SIM Card Blocking and Citizens' Problems

Melika stresses that a blocked SIM card is not just a line going dead, but a halt to her life. Besides being unable to access her user accounts and manage customers' orders, she cannot transfer money, pay installments, or receive a text message to renew her car insurance certificate, and so on...

In a report, Shargh newspaper has detailed the blocking of SIM cards of some citizens as a punishment and the problems created for them.

In a report written by Sonia Sarabpour, Shargh newspaper wrote: One day the mobile phone stops working; No text messages are received, no calls are made, and the phone is not connected to the internet. At first glance, the incident looks like a technical malfunction; Maybe the bill has not been paid, maybe the SIM card is burnt or the network has a problem as usual.

But when the owner of the line calls the operator's support, 72 hours after filing the complaint, he receives another answer: "Your line is "blocked" and follow up the matter with the prosecutor's office" and going through dozens of other processes that are needed to get the answer back to the blocked line.

From now on, it's not just about blocking a SIM card anymore. In today's digital life, the mobile number is one of the keys to identify citizens; A number connected to a bank account, dynamic password SMS, payment applications, internet taxi, online shopping, credit and installments, social networks, user accounts and many government and judicial services.

So when a SIM card is blocked, more than just calling and internet access can be lost: part of a person's access to their digital life.

The story of SIM card blocking was widely discussed in the reports at least since the summer of 1403. Since then, there have been reports of journalists, political and civic activists, and critics being cut off, but now more recent accounts show that the scope of this issue has reached ordinary people as well. From Instagram business owners to women who have faced SIM card blocking due to content published on social networks or not observing hijab.

At the beginning of Mehr 1405, reports were published about the blocking of SIM cards of a number of women in Isfahan due to not wearing a hijab and the condition of reconnecting the lines to the determination of the court case.

Regardless of what content the owner of a line published, what coverage he had, or in general what path his case took, there is a more important question: what exactly does blocking a phone number in 1405 take away from a citizen?

A SIM card that is not just a few numbers

"Malika" is a girl who says that she has been standing in front of the Palace of Justice since early morning and before the start of working hours, but they do not allow her to enter to follow up on the case of her SIM card being blocked. He says that when he filed a complaint about the blocking of his SIM card in his mobile operator's system, after 72 hours they replied that he should follow up on the issue by calling a number related to the cyberspace deputy of the prosecutor's office.

As he explains, after this number, he is given other numbers to follow up on the unblocking, all of which are a vicious cycle, and in the end, he did not get an answer. Melika says that she thought to herself that if she comes to the court in person, maybe she will get an answer sooner.

He is so stressed that he doesn't know what to do. He has an Instagram page selling party wear and now all the orders have been left because his line is blocked and he can't even refund people's money. He says sadly: "I worked very hard to launch this page until now it has reached 40,000 followers, but since I could not deliver the orders to the customers on time, the followers have decreased and they call me a fraud."

Melika emphasizes that the blocking of the SIM card is not just the failure of a line, but the stopping of her life; Because in addition to not being able to go to his user accounts and manage user orders, he can neither transfer money, nor pay installments, nor receive an SMS to renew his car insurance certificate, etc.

The experience of "Elnaz Mohammadi", a journalist, is another clear illustration of this story that a SIM card is not just a call line. His SIM card, which has been blocked for several months, has not only blocked the way to contact friends and news sources; He is involved in a chain issue that includes payment and credit to use online services.

Elnaz Mohammadi's SIM card was in her father's name; The line he bought about 20 years ago. This issue had made it difficult for him to use some banking services in recent years; Because many services require a number that is in the person's own name. But this issue was not a priority for him to name the line he has worked with for years; Because with this line, he used to do his daily work, from calling to online shopping, etc.

But after this SIM card was blocked, the problem became more serious. He had credit and installment purchases in services such as Snap and Digipay, and he faced a problem to transfer these accesses to a new number. Finally, these fines for non-payment of installments in online platforms were collected one by one in his user account box.

Elnaz Mohammadi says that in one case, a settlement was made to pay the remaining debts on the credit platform, but it was not easy to regain access to credit. As a result, the blocking of a SIM card turned from a communication event into a financial and everyday problem.

Elnaz says: "After filing a complaint with the mobile phone operator, I received a message to call the virtual deputy prosecutor. During the call to this deputy, they announced that they will call me in a month. A month has now turned into more than two months and there has been no call to follow up on the complaint.

Mohammadi's experience shows how the mobile number has turned from a simple communication tool into a part of the access path to various services; The SIM card, which was once prepared for calls and text messages, today has become a part of the user identification process in banks, credit services, online shopping and various platforms.

In such a situation, disconnecting a number can also affect a chain of accesses; Even if the person's main activity in any of these services has nothing to do with the reason for blocking the line. Of course, this story is not unique to him. In August 1405, reports were published about the experience of people who faced problems in banking services, payment of installments and insurance after their SIM cards were blocked.

In one of these cases, a user (Daniya Rad) said that he needed an SMS verification code to renew his car insurance, and the SIM card was blocked at the same stage. In such a situation, the main issue is no longer "not calling"; The problem is that a phone number has become the connection point of several services and its disconnection can affect a set of accesses at the same time.

Turning mobile number into the key to digital life

The experience of different people whose SIM card has been blocked for various reasons, both in the conversation with "Sharq" and in the expression on social networks, shows that the SIM card number is the key to entering the digital world and when this key is lost, this door remains locked forever.

When the mobile number, along with the national code and bank account, has become one of the foundations of authentication in digital services, cutting it off can disable a chain of accesses; From banking services and online shopping to access to user accounts and public services.

According to Saeed Suzangar, an activist in the field of free access to the Internet and a security expert, to "Sharq", today's issue is no longer simply "digital identity" in its common sense; In the current architecture of the country's digital services, a person's identity is tied to a set of identifiers, the disconnection of one of which can disrupt a person's digital life.

Pointing to the change in the scope of people whose SIM cards are blocked, Suzengar says that this is no longer limited to people who have problems with decision-makers due to political or media activities, and cases have also been raised about people with normal activities, including online business owners and online shops.

From his point of view, this issue increases the need to review the consequences of this type of blocking; Because a person may be just a normal user or a business owner, but by disconnecting his mobile number, he will face a set of digital limitations. According to this security expert, the concept of digital identity had a different meaning in the past years. At one time, digital identity meant that a person's information was recorded in a system and its use could make doing some things faster or easier; As a result, a person could choose between using traditional authentication methods and digital tools. But according to Suzangar, this situation has changed now. Today, a large part of digital services is dependent on a person's national code, mobile number and bank account, and these identifiers are no longer separate components of real life. They are connected to each other and to access many services, the identity of the person is authenticated through this set. From this point of view, he does not consider SIM card blocking to be merely limiting a communication tool. According to him, if a person is denied access to his mobile number, he may face difficulties in accessing the bank, online shopping, digital accounts and some public services. To describe the dimensions of this incident, he says: "A person whose SIM card is blocked may not be able to access their bank account, may not be able to make online purchases, may not be able to use some public services, and may not even be able to communicate with others as before." From Suzangar's point of view, a citizen should be able to use public services in any situation, and access to these services should not be tied to a single identifier that can be disconnected.

The issue from the point of view of cyber security does not end here. The dependence of various accounts and services on the mobile number has made this number a part of the authentication or account recovery path in many cases. Suzengar believes that when a person's SIM card is blocked, in addition to losing access to some services, the question should also be raised about the security status of his digital accounts. According to experts, in an architecture where the mobile number is one of the keys to accessing accounts, losing a person's control over this authentication path can also create a security issue: "Especially if a person depends on the same number to log in, recover accounts, or receive verification codes, cutting it off It can make it difficult for him to manage the security of his accounts." In the meantime, a simple solution such as getting a new SIM card is not necessarily available. According to Suzengar, in some cases, a person cannot even get another SIM card in his own name, and as a result, he may go for the SIM card of family members or other people. He mentions cases where even numbers belonging to family members and used by the blocked person have been restricted. In such a situation, the problem goes beyond a communication limitation and becomes a kind of forced dependence on the identity and tools of others. But the more important question is, is it basically a good architecture to depend a large part of digital services on a mobile number?

Suzanger believes that public service architecture should not be limited to a single path for authentication. According to him, in a suitable architecture, it should be possible to use different authentication methods; For example, a person can use the national card, its information or chip, a mobile number registered in his name or a valid user account in government systems in different situations. In such a model, the failure of one of the authentication paths should not mean the failure of the entire digital identity of the person. But according to this expert, in the current structure, different departments are connected to each other and this dependency can create a breaking point; In the sense that disruption or limitation in one of the main components will show its effects in other parts as well. From his point of view, this issue is not only limited to mobile number. Centering information and services around identifiers such as national codes can also create vulnerabilities. Suzengar believes that the more systems are connected to each other and the more information is linked in a centralized architecture, the scope of damage can be wider in case of information infiltration or leakage. In explaining this issue, he points to the experience of banking infrastructure and believes that excessive concentration of services and their dependence on common systems can reduce the resilience of the network. From his point of view, in decentralized architectures, the disruption of one component should not necessarily cause the failure of a large part of the service.

From a tool for intelligence to a tool for punishment

In the meantime, Suzangar also suggests a change of function: the infrastructure that was supposed to make the country faster and more efficient by digitizing services, can become a restrictive tool if it is used to deny people access to services. He says that if the digitization of services is supposed to reduce costs, increase speed, facilitate access and transparency, it should not result in a digital ID becoming a tool to exclude a person from a set of services. According to him, when the mobile number has become a part of the infrastructure of access to services, blocking it without providing an alternative path can actually become a punitive tool; Especially if the person cannot prove his identity using another method and still have access to his digital services. At this point, the technical question is tied to the legal question: even if a person's access to his SIM card is to be limited, should his ownership and access to his identity and digital accounts also be lost? In the 21st century, a mobile number is much more than a communication tool. According to Milad Nouri, an expert in technology and cyber security, the mobile number in many services is part of the chain of authentication, logging in to the account, restoring access and receiving security alerts, and for this reason, losing it can put a person in a more vulnerable position. From Nouri's point of view, one of the important points that should not be ignored in the discussion of SIM card blocking is the difference between "ownership" and "access": "Blocking a SIM card in this sense It is not that a person's bank account, email or user account suddenly belongs to someone else; But the person may lose the necessary means to prove ownership, log into the account, or regain access." If two-step authentication for an email, social network, financial service or work account depends on SMS, the user may not be able to log in even with the correct password, he says. If this number is the only way to recover the account, it will be more difficult to restore access. According to this expert, SMS is not only used to log in or restore an account; In some services, SMS is also one of the channels for sending security alerts; Alerts about suspicious logins, password changes, or security settings changes. Therefore, a person whose SIM card is out of reach may not receive some of these warnings. From this point of view, Nouri emphasizes that SIM card blocking does not necessarily mean account hacking, but it can weaken part of the user's control over their accounts, services and digital assets.

The need to change the use of numbers for authentication

Another issue that Nouri emphasizes is the security architecture of this dependency. When many independent services use a common agent for authentication, login, account recovery, or sending alerts, that same agent can become a "common point of failure." He uses a simple example to explain this situation: if we have only one key to open 10 different doors, the same key becomes the common failure point of all those doors. In the digital ecosystem, if a bank, government service, shopping platform, messenger, financial service, and business account all rely on a mobile number, the loss of that number can affect the user's access to all of them without any of these services being technically disrupted. According to him, the problem is not only the possibility of the number being disconnected; The widespread dependence on SMS is also important from the point of view of cyber security. SMS and one-time password, if used as the sole means of authentication, are vulnerable to certain scenarios of phishing, credential theft, or malicious access to SMS. For this reason, new authentication architectures try to reduce reliance on SMS and use methods such as Passkey and security keys. Nouri emphasizes that using SMS does not inherently mean insecure design. The problem starts when the mobile number and SMS become the only way to log in, recover or prove account ownership. In this situation, the number being unavailable can cause disruption that extends beyond a specific account or service. From a light point of view, the mobile number should be one of the authentication factors, not the only way to prove account ownership. According to him, important services should consider the mobile number loss scenario in their architecture from the beginning. The user must be able to prove his ownership and restore his account in situations such as theft or loss of the phone, disconnection of the SIM card or out of reach of the number. Depending on the sensitivity of the service, this route can include multi-factor authentication, code generation software such as Authenticator, Passkey, security keys, recovery codes, and in more sensitive cases, face-to-face authentication. Of course, the alternative path itself must be designed to be safe enough that it does not become a way to take over the account. In such an architecture, the loss of an authentication factor should not mean the complete loss of a person's digital identity. But if the mobile number has become the main key of all the accounts, its disconnection can put the person in a situation where the ownership of the accounts is still for him, but he does not have the means to prove this ownership and control them.

Hit from casual users to business

Dependence on mobile number is not only a problem for normal users. Recently, various news have been heard about the blocking of SIM cards of people and businesses that have not followed the rules of coverage in the web space. According to experts for businesses, blocking the SIM card of the manager, business owner or one of the key people can turn an individual problem into an operational disruption.

Imagine the owner of an online store or a freelancer whose mobile number is connected to a bank account, a payment gateway, a store panel, and a set of work services. If the login or verification of bank operations is dependent on that number, it may become difficult for him to carry out even a simple transaction. If the payment of installments, taxes, insurance or other financial obligations is also dependent on the same chain, the delay can create additional costs. This dependence is stronger in small businesses; Businesses that usually have a large part of the access and responsibilities on the shoulders of one or two people. The number of the business owner may be connected to the bank account and payment gateway, as well as to the store panel, social networks, cloud services and work tools. In this situation, the unavailability of a number can disrupt several parts of the business activity at the same time. Even services such as domain extension, server, SMS panel and other infrastructure services may be placed in a chain of accounts and payments, whose access depends on authentication and mobile number.

If a business owner can't access these accounts or make a payment on time, a small disruption can turn into an operational expense and loss. From this point of view, the SIM card issue is no longer just a communication issue. When the mobile number becomes one of the pillars of authentication in the digital economy, any decision that limits access to it can have an effect on other layers of digital life. The security lesson of this situation, Nouri said, is pretty much the same for users and businesses: Important accounts shouldn't have just one login and recovery path. Using Authenticator, Passkey, security keys and recovery codes can reduce dependence on mobile number; But more important than the existence of these tools is their independence from each other. If the SIM card is lost, all the alternative routes are also destroyed, practically the point of failure still remains.

In a situation where a significant part of public and citizen services are provided through electronic services, the mobile phone number has become one of the important components of a person's access to these services. Many of these services also depend on a SIM card that is in the person's own name for login or authentication. Therefore, SIM card blocking can not only cut off calls and internet, but also disrupt a person's access to a part of digital life and public services.

Now the question is whether this punishment is legal and based on citizen's rights for a verdict that is not clear. According to Vahid Agha, a member of the Faculty of Law of Allameh Tabatabai University and a lawyer, the issue should be started from this point; From where sim card blocking in a more general view can be related to people's fundamental rights and citizenship.

Referring to the citizenship rights in the constitution, ordinary laws and the charter of citizenship rights, he believes that the executive branch or a part of the government cannot create such restrictions for citizens without a legal and judicial basis. He points to the provisions of the Charter of Citizens' Rights and says: "In this charter, the legal and judicial security of citizens is emphasized, and no official should encroach on the legitimate rights and freedoms of individuals in the name of providing security." From his point of view, this issue is also important regarding the right of communication; Because citizens should be able to freely use individual and group communication and receive, search and publish the information they need. This issue becomes more important when the mobile phone is not the only means of communication and has become one of the main ways to access public services. In such situations, SIM card blocking can have consequences that do not appear to be directly related to the mobile phone. One of the most important examples mentioned by Amah is access to judicial services. According to him, today, part of the citizen's communication with the judicial system is done through electronic systems, and in the meantime, authentication and the use of the SIM card of the mobile phone number in the individual's name have become important. If someone's SIM card gets blocked, it's not just that they can't make calls on their phone, he says. Moreover, his access to some of the judicial processes also faces problems. From knowing about the complaint filed against him to filing a lawsuit, choosing a lawyer or doing some things related to the case.