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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

#231

Post by notsureaboutpg »

danrocks wrote: post #143
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?

No post body was provided.

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

#232

Post by Melatonic »

aljgz wrote: post #175
7373737373 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet really shouldn't be something that can be shut down

Unfortunately, when dealing with an authoritarian government, there is not much that can be done. In Iran, the government invests heavily on censorship infrastructure. The country's entire internet traffic passes through an organization controlled by the government. The telecom companies were sold to the military (we have two military branches, one is made to support the government, to to defend the country) and they…

I wonder if something as simple as a Garmin inReach would still work?

Super low bandwith (literally just text messages) but it goes direct to iridium satellites. Plans arent super cheap but I imagine you could afford one for example if you really needed it.

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

#233

Post by Melatonic »

michaelwww wrote: post #5
joshxyz wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was thinking more like sneaker net - passing thumb drives of photos and videos around

Or point to point connections using simple "WokFi" setups.

Maybe you live in Iran and just happen to REALLY like cooking Chinese food? And so do ALL your friends :-D

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

#234

Post by Melatonic »

WHATDOESIT wrote: post #185
5pComb wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already tried: https://www.globaltradealert.org/intervention/80877/import-b... From the same site: Iran smartphone imports (sept 2021 - sept 2022) 1 Samsung 48% 2 Xiaomi 28% 3 Nokia 12% 4 Apple 6%

Good thing other manufacturers are going to copy the feature soon.

Tmobile is actually the one that will be partnering with Starlink. Apple is partnering with GlobalStar which actually really sucks (currently) and will have pretty much the worst satellite network for at least a few years. If they really got their shit together and started launching satellites ASAP they could probably improve a lot in a year or two.

Also GlobalStar only covers the continental US and a little farther......

Depending on how strict they are you might be able to smuggle in a Garmin inReach and connect to Iridium now (or an actual Iridium or Inmarsat satellite phone or modem)

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

#235

Post by rodolphoarruda »

pyinstallwoes wrote: post #221
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.

Not really that distributed given that everything is controlled by 'hubs/isps' which are within arms reach for any government within their borders. The internet was built for fail-over to maintain communicatoin during a nuclear event. The internet is less concerned about being a p2p network, which it clearly is not. A totally ad-hoc p2p network would be interesting, and more resiliant in some ways and lossy in others…

To me, the idea of shutting down Internet via ISPs or international backbones is similar to blowing up your own house with TNT when a robber breaks into it. You stop the robbery, but your family pays the price as well.

Shutting down the Internet will disrupt not only people's communications but also systems' communications at various levels, including the systems of interest of the oppressive, of his/her family or political allies.

It would be so much easier and safer to the group in power to just "maneuver" bigtech instead. I remember when Facebook's general manager in the country I live was arrested[1], then blackmailed, to provide authorities means for them to access WhatsApp messages without confiscating the actual phones. Fast forward today, they are confiscating phones whenever they feel like reading private messages from anyone[2].

I liked how other folks reacted to my original comment posting their technical view. I didn't know DNS was such a weak link and a clear point of failure to the Internet. I wonder if protocols like BitTorrent could survive DNS restrictions, allowing people to communicate via shared text files thrown within a folder. My guess is that since it has survived the copyright crisis back then, it could be used for other crisis as well. Frankly, I'm just suspecting.

[1] https://jornaldebrasilia.com.br/noticias/brasil/executivo-do... [2] https://jc.ne10.uol.com.br/colunas/jamildo/2022/08/15065135-...

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

#236

Post by stereoradonc »

NayamAmarshe wrote: post #137

Fortunately Telegram is still up. People are using MTProxy to use Telegram even on blocked internet and it's made it possible for people to organize protests and spread information quickly.

Three cheers for Telegram!

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

#237

Post by ybinator604g3 »

danrocks wrote: post #145
aljgz wrote: post #124

Iranian software engineer here, AMA

Why do protests in Iran always seem to lose steam before any change is made? Rust or Zig?

Another Iranian SWE here.

IMO they don't in the big picture. I agree with the points made in the adjacent comment (reality), but if you look at the frequency in which these protests happen, it's increasing and with each occurrence they are gaining wider support. Not only that, but in the recent protests, even smaller cities with more conservative population are now joining the fight. They wanted reform initially, now they have become more radical in nature. It's only a matter of time.

Or, I don't know, maybe it's because of the numerous memory safety issues we encounter. Perhaps we should use a borrow checker in our revolution compiler ;)

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

#239

Post by throwaway2202 »

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.

No post body was provided.

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

#240

Post by Amir6 »

nashashmi wrote: post #111

Quoted post unavailable.

This is AbsoF'ingLutely wrong and directly repeats the propaganda that the government of Iran is trying to spread. I dare the use to provide any proof of the surgery (any credible news outlet that have verified this). The video released by the government lacks the very basic authentication data like time, date, and location and it has also been cut and altered in multiple sections. I'm deeply saddened that the regime's propaganda machine has even infiltrated this very forum trying to spread false claims.
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