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Last updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Google and Facebook have rushed out services in Farsi. Twitter users have changed their home cities to Tehran to provide cover for Internet users there. Others have configured their computers to serve as relay points to bypass Iranian censorship. In the aftermath of the disputed Iranian election, Internet companies and individuals around the world have stepped in to help Iranians communicate and organize. Twitter delayed a scheduled maintenance shutdown so that people could continue to access the microblogging site while scores of Americans set up remote proxy servers so Iranians could access blocked Web sites from inside their country. All week, Internet users in the U.S. and around the world fixed their eyes on the events unfolding in Iran, the way viewers might have been glued to their television sets 30 years ago. But unlike 30, or even five years ago, this time they could participate. “Even if we can’t help directly, this is a way of helping indirectly,” said Ian Souter, 24, an unemployed computer animator in Lafayette, Ind. He and other U.S. Web users set up ways for Iranians to access the Internet using Tor, a service that allows people use the Internet anonymously. Even the file-sharing site Pirate Bay, best known for its run-ins with the law over copyright infringement, has jumped in with the launch of a network that helps Iranians surf anonymously. Still, it was difficult to tell just how much of this information was accessible to people inside Iran. The government has restricted communications channels, and cell phone service has been spotty. Many sites were blocked and service has been much slower than normal. Even the use of proxies has grown more difficult as the government finds them, and the country’s Revolutionary Guard has sternly warned people against posting objectionable content on Web sites. Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Chelmsford, Mass.-based Arbor…

Original post:
Web Support Pours Out for Iran Protesters

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