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Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

signal.org

341–350 of 417 posts

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#341
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, glad to help. The answer is that it depends on what your values are. If you want to reconnect people to twitter (a publishing platform) who have been banned for racist hate speech or inciting violence, and the laws in your jurisdiction permit you to do that. Then you can do that without going to jail. If you want to reconnect people to signal (a personal communications tool) who have been disconnected from it due…

It goes way way beyond inciting violence. For example, Facebook recently shut down the page of Socialist Workers Party in Britain. Facebook suspended well known libertarian Ron Paul. Timer blocked links to the New York Post Joe and Hunter Biden exposé and locked accounts that shared it.

Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, sadly, it would appear that those are the values of Facebook and Twitter. Insofar as an institution like a corporation can be said to possess "values" anyway...

But let's just assume we both dislike the editorial policies of Twitter. A pretty safe assumption, I think :)

Will spamming Twitter via a network of TLS proxies do anything to change their editorial policy to something more preferable to you or I?

Will setting up a network of TLS proxies to Signal give Iranians access to Signal?

Perhaps the answer to those two questions will give some indication as to what the practical (and moral) differences are.

For my two pence. I think anyone should be allowed to use a phone for any purpose, and I accept that a tap-proof phone can be used to commit crimes. I don't think Osama Bin Laden should be able to take out a page in the new york times to give his hot take on his "hugely successful" WTC attacks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that these examples map directly to the point in hand, but I am just pointing out that they are different media and the balance between freedom of speech and public decency are struck differently and that tactics for finding political solutions to censorship in each case might look different, too.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#342
one question to people here. would you have acted in the same way you are doing now if US govt had banned parler and they wanted people to contribute to keep the service up? for all i know everyone colluded against them and killed them. now, if anyone wanted to help them stay afloat, why did you go after their hosting provider, CDN and payment processors? if helping signal is meaning defying iran, then helping parler would mean defying the US.

think about it

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#343

one question to people here. would you have acted in the same way you are doing now if US govt had banned parler and they wanted people to contribute to keep the service up? for all i know everyone colluded against them and killed them. now, if anyone wanted to help them stay afloat, why did you go after their hosting provider, CDN and payment processors? if helping signal is meaning defying iran, then helping parler…

Not exactly the same. Signal is banned by Iranian government, parler was banned by US companies.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#344
This is only popular and presented as altruistic because toppling the Iranian regime aligns with the foreign policy of Western states.

Now that's fine if you support the expansion of global liberal democracy (which happens to be neither liberal or democratic) but just don't be deluded into believing this is some good guy vs bad guy scenario. As we speak, U.S media is advocating for the removal of Signal because Americans may also have access to encrypted private speech!

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#345

This is only popular and presented as altruistic because toppling the Iranian regime aligns with the foreign policy of Western states. Now that's fine if you support the expansion of global liberal democracy (which happens to be neither liberal or democratic) but just don't be deluded into believing this is some good guy vs bad guy scenario. As we speak, U.S media is advocating for the removal of Signal because Ameri…

The good news is that regardless of framing, this doesn't discriminate US users either.

You can see it as a Trojan horse if you will

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#346

one question to people here. would you have acted in the same way you are doing now if US govt had banned parler and they wanted people to contribute to keep the service up? for all i know everyone colluded against them and killed them. now, if anyone wanted to help them stay afloat, why did you go after their hosting provider, CDN and payment processors? if helping signal is meaning defying iran, then helping parler…

Not exactly the same. Signal is banned by Iranian government, parler was banned by US companies.

Accurate but a disingenuous concept (not you) because U.S companies are approaching nation state power, i.e Google, Amazon etc.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#347
post #20
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tor is is blocked in Iran.

if they block can block tor what makes you think they can't block these proxies? furthermore if you use tor you can use the existing network of bridges/relays as well as their pluggable transports protocol to avoid DPI/traffic analysis.

Tor is very easy to block, and relies on very similar proxies to circumvent that.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#348

This is only popular and presented as altruistic because toppling the Iranian regime aligns with the foreign policy of Western states. Now that's fine if you support the expansion of global liberal democracy (which happens to be neither liberal or democratic) but just don't be deluded into believing this is some good guy vs bad guy scenario. As we speak, U.S media is advocating for the removal of Signal because Ameri…

I am not in the US and this is popular to me because I'm happy to be able to help people out who are suppressed by their government.

Not everything is a US conspiracy in geopolitics...

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I would like to see your supportive reaction if an Iranian company offers hosting to Parler. " This is a hacker forum and not a US foreign ministry praise board, even though it is mainly US based. In other words, I doubt the reaction here would be rage, if a iranian company would do that. Hackers usually are not in favor of censorship or information restriction. So who do you mean, with "you"?

> Hackers usually are not in favor of censorship or information restriction. So who do you mean, with "you"? There are many comments on previous HN threads defending censorship and information restriction, precisely as the GP has described it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25693742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25691631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25706993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2…

What you call “defending censorship” is perhaps better described as “defending free speech”. Forced speech is not free speech.

Re: Help users in Iran reconnect to Signal

#350

It's an irony how American companies try circumvents another country's law (regardless of whether you call it censorship or not, it is still a law) and boast about it. Yet, in the US these companies help the mainstream narrative to enforce censorship by banning (Google and Apple App market) or simply not offering other point of views basic hosting services (AWS). I am an Iranian and don't agree with all of our govern…

> Yet, in the US these companies help the mainstream narrative to enforce censorship by banning

Why THESE companies? Where did Signal do this? Or are all US companies the same entity to you?

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