In addition to its army of 30,000 spies, Iran is also beginning to employ an online surveillance tactic known as “surgical censorship.”
With the development of “intelligent software,” ordinary Iranian citizens will be able to access the internet and use sites like Twitter and Facebook freely. But their online activities won’t be strictly private. That “intelligent software” will help the government monitor their online activities.
Megan Garber, staff writer at The Atlantic, explains the advantages techniques like this hold for a dictatorship.