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Web Users Worldwide Help Iranians Thwart Censors

Expatriates, Pirate Bay work to get information on protests out of Iran

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 18, 2009 5:38 AM CDT

(Newser) – Iranians are using every trick in the book to get information past the country's tight censorship of the Internet and to the outside world—and the outside world is doing its best to help, CNET reports. Sympathizers have set up a huge number of proxy servers to help disseminate information about the nation's protests, making life much harder for censors trying to block sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Large populations of Iranians living abroad are helping those at home bypass government filters, and notorious file-sharing site The Pirate Bay has offered technical help. "Democracy is the supporting pillar of society. This is exactly what we think is so important about the Internet," said a spokesman for the site, which has temporarily changed its logo to "The Persian Bay."

[Images (3)]

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The Pirate Bay, whose operators have been convicted of copyright violations, has offered tech assistance to Iranians seeking to bypass Internet censors. It's been temporarily redubbed The Persian Bay. (The Pirate Bay)

A photo of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi rests next to a broken computer monitor in a room in a Tehran University dormitory after it was attacked by militia forces. (AP photo)

A supporter of pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi covers her face with a green piece of cloth during a rally in Tehran yesterday. (AP Photo/Fars news agency,)

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What makes this situation different from others and is driving a lot of it is that you have a very large and vibrant online and blogger community of Iranians outside the country. - Daniel Calingaert, director of programs at human rights group Freedom House

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Web Users Worldwide Help Iranians Thwart Censors