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The Technology Keeping Information Flowing in Iran

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the learn-a-new-word-today dept.

Death Metal writes "Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the US Navy. Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between US ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook." A related story was submitted anonymously about the efforts of hactivists to keep the information flowing inside the data-locked nation.

5 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Support Them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Support them by becoming a Tor relay

  2. Hmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You almost have to wonder if this scares the crap out of the powers that be. That something they created could, in theory, be something that fuels their eventual downfall, (assuming things ever got really bad....)

    1. Re:Hmmm by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That something they created could, in theory, be something that fuels their eventual downfall ...

      Like nuclear weapons? Like a dependency on oil? Like a botched military campaign in a neighboring country? Like your own revolutionary spirit being turned against you after you become the abusive people in power? Sometimes I think it's hard to find a powerful tool that is not a double edged sword.

      --
      My work here is dung.
  3. article is so wrong by spotter · · Score: 5, Informative

    the reporter of that article is an idiot.

    Onion Routing was invented at the Naval Research Lab, but it had nothing to do with ships.

    If the reporter would have done a cursory reading of http://www.onion-router.net/, which is the page the creators made, the reporter would not have found any mention of ships on the description or summary of what onion routing is.

  4. Re:Selective Values by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you lift your content from Stratfor http://www.stratfor.com - you could at least give credit.