Too early for this but obviously Starlink's recently announced plans to start offering connectivity to phones in very remote areas would also work wonders for people in countries like Iran. The scale would be an issue obviously. But maybe combined with e.g. mesh networking, it would enable people to bypass government controls.
IMHO, this is the biggest threat to police states like Iran, North Korea, etc. in years. They are very dependent on controlling access to information and breaking through that threatens their power and they have treated the internet as an existential threat by raising firewalls and imposing very strict controls and limitations. However, phones are a weakness. At least so far.
Information is basically a weapon that can be used to influence large amounts of people. The Russians just used propaganda to sell their own population on a war that they wanted to start. That didn't just happen overnight; the propaganda started years ago. That would have been impossible without strict controls on media and freedom of press. Iran, Russia, North Korea, China, and a few other countries are at this point very dependent on controlling access to information. It's a strategic weakness that is exploitable. Break through the information blocks and things start changing.
IMHO, this is the biggest threat to police states like Iran, North Korea, etc. in years. They are very dependent on controlling access to information and breaking through that threatens their power and they have treated the internet as an existential threat by raising firewalls and imposing very strict controls and limitations. However, phones are a weakness. At least so far.
Information is basically a weapon that can be used to influence large amounts of people. The Russians just used propaganda to sell their own population on a war that they wanted to start. That didn't just happen overnight; the propaganda started years ago. That would have been impossible without strict controls on media and freedom of press. Iran, Russia, North Korea, China, and a few other countries are at this point very dependent on controlling access to information. It's a strategic weakness that is exploitable. Break through the information blocks and things start changing.