defy hijab rules.
- The data-and-cloud-computing realm is not spared from this digital invasion, as traffic cameras are being used to identify and impound vehicles driven by unveiled women in a quest for enforcing hijab regulations.
- Driven by their tech-savvy approach, Iranian politics are increasingly interweaving with crime-and-justice matters, as the digital snitch app Nazer contributes to the general news regarding the escalating hijab crackdown, further blurring the lines between privacy, justice, and political control.
