Ahmadinejad vs. Anonymous
By Peter | June 18th, 2009Well, now he’s really in trouble.
By now you’ve all heard about how the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing huge protests, fueled in part by online communication via Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. Top opposition leader Mir Houssein Moussavi and his followers have been taking to the streets and the internet, in huge numbers, in an effort to get some rather dodgy election results reversed, or at least reviewed by impartial observers. As if that weren’t a big enough headache for Ahmadinejad, he’s now facing the wrath of Anonymous.
Anonymous, or Anon for short, is a collection of nameless, faceless fighters-for-truth/s***-disturbers (depending on who you ask) who congregate at places like 4chan and Something Awful. And now they’re reportedly turning their attention to helping the democracy protesters in Iran communicate with each other, and the outside world. Anon has put their energies behind a rather diverse array of issues in the past, from protesting Scientology, to organizing “YouTube Porn Day”, to finding the identity of a guy who posted a video of himself torturing his cat.
Their efforts during the Iran protests have been both focussed and useful. Once the Iranian government realized what was going on with Twitter and Facebook, they began denying access to social networks from within Iran. But in steps Anon, to tweet open Iranian proxy servers and open up a forum full of advice on how to surf securely and avoid censorship. Only time will tell if any of this will end up making a difference on the ground in Iran, but it’s heartening to see people around the world putting in the time and energy to help spread the word.
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Tags: Anon, Anonymous, Facebook, Iran, social networking, Twitter
