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By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL

Iran has stepped up its already tough Internet censorship policy by blocking the most popular antifiltering tool used by Iranians to access blocked websites. Beginning last week, Iranian authorities began blocking virtual private networks (VPNs), which an estimated 30 percent of the country's Internet users employ to get around state censorship.

Communications tools that allow free phone calls, like Skype and Viber, and free text messaging, like WhatsApp, have also reportedly been disrupted.

The move, which was first reported by citizen journalists, was confirmed March 10 by Ramezanali Sobhani-Fard, the head of parliament's Information and Communications Technology Committee.

"Within the last few days, illegal VPN ports in the country have been blocked," Sobhani-Fard declared, adding that from now on only legal and registered VPNs may be used.

The ban puts in place an even higher hurdle for Iranians hoping to escape state censorship online.

VPNs allow millions of Iranians to gain access to the Internet via networks based outside the country. They can then visit the thousands of websites that are blocked in Iran for being deemed immoral or against the countrys national security.

These days, when one manages to log on to Facebook, it feels like being [Soviet space pioneer] Yuri Gagarin, reads a joke posted on a popular satirical Facebook page.

Washington-based independent Internet researcher Collin Anderson told RFE/RL that Irans decision to target the most widely used and secure antifiltering tool signals a ratcheting-up by the regime of control over what Iranians can see and say.

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Iran Targets Means Of Bypassing Online Censorship