Our Mission

A force multiplier refers to a factor that dramatically increases the effectiveness of a group. The Internet is a force multiplier for the Iranian opposition. Our mission is to help ensure that the Internet remains available to them and to help them take advantage of it.

Here's a brief summary of what we're trying to accomplish. Join us in doing the following three simple things:
  1. Defeat Government Web Filters: Protesters need Web proxies. A tor relay is a special type of Web proxy. Encourage everyone to set up Tor relays and set one up yourself: http://bit.ly/1agCMj Yes, there are other ways to get around the government filters, but we're concentrating our efforts on Tor.
  2. Preserve Internet Availability: Network bandwidth is a precious commodity for the opposition. DDoS attacks waste that bandwidth without offering any strategic advantage. Follow tweets and watch for people calling for DDoS attacks against Iranian government Web sites. Reply to them with this message or something similar: DDoS (pagereboot) hurts. Here's why: http://bit.ly/Jc6s7 To help, set up Tor relay: http://bit.ly/1agCMj
  3. Provide Useful Information and Encouragement: Be very careful what you re-tweet, always check the links. Think about why you are posting the message. What do you hope to accomplish? How does the message contribute to the cause? Is it actionable information or just speculation? Does it encourage the reader or does it promote fear and doubt?

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

DDoS attacks against targets inside Iran damage the opposition

If you support the opposition movement in Iran, you must stop DDoS attacks immediately. Here are just a few of the many reasons why:

  • DDoS attacks give the government an excuse to censor even more
  • DDoS attacks help the government propaganda machine portray the opposition negatively, as troublemakers
  • There is a finite amount of network resources in Iran. Think of Iran like a house and network devices such as routers are the doors to the house. If a bunch of people try to go in the doors at the same time. How can anyone get out?
  • These DDoS attacks offer no strategic advantage because the assets targeted are not critical for the government. However, the Internet resources of Iran, which these DDoS attacks degrade, are critical for the opposition.
  • You've probably noticed less communication (tweets, videos, pics) coming from members of the opposition recently. DDoS is contributing to the difficulty they are facing with getting their message out.
  • The government has already throttled bandwidth for access points that they control. DDoS attacks waste what little precious bandwidth is left.
  • DDoS attacks disturb the operations of upstream service providers that manage the routers which lead to the routers in Iran, which may prompt them to filter traffic destined for Iran or remove routes to/from Iranian routers. This hurts the opposition much more than it hurts the government.

So, take all of those resources you're spending on DDoS attacks and rechannel them to proxies. The opposition needs proxies to get the message out.

Protesters need Web proxies. A tor relay is a special type of Web proxy. Encourage everyone to set up Tor relays and set one up yourself: http://bit.ly/1agCMj Yes, there are other ways to get around the government filters, but we're concentrating our efforts on Tor.
Posted by at