Iran Moves To End "Facebook Revolution" 838
We've had a few readers send in updates on the chaotic post-election situation in Iran. Twitter is providing better coverage than CNN at the moment. There are both tech and humanitarian angles to the story, as the two samples below illustrate. First, Hugh Pickens writes with a report from The Times (UK) that "the Iranian government is mounting a campaign to disrupt independent media organizations and Web sites that air doubts about the validity of the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the nation's president. Reports from Tehran say that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were taken down after Mr Ahmadinejad claimed victory. SMS text messaging, a preferred medium of communication for young Iranians, has also been disabled. 'The blocking of access to foreign news media has been stepped up, according to Reporters Without Borders. 'The Internet is now very slow, like the mobile phone network. YouTube and Facebook are hard to access and pro-reform sites... are completely inaccessible.'" And reader momen abdullah sends in one of the more disturbing Ask Slashdots you are likely to see. "People, we need your urgent help in Iran. We are under attack by the government. They stole the election. And now are arresting everybody. They also filtered every sensitive Web page. But our problem is that they also block the SMS network and are scrambling satellite TVs. Please, can you help us to set up some sort of network using our home wireless access points? Can anybody show us a link on how to install small TV/radio stations? Any suggestion for setting up a network? Please tell us what to do or we are going to die in the a nuclear war between Iran and US." Update: 06/14 18:32 GMT by KD : Jim Cowie contributes a blog post from Renesys taking a closer look at the state of Iranian Internet transit, as seen in the aggregated global routing tables, and concluding that the story may not be as clear-cut as has been reported.
HAM Radio (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's really going on. (Score:5, Informative)
Some are looking for proof of fraud. But unless anyone is expecting Ahmadinejad to admit that he cheated, no solid official evidence is going to show up.
On the other hand, they:
Here's a clip from Corriere Della Sera on police attacking protesters. [corriere.it]
Re:Hmm, tough choice (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A suggestion to Mr. Abdullah (Score:2, Informative)
Actually Iran had a democracy from 1951-1953 under Mohamed Mossadeg until he was ousted in a coup, which of cause everyone knows was CIA sponsored. Here are the declassified CIA documents on the history of operation AJAX:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html
Re:HAM Radio (Score:0, Informative)
HAM? You guys are suggesting our fellow muslims to eat pork? You have any idea how insulting the very thought is!
SSH tunneling (Score:1, Informative)
I might suggest surrogate ssh tunneling. Have some volunteers with ssh servers in other countries to allow encrypted tunneling. The only thing is you want to arrange this setup discreetly and probably not on the normal ssh port. If this is too slow of an option to load the pages I would suggest using a text only browser that doesn't bother downloading images unless you specifically want to.
Re:A suggestion to Mr. Abdullah (Score:5, Informative)
Note to mods! Untrue, read up!
In 1951 Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was elected prime minister. As prime minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran after he nationalized Iran's oil reserves. In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil and, amidst Cold War fears, invited the United States to join in a plot to depose Mossadegh, and in 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax. The operation was successful, and Mossadegh was arrested on 19 August 1953. After Operation Ajax, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's rule became increasingly autocratic. With American support, the Shah was able to rapidly modernize Iranian infrastructure, but he simultaneously crushed all forms of political opposition with his intelligence agency, SAVAK. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became an active critic of the Shah's White Revolution and publicly denounced the government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran#Recent_history_.281921.E2.80.93present.29 [wikipedia.org]
To momen abdullah (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimized_Link_State_Routing_Protocol [wikipedia.org]
http://www.olsr.org/ [olsr.org]
Ways to help (Score:5, Informative)
Some ways to subvert the censorship.
1) anonymous web proxies that only accept inbound connections from Iran IP space.
2) TOR servers [torproject.org].
3) Ad-Hoc WiFi networks could be used to create a Mesh networks.
4) Multicast information, documents, video over the Mesh.
Make a FreedomStick (Score:5, Informative)
The Chaos Computer Club made a "FreedomStick" for journalists traveling to China to cover the Olympics. It includes software that automatically uses firefox+tor etc.. More Info Here: http://chinesewall.ccc.de/index-en.html [chinesewall.ccc.de]
Re:HAM Radio (Score:2, Informative)
To our freedom-loving friends from Iran,
Parent is absolutely correct, but for two reasons.
1. Amateur radio, aka ham radio, allows small portable transceivers to be set up with a range of many miles, even hundreds or thousands of miles depending on frequency, radio, and antenna. A modern HAM radio can be as small as a car's stereo (about 8"x4"x12"), run off 12v DC power (a car battery), and with an antenna made up of nothing more than a few sections of wire cut to the right length and hung from a tree can send a signal halfway around the world if needed. This allows for instant, long-range communication that's easy to use and hide.
2. But more importantly, you must teach yourself about RF and radio signals and how to work with them. Read books about how to design electronic circuits, how to build simple transceivers, how to design RF electronics.
Simple radio transmitters can be constructed VERY cheaply from used electronic parts and aren't large (can be about the size of a paperback book). With the right antenna and perhaps a small amplifier this could have many miles of range.
On the same thread, someone with good RF and electronic knowledge could modify personal two-way radios to transmit in broadcast FM bands.
So my suggestion is to start acquiring this knowledge and training people in it. With a modest amount of RF know-how, or even a few simple designs to be copied, you will be able to inexpensively construct a large number of small transmitting devices...
Re:A suggestion to Mr. Abdullah (Score:3, Informative)
As to the matter at hand: would it be possible to make a torrent-like point to point system
There are already a bunch of such systems; I2P, freenet and tor can be used for various facets of such infrastructure.
but is there enough "internet" left working that something like this might work?
Frankly, I'm not sure it's even government interference. Considering how susceptible the internet usually is to slashdotting at major events, the likelyhood that Iran's infrastructure would simply collapse from the load during exactly such a situation that they have now is fairly high. And the same applies to SMS, which anyone who's been to a major convention or festival run by inexperienced people has surely noticed (or, heck, tried to send an SMS on new years eve in many places). Trying to black those out might simply be a waste of effort; they'll DOS themselves on demand.
Scrambling satellite networks on the other hand... eh, any new MPAA agreement with Iran come into effect recently...? No, seriously, that one might actually be ascribable to the regime.
Re:Gandhi isn't always right (Score:3, Informative)
You can never get a person who thinks he has god on his side to believe he is wrong.
By the way, while we're at it - the "Supreme Leader" Ali Khamenei has already called the official result of the election a "divine assessment".
Emergency networking (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, setting up large-scale adhoc networks with 802.11b/g hardware is kind of difficult. What you'll want to look at is what's called "wireless mesh networking". Mesh networking is basically the peer-to-peer of networks. The difficulty with using 802.11b/g for mesh networking is that 802.11 standard doesn't really include any concept of a mesh. There are two types of devices: access points and clients. Access points cannot communicate with other access points. It is however, possible for clients to communicate with other clients by switching to ad hoc networking mode. So your options are thus:
1) get a lot of people with 802.11g-capable computers to switch into ad hoc networking mode. This will allow them to connect to each other if the density is high enough (that is if there are enough people close enough). Unfortunately, the range is on the small side, so, unfortunately, this may not work that well. Part of the problem is that clients often have a lower broadcast strength than access points.
2) set up a specifically designed mesh network. To do mesh networking in infrastructure mode, there are going to be four different types of nodes which can be used. 1) AP nodes 2) Client-Client nodes 3) AP-Client nodes 4) Client nodes
AP nodes:
An ordinary wireless access point can act as a hub node.
Client-Client nodes:
There have to be two radios for each client-client node. Both will act as clients to other networks. You'll either need one computer with two wireless cards or two computers which are connected together using some other means (or, if you happen to have an access point which can be switched to client mode (which very few can) then you could use that as a client). You can connect the two computers using an ethernet hub, ethernet cross-over cable, null modem cable, or possibly firewire (although I've never done that). The computers should each by set to bridging mode. Basically, each client will connect to a different access point and they'll then serve to connect the two access points to each-other, bridging the networks. Generally these should be on different frequencies. Although there may be some circumstances where the same frequency can be used.
AP-Client nodes:
There have to be two radios for each AP-client node. One will work as a client to another access point and one will act as an access point for other nodes. Generally, this will mean one computer and one access point connected together by ethernet, but there are a few other ways to do it. The computer should be set into some form of bridging mode which differs some based on operating system. The two radios will always use different frequencies unless there's a long cable-run between them (opposite sides of a building or some such).
Now, you need to figure out how to put this together. You need at least an initial group of people to help build the network. And then you'll lay out a basic topology. You'll plot out the nodes you have available on a graph and then try to connect them together. Client-Client nodes can connect to two nodes, either AP nodes or AP-Client nodes using infrastructure mode or to other Client-Client nodes in ad hoc mode. AP nodes can have multiple Client-Client or AP-Client nodes connected to them. AP nodes cannot connect to other AP nodes unless both AP nodes have wireless bridging modes (very rare) and you can get them to work (even rarer). AP-Client nodes can connect to one AP node (infrastructure) or one Client-Client node (ad hoc) and can have multiple AP-Client or Client-Client nodes connected to them The Client nodes can be used only as stepping stones in an ad hoc connection. I.e. if two client-client nodes want to connect, but are two far from each other, you can put a Client node in between in ad hoc mode and it'll help them connect. This can be done with a string of client nodes.
You'll want to draw all this out on a map, and possibly rearrange equipment as needed to fill in the gaps. You'll also need to decide frequencies so
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:3, Informative)
Especially regarding the "free market" issue.
Revolution was tried (Score:3, Informative)
The Iranian people will have to rise up and displace their government, by force if necessary.
Been there, done that. That's how we got the present situation. In 1979, Islamic militants overthrew the 2500 year old monarchy. Before, they had an oppressive right-wing monarchy. Now, they have an oppressive Islamic theocracy.
But we both know they're all noise to cover the same ol' non-stop war for power between two kinds of creep, who keep reappearing in Mexican history under different names: the "charismatic guerrilla" leader like Villa and Zapata, who always turn into sleazy dictators once they get power, and the plain old rich landlord elite, who start out as sleazy dictators and so don't have to pretend they're anything else from the get-go. If you live anywhere in the tropics, let's face it: those are your choices, always have been and always will be. Don't blame me, I just work here. - "Gary Bretcher", the "War Nerd".
Re:What's really going on. (Score:2, Informative)
Where are you getting your information? Ahmadinejad only received 64% of the vote.
Participation = voter turnout....
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:3, Informative)
"The folks running the government are Iranian. The president is Iranian. The secret police are Iranian. The thugs who will torture and kill democracy advocates are Iranian."
There is no "Iranian" Iran is a hegemony like the United States. From Wikipedia - The main ethnic groups are Persians (51%), Azeris (24%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Baluchi (2%), Lurs (2%), Turkmens (2%), Laks, Qashqai, Armenians, Persian Jews, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, Tats, Mandaeans, Gypsies, Brahuis, Hazara, Kazakhs and others (1%).
Languages - Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2% - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IR.html [cia.gov]
So its hard to compare what is or isn't happening in Iran to what happened in the Warsaw Pact states, they are not cultural melting pots. Its also not proper to call Iran a "failed state", Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and it looks like Mexico are going down the road to "failed state" while Somalia is one and Afghanistan was one until NATO showed up.
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:1, Informative)
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:4, Informative)
Stealing back their own natural resources, when the Anglo-Iranian company refused to split the profits with them. What did they expect would happen?
NO (Score:4, Informative)
election votes do not 'often surprise and disappoint' in places there is ethnic nationalism. ethnically nationalist populations vote, ETHNICALLY. thats what they have been doing in azerbaijani iran in the last 29 years. they AGAIN did the same. yet, somehow, ahmedinajad got 55%+ vote there too, JUST LIKE EVERYWHERE ELSE.
if you still cant realize what's going on, ask yourself how it is possible that a candidate can get consistently and UNIFORMLY 55% vote everywhere in a country. EVEN in hatemi backing tehran districts.
its also clear you have no idea of how middle east politics is. this is not america.
Re:Technical discussion? (Score:5, Informative)
1. Wikipedia article that describes the protocol [wikipedia.org].
2. B.A.T.M.A.N. [open-mesh.net] - implementation (incl. binaries for various routers)
3. Nightwing [lugro-mesh.org.ar] - another implementation of the same protocol.
4. ROBIN [blogin.it] - implements both OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N.
Looks like all of them are built on top of OpenWRT (or can be plugged into it) and run on a variety of commodity wireless routers (probably also on PC).
Who's really in charge (Score:5, Informative)
I'd like to point that Ali Khamenei [wikipedia.org] has been the supreme leader (dictator) of Iran for 20 years. During an EconTalk podcast [econtalk.org] on August 11 2008, expert Bruce Bueno de Mesquita comments that after interviewing over a dozen Iranian political specialists, his research concludes that Ahmandinejad is the 18th most powerful person in Iran.
The Iranian president is an important and powerful person in absolute terms. In relative terms it's a public relations office. So yes, election fraud was committed. Yes, their disinterest in concealing the fraud conveys the extent to which they believe it makes a difference.
However, everyone just take a deep breath, and understand that the electoral system and eligibility of candidates is up to the complete discretion of Ali Khamenei.
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hmm, tough choice (Score:2, Informative)
It's not that stupid. You make a joke, 5 people get it and mod it funny, one asshole doesn't and your karma is down by one.
Enough idiots get modpoints and don't appreciate your sense of humour and that'll change pretty darn quick.
Re:Ways to help (Score:2, Informative)
There is a Wikipedia article on wireless mesh networking [wikipedia.org]. A little research reveals there are a few OpenWRT [wikipedia.org]-based projects for zero-configuration wireless mesh networking using the OLSR protocol [wikipedia.org]: ROBIN [blogin.it] for one. Freifunk-Firmware [sourceforge.net] is the most professional looking one.
I am not sure what you would do with such a network if you had one. I suppose running an IRC server (trivial to setup, no login) might be a good idea. XMPP servers everywhere might make more sense... not sure if you expect internet access or just a local mesh.
Others have suggested HAM radio for communications. Even others have suggested that communications aren't that important.
Re:Networking won't solve this (Score:3, Informative)
What I would say is a more likely scenario is for them to set off a nuclear weapon on Israeli soil. Israel loses a city. The big question is, would the US step in to help, or would the US be more likely to say that this issue must be resolved by negotiation?
In such a hypothetical situation, I do not think that what US would say would matter in the slightest. If Israel loses a city to a nuke, and knows for sure that Iran is behind it, they are just going to launch what they have at Iran before they get another city nuked (keep in mind that Israel does have plenty of nukes).
Re:Vietnamese Agent Orange vs. Iranian Despot (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The Ugly Side of Truth (Score:3, Informative)
In the words of a US Embassy dispatch "The Shah's picture is everywhere. The beginning of all film showings in public theaters presents the Shah in various regal poses accompanied by the strains of the National anthem... The monarch also actively extends his influence to all phases of social affairs...there is hardly any activity or vocation which the Shah or members of his family or his closest friends do not have a direct or at least a symbolic involvement. In the past' he had claimed to take a two party-system seriously and declared "If I were a dictator rather than a constitutional monarch' then I might be tempted to sponsor a single dominant party such as Hitler organized".
However by 1975 he abolished the multi-party system of government so that he could rule through a one-party state under the Rastakhiz (Resurrection) Party in autocratic fashion. All Iranians were pressured to join in. The Shah's own words on its justification was; "We must straighten out Iranians' ranks. To do so' we divide them into two categories: those who believe in Monarchy' the constitution and the Six Bahman Revolution and those who don't.... A person who does not enter the new political party and does not believe in the three cardinal principles will have only two choices. He is either an individual who belongs to an illegal organization' or is related to the outlawed Tudeh Party' or in other words a traitor. Such an individual belongs to an Iranian prison' or if he desires he can leave the country tomorrow' without even paying exit fees; he can go anywhere he likes' because he is not Iranian' he has no nation' and his activities are illegal and punishable according to the law".[25] In addition' the Shah had decreed that all Iranian citizens and the few remaining political parties must become part of Rastakhiz.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi
Re:no (Score:3, Informative)
Northern Wisconsin is about as far from redneck and white as it gets.
There. I fixed that for you. The original poster probably meant the Deep South, not the Midwest. More like an all-white part of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi or South Carolina as opposed to Wisconsin. Idaho is almost all white, but no where near as racist as parts of the South.
Re:What's really going on. (Score:3, Informative)
Speaking as an Iranian, this is the best thing that could have happened to Iran in a long time. This actually got people into the streets. We're actually seeing T.V. footage from Iran, and there was one incident where four or five riot police officers were beating a protester with their batons. Suddenly, the police all dropped their batons and started running. To the left of your screen, you see about 100-200 ANGRY, PISSED OFF rioters rushing the police. This isn't civil disobedience - this is something that needed to happen for a long time.
In many countries, if you don't like something, you vote. Usually, you'll get a politician with similar goals and values such as yourself who will try to enact legislation to further them. In the case of a democratic country, rioting when something doesn't go your way is stupid. In Iran, the people are oppressed and have been treated like shit for decades. The people get a "choice" of candidates that are hand-picked by powerful, religious clerics who make sure to maintain the status quo. Peaceful protests led to brutal crackdowns where people would either disappear or would be killed on sight. Violent protests, such as the ones that we are witnessing in Iran right now, is the only choice left for a desperate population. You can only hit rock bottom before you go back up. They were at their peak when they had Mossadegh as Prime Minister, and things gradually became worse with the Shah and then the Islamic Revolution. After 30+ years of this regime, many in Iran would take the Shah back in a heartbeat. That's how bad things have been.
This current regime will not last. They ensured their own demise by cheating the system, and now they're going to be taken down. Had they simply allowed Musavi to win, these riots would never have occurred and the powerful clergy would have simply allowed Musavi the role of the President, but would have denied every attempt at reform as they did when Mohammad Khatami was President.
WiFi Mesh Cheap: meraka.org.za (Score:4, Informative)
Please, can you help us to set up some sort of network using our home wireless access points? Can anybody show us a link on how to install small TV/radio stations? Any suggestion for setting up a network? Please tell us what to do or we are going to die in the a nuclear war between Iran and US.
Here's a great guide from an African organization:
http://wirelessafrica.meraka.org.za/wiki/index.php/DIY_Mesh_Guide [meraka.org.za]
Good luck!
And, JM2C: I don't think either Barack or Mahmoud will fire the first nuke. Scary as it is, MAD is pretty stable. Think about how it would play out:
America strikes first:
1. Iran destroyed. (sorry to be so blunt, but it is a fact)
2. Global backlash against America.
3. America rapidly destabilizes economically (ie: much worse than now).
4. North Korea senses weakness and takes out Seoul (probably conventional, not nuclear).
And that's not considering anything else that would happen in the Middle East. For example, there's a good chance Israel would be destroyed. Barack understands that whole chain of events - it's not rocket science.
As for Mahmoud? Love him or hate him, think he's good, evil, or has his back against the wall -- regardless of any of that, he's fairly smart. You don't get to his position without having a fair bit of desire for power, and the mental capacity to figure out how to get it. If he strikes first, he loses everything he has built. He knows that.
So, build your mesh network, let's get to know each other through global social networks, and work together to stop the hatred and fear on both sides.
But don't sweat the nukes. It won't happen.
Re:Deeply Skeptical of Iranian Cries for Help (Score:3, Informative)
Nobody is calling for substantial outside help (that I've heard of), like asking us to invade Iran to help a revolution.
Actually, that seems to be more or less what Newt Gingrich is advocating. I don't think he's actually used the word "invade", but the codes he's using really do come to that. He keeps comparing Obama's attempt to engage with Iran with Churchill's attempts to appease Hitler. That's not very different from saying that just as Britain eventually had to fight Germany, the U.S. will eventually have to fight Iran, and the sooner the better.
Particularly disturbing is his claim that Iran is close to developing EMP weapons that could quickly destroy all advanced electronics in the U.S., reducing us to a stone-age economy. Aside from his total lack of evidence, it's hard to see how that's even possible outside a country with a lot more advanced technology than Iran has.
Re:Vietnamese Agent Orange vs. Iranian Despot (Score:4, Informative)
By what objective metric can you say that the American culture is clearly more violent than Japanese culture?
Violent crime statistics? [nationmaster.com]
Take a look at the Assault, Rape, and Murder statistics.
But, no, let's go with what passes for entertainment in those countries. Because that is much more representative of culture than, you know, how people actually act.
Re:Hmm, tough choice (Score:4, Informative)
I think there's something about it in the FAQ. Funny comments tend to be low-hanging fruit, so they've gotten rid of the karma you got from them in order to encourage more thoughtful posts. I don't know if it works or not, but I don't like the misuse of Insightful et. al. either.
Reality: This election is not valid (Score:2, Informative)
I'm an Iranian programmer. I voted for Mirhusein Moosavi (Ahmadinejad's main opponent, who was Iran's prime minister for 8 years until 1989), to prevent Ahmadinejad get elected once more and cause more trouble for my country and world. but they cheated in elections. I can say for sure that less than 4% of people I know have voted for Ahmadinejad. but they said he earned 64% for him and that's not true. all of elections candidates have doubts about the election, and asked the responsible organizations to cancel the election results. but they won't, because all of them are main supporters of Ahmadinejad.
Here in Iran people hate Ahmadinejad. we lost our SMS system since Thursday June 11 (and still down), our mobile networks were down on Friday and Saturday. total bandwidth usage of Iran's largest ISP has been reduced to 25% and this is not because people did not use it, it is because a shaping system that Iran telecommunications ministry is running on Iran's internet bandwidth. this has caused intense internet connection slowdown. they are filtering most news agency web sites, social networks, and are running DOS attacks on opponent web sites to make it even harder to access them. BBC Persian was filtered here for years, but now the BBC English website is filtered, Facebook, Youtube are filtered again (they had removed the filter some months ago).
Revolutionary Guards are in the streets, wearing SWAT-like guards and weapons, attacking and smashing ordinary people. people who want nothing but their votes' real results. this election is not valid. Ahmadinejad is not our president.
Re:Warsaw Pact Vs. Iranian Despot (Score:5, Informative)
When you kill all of the secularists, you're left with two types of people - the religious, and the religious zealots.
Re:Hmm, tough choice (Score:2, Informative)
Although often abused, it is possible to be both Funny and Insightful. It is all a matter of perspective, and the mod's choice of which to choose. This is what metamoderation is for, to weed out the mods who constantly mod improperly.
Re:Vietnamese Agent Orange vs. Iranian Despot (Score:3, Informative)