TEHRAN, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Iranians say they've lost the ability to connect to the Web anonymously at Internet cafes as the government works to create a censored national Intranet.
Under rules introduced Wednesday, Iranians are required to provide their name, father's name, address, telephone number and national ID before they can log on, an Iranian report monitored by Western media said.
The rules, coming ahead of parliamentary elections in March, are seen as an attempt to deter activists who might want to use Internet cafes to organize protests, cnet.com reported.
Last week the Iranian judiciary said any calls distributed via social networks or e-mail to boycott elections would be treated as national security crimes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Iran is said to be working on creating its own domestic Intranet that is "halal," or pure. When it is complete the country will shut down the global Web access of 23 million Internet users in Iran, reports say.
