#GirlsOfRevolutionSt/ #WhiteWednesdays

Guardian, Tehran hijab protest: Iranian police arrest 29 women, 2 Feb 2018 "One recent image taken from Mashhad shows a religious woman, in full chador, standing on a telecoms box holding up a headscarf, in solidarity with women who - unlike her - don’t want to wear it."

Screenshot below from Twitter: #GirlsOfRevolutionSt  Also see دختران_خیابان_انقلاب# and the hashtag #WhiteWednesdays

Also see CNN, Iranian women take off headscarves to protest veil law, 31 Jan 2018

#What_we_gave_vs_what_we_got

BBC Trending, Iranians compare Shah's regime with clerics'  "The hashtag has been used more than 25,000 times since Tuesday. Of those few tweets with their location tagged or verified, most were coming from in or near Iran, with a fair share from countries such as the US, the UK and Germany, which have large Iranian communities."

Newsweek, Iran on Twitter: Persian Users Made This Hashtag go Viral, 27 Jan 2018 "Following the recent anti-establishment protests across the nation, Iranians have taken to Twitter to compare the country before the 1979 revolution with Iran today, making the hashtag #What_we_gave_vs_what_we_got go viral."

#What_we_gave_vs_what_we_got:

#چی_دادیم_چی_گرفتیم

[screenshot @Armin Navabi‏]

Iranian regime's 'halal' internet stifling protest

Alexander J Martin, Sky News, Iranian regime's 'halal' internet stifling protest, 11 Jan 2018 "When Iranians protested in the streets to express their frustrations with the country's clerical regime, the first casualty of the demonstrations was their ability to freely receive and transmit information."

Iran Net Update

IRNA, Iran to launch its first ever national data network on Sunday: Minister "Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi said Iran is going to launch the first phase of its National Data Network on Sunday."



BBC News, Iran rolls out domestic internet, 29 Aug 2016 "The government says the goal is to create an isolated domestic intranet that can be used to promote Islamic content and raise digital awareness among the public."



 The Next Web, Iran’s one step closer to launching its own internal Internet  "It’s expected that this network will over 60 times faster than the current Internet infrastructure. This is a result of the massive deployment of fiber-optic cables, as well as locally-based data centers."

Googoosh "Behesht"

Googoosh "Behesht" - YouTube: "



Not my usual musical style, but I posted this as it is a prominent subject in areas of social media. Also see the related article alarabiya.net, Iranian pop star releases music video defending LGBT rights

North Korean-Educated Ex-Commander Picked For Iranian Ministerial Post

RFE/RL, North Korean-Educated Ex-Commander Picked For Iranian Ministerial Post, 26 Feb 2013 "Iran's lame-duck president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, has tapped a doctoral graduate of North Korea's most elite university and the purported architect of a "national intranet" to head the Communications and Information Technology Ministry."

Iran readies domestic Internet system, blocks Google

Reuters,Iran readies domestic Internet system, blocks Google, 23 Sep 2012 "Iran plans to switch its citizens onto a domestic Internet network in what officials say is a bid to improve cyber security but which many Iranians fear is the latest way to control their access to the web."

Iran's ministries to go offline

Iran's ministries to go offline: phase one of move to intranet society (Wired UK)

Malicious Simurgh copy

citizenlab.org, Iranian anti-censorship software ‘Simurgh’ circulated with malicious backdoor "It has recently come to our attention that this software is being recommended and circulated among Syrian Internet users for bypassing censorship in their country. This information led to the discovery and analysis of a back-doored version of this software.

"The malicious copy will install the Simurgh software, but will also install an undesirable backdoor on the victim’s computer. This software is distributed as “Simurgh-setup.zip” and is identifiable via the following md5 and sha256 hashes:"

Read the advice on this page. Download the software from simurghesabz.net, which is the official site.

'Iranian Cyber-Struggles'

jadaliyya.com, Iranian Cyber-Struggles "From the Green Movement in Iran in 2009 through the Arab revolts that began in 2011, social media have held center stage in coverage of popular protest in the Middle East."

'Iranians Have Democratic Values' - Israeli research team

Yuval Porat, WSJ, Iranians Have Democratic Values, 14 May 2012 "In the high-stakes international discussions surrounding Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, Iran's 80 million people are often forgotten. So I, along with a small team of Israelis, decided to explore the driving forces of Iranian society. There have been signs, on the streets and over the Internet, of a battle raging between the country's Islamic fundamentalists and the proponents of freedom. The question we set out to explore is where the majority of the people stand." This reports on a survey conducted by telephone by an Israel-based research team. Details and findings: http://www.iranresearch.org/English.

'Iran cyber police cite U.S. threat'

Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post, Iran cyber police cite U.S. threat, 29 Oct 2011 "An Iranian police unit that was formed this year to counter alleged Internet crimes is playing a key role in an escalating online conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic."

'The bottom line for the online generation: Internet and cyberspace in Iran'

Maryam Ala Amjadi, Tehran Times, The bottom line for the online generation: Internet and cyberspace in Iran, 23 Oct 2011 "The internet has not only impacted the overall dimensions of Iranian youth and their lifestyle but has also contributed to the definition and the making of youth culture. It has been so deeply integrated into the everyday life of the young generation that it seems impossible to imagine them and their days sans internet. Perhaps this is one of the reasons as to why a good number of social experts in Iran of today believe in the potential power of internet in promoting cultural values and issues and expanding them to the families via their young members. "

'Iran Warns of Facebook's Soft Power'

Hossein Aryan, RFE/RL, Iran Warns of Facebook's Soft Power, 6 Oct 2011 "An Iranian official warned this week that the expansion of social-media networks is harming society and called the country's 17 million Facebook users a threat to the country's Islamic values.

"Mehdi Jafari, who heads the technology and intelligence section of the Pupil's Basij militia -- which runs programs for 12-17 years olds -- told a gathering of teachers in the northern town of Amol on October 3 that the effects of the blogosphere on Iranian society can no longer be ignored."

'Tehran rocks, but only under ground'

Reuters, Tehran rocks, but only under ground, 14 Sep 2011 Angband profiled along with other bands:

"Clad head-to-toe in black -- the international uniform of heavy metal -- Mahyar Dean looks the archetype hard rock guitar hero. "But along with the mandatory Marshall amplifier and out-sized drum kit, his group, Angband, also boasts a couple of goatskin percussion instruments that have been a familiar part of Persian music for centuries."

I'm now listening to Angband on last.fm, with my speakers turned up to 11 (this may alarm my colleagues).

‘Cyber warfare against Iran will inflict heavy defeat on West’

Tehran Times, ‘Cyber warfare against Iran will inflict heavy defeat on West’, 15 June 2011 "Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast has said that the United States will suffer a heavy defeat if it wages a cyber warfare against Iran. "

Hossein Derakhshan

Los Angeles Times, IRAN: Persian 'blogfather' Hossein Derakhshan faces death sentence | Babylon & Beyond, 23 Sep 2010 "Hossein Derakhshan was revered as the "blogfather" of Iran even after he alienated much of the online community by renouncing his reformist ideals to become one of the government's staunchest defenders."

More on the situation of Hossein Derakhshan.

Iran International Digital Media Fair

PressTV - Iran to hold Intl. Digital Media Fair, 25 Sep 2010 "Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is planning to hold the country's 4th International Digital Media Fair in the capital city of Tehran.

"The annual event will be held from October 9 to 16, hosting Iranian and international companies at the site of Tehran's Grand Prayer Grounds."

barackobama.ir

Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Guardian, Iranian journalists' website puts Ahmadinejad spin on Barack Obama: Website barackobama.ir promises 'an Iranian viewpoint on Barack Obama's opinions', 2 Sep 2010 "The news of its creation first appeared this week in a series of government-sponsored websites and news agencies, which endorsed it as an independent source of information about the life of Obama, his administration and issues such as 9/11, Israel and Iran's nuclear programme.

"The website has attracted nearly 100,000 visitors in its first week. It introduces itself as a group "that believes that Barack Obama isn't only a name but a political phenomenon"."

Useful article. Naturally, also see barackobama.ir. They've done a professional job on the design.  It would be useful to undertake a detailed analysis of the content and its implications, including symbolism and writing style.  Will this be the start of a trend, with other world leaders having web sites with a .ir suffix?

Facebook - Velayatmadaran

Elad Benari, Arutz Sheva [Israel], Iran Social Network Supports Ayatollah, 19 Aug 2010 "A new social network which has recently been launched in Iran was created especially for supporters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"The social network is called Velayatmadaran, a reference to “followers of the velayat,” (Iran's Supreme Leader), and is part of an attempt by Iranian officials to get in on the social networking craze which ncludes sites like Facebook and Twitter, to name a few."

Useful overview, referring to this interesting piece from RFE/RL:

Golaz Esfandiari, Council on Foreign Relations, RFE/RL: Iranian Social Networking, Hard-Line Style, 28 Jul 2010

"So far, the site has attracted some 3,000 members and includes posts of pictures of "Imam Khamenei," a reference that seeks to elevate the current supreme leader beyond his clerical status; articles about the teachings of ultra-hard-line Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi; and cartoons skewering the opposition Green Movement."

Here are a couple of screenshots from the site today:

The Arutz Sheva article also refers to this:  The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center [Israel], Spotlight on Iran, 15-22 Jul 2010