After several days of unrest in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and the death of at least one protestor the demonstrators have began to spread their message online. Despite the Iranian government's attempt to prevent comunication by disabling ISPs in the city, foreigners have set up proxy servers allowing Iranians access to the net.
One online poster declared ""There is a Cyberwar going on" and encouraged others to overload government websites. Others used internet sites such as Twitter to get news out about the ongoing situation. Others used video and photo sharing sites, such as youtube and flickr, to inform the world of events in Tehran.
Despite, Government filters trying to block sites many are Iranians are able to access banned sites by through the use of proxy servers. Codes and ports for access to these have been plastered across the internet by those who want to help Iranians get information out of the country. Comedian and broadcster, Stephen Fry has tweeted "Our Iranian friends can access Twitter from 148.233.239.24 Port:80 in Tehran. Can avoid govt filters from here." Another tweeter said "I hope that a web service that allows you to tell people that you've just made a cup of tea can also bring down a government."
In a related story popular internet site tweeter and its provider, NTT America, have rescheduled planned maintenance in light of the role the sight is playing in the unfolding situation. "[We] recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran)." The decision came after huge pressure from tweeters posting on the #nomaintenance, which quickly became the most popular, and #iranelection pages.
However, safety concerns of some users have been raised as the Iranian authorities will be able to trace their internet access. Some, whose regular postings have suddenly stopped, are thought to have been arrested but their have been no confirmed reports of this. Users of sites such as twitter are advising others to leave their sources as anonymous when 're-twitting' their posts.
Across the world people have turned out online and also on the streets in support of the Iranian people. Students in Washington DC are planning a protest on Tuesday and on Monday demonstrators met outside the Iranian embassy in London. Online people are encouraging others to wear green clothes, the colour of the Mousavi campaign, and are helping to establish proxy servers to give internet access to Iranians.
Makhmalbaf, Head of Mousavi Campaign, has urged international governments not to recognise Friday's elections results. Unconfirmed the reports say that more demonstrations are planned tomorrow after a night of violence in Tehran. Sources in Iran have reported that the Tehran University dorms have been vandalised and their are unconfirmed reports of injuries and even deaths.
((Boozhooz News would like to thank those users of twitter and others online for reporting from Iran, their courage in relaying the news to the international community has been vital in reporting this story.)
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