TWITTER AND FREE IRAN

southernwriter

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If you support those protesting the outcome of the election in Iran, and you Twitter, please consider changing your Twitter location and time zone to Tehran to help provide cover for those who are trying to keep the world informed of what's happening over there.
 

benbradley

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MacAllister

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BoingBoing's guide to helpful internet tactics to provide cover and not aid the suppression of Iranian voices:
1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP's over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.

2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.

3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don't retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.

4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become 'Iranians' it becomes much harder to find them.

5. Don't blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don't publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don't signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind...

#iranelection cyberwar guide for beginners (Thanks, Yishay!)
Previously:

* Iran SMS networks "mysteriously" fail right before elections ...
* Iran: Activists Launch Hack Attacks on Tehran Regime - Boing Boing
* Iranian election uprising: Twitter tracks it real-time, Iranian ...

6. Denial of Service attacks. If you don't know what you are doing, stay out of this game. Only target those sites the legitimate Iranian bloggers are designating. Be aware that these attacks can have detrimental effects to the network the protesters are relying on. Keep monitoring their traffic to note when you should turn the taps on or off.

7. Do spread the (legitimate) word, it works! When the bloggers asked for twitter maintenance to be postponed using the #nomaintenance tag, it had the desired effect. As long as we spread good information, provide moral support to the protesters, and take our lead from the legitimate bloggers, we can make a constructive contribution.

Please remember that this is about the future of the Iranian people, while it might be exciting to get caught up in the flow of participating in a new meme, do not lose sight of what this is really about."
 
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benbradley

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I saw that link before, but didn't quite read the whole thing, specifically point 4...
 

Dommo

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It's kind of an interesting situation from the US foreign policy vantage point, and I think Obama is playing this correctly by not having the US take any "overt" action. This revolution needs legitimacy and the worst thing that could happen is for it to be perceived as something that was engineered by the CIA.

I think an Iran that has a more moderate secular government would probably be on reasonably friendly terms with the US government in relatively short order. Hopefully Iran can complete this democratic transformation and be a sort of "paradigm" in the middle east for other prospective democracies.
 

calley

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I'd heard of the Tweeting, but I hadn't actually looked into it until now.

****.

I've joined Twitter, with the Tehran timezone and location. Godspeed.
 

MacAllister

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Huffingtonpost.com is continuing to live-blog events as possible, and is apparently reporting that the Canadian Embassy in Iran is now taking casualties, as well.

However, there's contradictory information at CTV.ca, where they've published a statement that the Canadian Embassy was closed, and employees were told to stay home all day.
 
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