The first point I want to make is I will be using the word “revolution” a lot to coincide with the Pro-Moussavi protesters and what they are trying to accomplish. I know it is yet to be seen if this is indeed a true “revolution” in the dictionary sense of “a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, esp. one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence.” That is the sociology definition and I would love to make a case that things in Iran will never be the same, but that’s not what we are discussing here. Maybe another day…
What I want to talk about is “Net Warfare.” I think the most intriguing fact of what is happening in Iran right now is how technology is completely shaping this entire affair. I am going to bullet my points to make this easier.
- Almost immediately after the results were released, that Ahmadinejad had won by a landslide, young adults, who make up around 70% of Iran’s population, hit the streets in protest.
- The “Green Revolutionists”, in relation to the color of the reformist movement, needed a way to create a unified front so they Twitted, Facebooked and blogged meeting times and locations for protests and gatherings.
- The government, in seeing what was happening, attempted to shut down the internet inside Iran, but they forgot (most likely because they can’t shut down service) about cell phones…
- Stories and pictures started pouring out of Iran about the revolution and the way the police and baseej militia, a group of plain clothed civilians with sticks backed by the pro-government Revolutionary Guard, were handling it.
- Pictures of hundreds of thousands of Iranians marching at Freedom Square in Tehran, young adults being beating by sticks of the baseej militia, blood stained hands of men carrying the wounded after shots rang out from militia strongholds.
- Side note: I think the fact that Iran actually has a militia, backed by the Revolutionary Guard, which is the main policing force in Iran, is absurd. If I was a dictator I would not have a militia, I would stick to the Guard.
- The government banned all foreign and homegrown journalists from writing or capturing any of the protests on film. They shut down several of the foreign media offices in Tehran and even started arresting journalists and cameramen.
- State run news casting would show short clips of the “marches” and downplay their importance or relevance.
- But they couldn’t stop Twitter. Yes, Twitter. Scores and scores of Iranians would use their cell phones to post their stories, their pictures and their revolutionary ideals on the website that was made famous by Aston Kutcher’s ring and ditch deal with CNN.
- Soon you hear about so called pro-government agents searching though Twitter, posting false propaganda, trying to battle the hundreds of thousand Iranians who are using the internet as a tool of their revolution.
- The revolutionaries start posting to not name names or post faces due to stories circulating of mass arrests and disappearing students in the middle of the night. Sounds like “Remember the 5th of November” doesn’t it.
- In a flanking move, the revolutionaries launch attacks on pro-government sites using DDOS, or distributed denial of service; tactics bringing down several state run news websites.
- Side note: In a devil’s advocate role, what the revolutionaries seem to be doing is blocking the state’s freedom of speech, a goal of they seem to be fighting for.
- Side side note: You could argue the state is using fake propaganda and all is fair in love, war and revolutions.
Where will this all lead? Only time will tell. This is where we stand as I write this. And this is only a small fraction of examples of “Net Warfare” being used within the conflict of Iran.
I do not want to overshadow the battles that seem to be ranging on the streets of Tehran and other cities around Iran. However, how interesting is it to watch the world’s first true use of citizen run “Net Warfare.”
If Ahmadinejad’s government can’t stop the revolutionaries’ use of technology I would argue that he and the Ayatollah Khamenei will have a hard time putting this revolt down without “having a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure.” And yes, I did just tie that back to revolution.
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** I had written this article two days ago when news first starting breaking of this new citizen based warfare and had planned on updating and posting sooner. But every news outlet in the world beat me to it. Here are some better written and more informative articles that deal with issues on this topic.**
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1905125,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8104318.stm
http://www.circleid.com/posts/20060516_iranian_opposition_ddos_pro_ahmadinejad_sites/
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