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As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

reuters.com

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Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#141

Post by Balgair »

pjc50 wrote: post #89
javajosh wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran seems to think Whatsapp & Instagram are destabilizing such that turning them off can help quell domestic unrest. A couple of takeaways. First, holy shit. Communications software is powerful enough to put fear in the hearts of political rulers! Second, insofar as sanctions are designed as punitive measures against a government who's actions our government doesn't support, it makes no sense to restrict their acces…

> Communications software is powerful enough to put fear in the hearts of political rulers! Well, yes, is this a surprise? Did you miss the "Arab Spring?" Or the Rohingya massacres? It's a double-edged sword. It can give you a revolution whether you need it or not or whether it's justified or not.

The Arab Spring was about a decade ago. The poster could have been 8 years old at the time. HN's age range is pretty large.

https://xkcd.com/1053/

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#143

Post by danrocks »

amir734jj wrote: post #98

This protest is very different from previous protests. Look it up. Women in Iran are just tired of being oppressed and their movement is an embodiment of feminism. I'm an Iranian and unfortunately this protest hasn't received world wide attention in the news. This is a first time women taking the lead in protesting against this tyrannical regime.

Welcome news, for sure. It seems that Iranians are fierce people who are not afraid of protesting their government. Why do protests usually stall, though? Is it the virulence of the repression machine?

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#144

Post by criley2 »

surfpel wrote: post #135
criley2 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an absurd, condescending and pointless reply. Example: >> I would rather the American people elect a government that will protect their rights through laws. >I would also like a world where problems don't exist, but that doesn't change the real world. It's a naive take. The world is complicated. What in the hell kind of reply is this? How dare you. (On the day that the EU fined Google 4 billion Euros, largest in…

I want to fully reply to this but there is too much to dismantle and it would be unenlightening to do so. All I will say is that in being offended by a rather benign comment, you have yourself committed what you accuse me of.

I have no interest in any further communication with a child, please find another thread to troll.

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#146

Post by planede »

Abekkus wrote: post #128
rodolphoarruda wrote: post #122

Oppressive governments must be thankful to all BigTechs able to consolidate userbase and services around a handful of apps. It makes it really easy to switch things on/off when needed. The original purpose of the Internet as being a resilient p2p network for the people has been completely defeated in some nations.

Building a resilient p2p service on the internet doesn't just require not using big name SaaS, it means building that service to not need the WebCAs or even DNS, two core services that are anything but p2p. I honestly don't know of any applications that require neither.

Jami and Tox should mostly qualify, I believe. The hard part is bootstrapping the discovery network, I don't know if there is a true p2p way for that.

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#147

Post by thaumasiotes »

joshxyz wrote: post #4
michaelwww wrote: post #3

I'd be surprised if by now Iranians hadn't figured out alternate means of communication.

What are the odds someone makes iranstagram.com lol Edit: i've just read the article. disheartening series of events. my country philippines has flaws but damn i can still say i'm lucky in a lot of ways.

.com is probably not the right TLD for the iranstagram product.

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#148

Post by joshuaissac »

n-i-m-a wrote: post #44

I'm an Iranian living in Italy and have an Italian phone/WhatsApp number. Couldn't call anyone or receive WhatsApp calls to/from Iranian and non-Iranian numbers yesterday afternoon when the internet blocking started in Iran. It was like all numbers somehow in touch with Iranian contacts were blocked from completing calls. As soon as either side of the call would answer, the call would end with a message like you are…

I noticed this issue last night while trying to call WhatsApp numbers in India from the UK (no Iranian numbers involved). I got the same error message: "Couldn't place call because your device is connected to a Wi-Fi network that prevents WhatsApp calls. Connect to a different network or turn Wi-Fi off." I wonder if that was collateral damage from the Iranian block.

Re: As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

#149

Post by the_svd_doctor »

yorwba wrote: post #91
edsimpson wrote: post #53

Just a reminder that Signal supports both censorship circumvention and independently hosted proxies (e.g. Search Twitter, etc. for proxy links using the #IRanASignalProxy hashtag.) https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360056052052-Pr...

Does Signal support signup without a phone number yet? Otherwise Iranian telcos could easily eat Signal's SMSs to block signups.

Signing up is a one time thing though.
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