Katrina showed us that we could organize in the aftermath of an event, Iran is showing us that we can effect the aftermath. Twitter has been a key battleground for Iranian opposition after election results, and it is not going unnoticed. Even the Iranian government has recognized it a key battleground. They have shut down access to social sites, arrested bloggers, and posted erroneous updates posing as the opposition.
BoingBoing has posted an article titled, Cyberwar Guide for Iran. In it they give 7 rules of engagement for participating in the social resistance. There is a long discussion thread following the guide.
Twitter has postponed maintenance and downtime to the site in order to keep the flow of information going. Conspiracy theorists say that it was at the request of the State Department. Stan Schroeder at Mashable.com has written an article detailing tools used by minority groups against censorship. He lists Tor, Opera Unite, and The Pirate Bay’s new VPN as vital in the fight against web censorship. Schroeder says, “It’s up to every one of us to join and use the tools we have at our disposal; once these tools become commonplace, the battle to set the Internet free will be won.” Read the article here.
Wired Magazine is reporting that Anon and The Pirate Bay are officially involved and collaberating on a site that gives “tips on how to navigate online in private, upload files through the Iranian firewall, find the best activist Tweeters, and launch attacks on pro-government websites.” Stay tuned to #iranelection on twitter to witness and/or enlist into the social battlefield.
