back to article Iranians resist internet censorship amid deadly street protests

Iranian authorities have blocked Instagram and other social media platforms in response to a wave of street protests across the country this week. The clampdown has resulted in Tor users climbing from around 6k at the beginning of December to over 10,000 at the last count as citizens seek to circumvent the controls, according …

  1. Bad Beaver

    Tor metrics

    I played with that graph for a few minutes.

    Try Iran, Irak, Syria, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Korea, North Korea, France, Germany, UK, USA… interesting numbers considering population size and general political climate.

    My price for the prettiest graph goes to Vatican City.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tor metrics

      "[...] the prettiest graph goes to Vatican City."

      In the drop down menu that appears to be the only location not in alphabetical order - between "Heard Island" and "Honduras"

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Tor metrics

        Holy See?

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
          Happy

          Re: Tor metrics

          Surely you meant, "Holy See Batman!"

  2. Dave 13

    Censorchip = malfunction

    Regimes worldwide struggle to keep up with technology.

    "The Internet treats censorship as a malfunction and routes around it."

    --John Perry Barlow

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So if people in the west did the same protests would our governments be supporting them like they are with these?

    I'm no Iranian supporter but lets be honest with ourselves.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      it's a rather different situation. There is no equivalence.

      Not that European governments have supported any violence (or even the protests). They've called for Iran to allow dialogue and not to use violence against the protestors. And otherwise kept a watching brief.

      Remember the last time there were major street protests in Iran, the regime used massive levels of violence against the protesters. Including sending out masked Revolutionary Guards paramilitaries on motorbikes with big sticks and guns - and imprisoning and/or torturing thousands - and "disappearing" quite a few of them too.

    2. Mark 85

      How would our governments react? Good question as those in power want to stay in power. If history is any clue (yes, England and the US have had their massacres of protestors/union activists, etc.) they would do the same thing.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Huh?

        So we'll pretend that we didn't have massive demonstrations in 2016 and 2017 without massacring the protestors?

        1. Mark 85

          Re: Huh?

          Go back further... things have become more civilized as apposed to the early 1900's.

          1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

            Re: Huh?

            Mark 85,

            OK. So we'll go back in history to humour you. Peterloo was in 1819. So that's just shy of 200 years ago. Before meaningful democracy in the UK, as the electorate was massively restricted before the reforms of 1832 (the franchise really started growing after 1867).

            Even then, it wasn't a deliberately ordered massacre, so far as we can tell. More the case of not having a civil police force to deal with mass demonstrations, and is probably one of the reasons they created one in the next decade. The death toll was about 15. Note that it was singular, there weren't other massacres, though there was a rather panicked crackdown on dissent. But ten years later the Chartists were allowed to use mass demonstrations and petitions for over a decade - one of the things that led to the 1832 reform act, and that carried on into the 1840s - when the movement petered out.

            So even 200 years ago, when the UK wasn't a meaningul democracy, the state didn't use the level of violence that Iran used on the Green movement - who were protesting the rigging of the 2009 vote. That violence resulted in the death of hundreds, systematic torture (including rape) in certain prisions, and far more mass arrests than the British government felt the need to use in the crackdown after the Napolenonic War ended.

            So, as I said above. There's no equivalence. Not only with the reactions of our governments now, but even from 200 years ago.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Opera VPN

    Just curious, but would Opera browser's built in VPN bypass this type of censorship?

    Was just looking at it a few days ago, as VPN is built in and free (no data limits). You just turn it on, and pick a World location to 'pop-out' of.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Opera VPN

      Just curious, but would Opera browser's built in VPN bypass this type of censorship?

      Opera is now owned by a Chinese company...so what do you reckon?

  5. beast666

    Islam is on the run

    The mullahs and ayatollahs will start to flee soon.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Islam is on the run

      .... Only to set up shop in Coventry!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Islam is on the run

      Well, the ayatollahs drew a heavy sigh seeing no one else had come,

      And a bell was ringing in the village square for the mullahs on the run.

      Islam on the run, Islam on the run.

      And the jailer man and sailor sam, were searching every one

      - Apols

  6. Mahhn

    This weekend

    This weekend Iran will purge itself of all people between 13 and 30. Peace will be restored, there will be plenty of jobs and food. It will not be talked about.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My wife has been Iran for some weeks travelling from the far north to south and has seen no protests or trouble at all. Some extra police around banks today In Tehran. That's it. No locals she has spoken to are particularly concerned. The MSM is making it look a lot worse than it is. Neither of us are Iranian btw just to save those rushing to assumptions. We're just regular worldwide travellers.

    VPN's allow us to communicate through normal social media and other channels. Spoke on the phone today and she's having a great time with typically very welcoming locals and other back packers.

    Protests are mainly in the poorer rural towns not the bigger cities where the more middle class live, apart from some groups of students.

    All that said I'd avoid messing with any of the authorities there, like many places in the world.

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