linkdump: more updates in regards to the Iran protests

From Mike:

If you have loved ones in Iran, my thoughts are with you and yours. I’ve been stuck to the Twitter feeds for a while now, and I’m worried for people.

But I’m also encouraged. Tactics like the Iranian government’s would have worked just fine 20 years ago. (Chile comes to mind.) Locking down the networks and cutting off the professional journalists would have had the effect that they intend – without the world watching, the worst of the protestors could be dealt with ruthlessly, and the rest intimidated into submission. But not now. Using one pesky little network protocol, the people on the ground in this insurgency have managed to circumvent the information wall, and force their way into the public eye.

The government’s response now will have to be carefully measured against this unprecedented new level of visibility. They will have to quell the protests peacefully somehow, or else they’ll have to resort to acts of mass violence on YouTube.
(note: Violence has already happened in many places.)

If you want to chip in your network resources for this underground news conduit, they could sure use your help. All the major IM networks are now blocked for Iranian users, as well as services like Blogger and Twitter. Getting news, photos and footage out through this network is risky business for the people providing them, and there is a frantic cat-and-mouse proxy server game going on between the censors and the bloggers. You can put your own machine to work in this infowar, and better their chances of evading capture.

First, rock a Twitter account, and make it look Iranian. GMT+3:30. (Think, ‘I’m Spartacus.’) Cruise over here and learn how to set up a proxy server on your machine. Once you’ve done that, DO NOT TWEET ABOUT IT IN PUBLIC. The censors are watching Twitter closely, and the moment they see someone post a new proxy for Iran, it goes on the block list and becomes useless. Instead, send it privately to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they’ll distribute it discreetly to bloggers.

This is the first time that tools like this have been used on this scale. Here’s hoping that Twitter can give us a new and ubiquitous form of political accountability. All eyes are on Ahmadinejad, and I sure hope he can feel them.