The controversial elections in Iran sparked a new kind of political movement that showcased the growing importance of social media as a global communication tool. Protesters, contesting the outcome the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were forced to use social media tools to bypass the countries strict media censorship and get their message out to […]
The controversial elections in Iran sparked a new kind of political movement that showcased the growing importance of social media as a global communication tool. Protesters, contesting the outcome the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were forced to use social media tools to bypass the countries strict media censorship and get their message out to the world. Foreign news coverage of the unfolding drama, meanwhile, was limited by Iranian government restrictions barring journalists from “unauthorised” demonstrations.
Twitter, available in Iran via proxies despite being blocked, became such a valuable tool for information that the US State Department asked it to delay scheduled maintenance to avoid disrupting communications among tech-savvy Iranian citizens as they took to the streets to protest, The Washington Post writes. The Iranian government used DPI technology to pinpoint the location of online protesters and arrest them. This in turn lead to many users outside Iran changing their account’s location listing to Tehran, in a move to confuse government censors who might be trying to shut down communications.
From Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com, 16/06/09
