Dispatches from the Iranian cyberfront
<p>I&#8217;ve spent the last seventeen hours living inside a cyberpunk novel.  A libertarian cyberpunk novel.  It&#8217;s been a weird and awesome experience.</p>
<p>Within an hour after I received a <a href="http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1092">plea for help</a> from Iran,  a regular commenter on this blog recruited me into a hacker network that has been forming to support the democratic Iranian revolutionaries by providing them with proxy servers, Tor anonymizers, and any other technologies needed<br />
for them to communicate over channels the Iranian regime cannot censor or control.</p>
<p>I know this network has contacts on the ground among the revolutionaries.  I don&#8217;t know who they<br />
are, and don&#8217;t want to know.  Most of the other network members are just names on an IRC channel. But we&#8217;re putting together a stealth network at amazing speed. Nothing matters as much as the courage and determination of the Iranians on the ground, but we aim to make a difference in our own way and we have the tools to do it.</p>
<p>This disorganization has only been forming for a very short time. It doesn&#8217;t really have leaders. It didn&#8217;t have even a name when I joined it, though I&#8217;ve given it one that looks like it might stick. Until and unless somebody else steps up to the job, I&#8217;m our public contact.</p>
<p>This role carries a non-zero risk that I will be targeted for assassination, or interrogation followed by execution, by agents of the Iranian regime &#8211; we&#8217;ve had more than one death threat against core members already.  I take this risk with eyes open because we need somebody to be public, and I know I&#8217;ve already been a jihadi target since 2006; at least I can keep some other poor bastard out of the line of fire.  I now expect to remain continuously armed for the duration of the Iranian crisis.</p>
<p>Rostam, this is how I&#8217;m answering your plea.  We&#8217;ll do what we can for your people.  For freedom.</p>
<p>To learn more about NedaNet and how you can help, go <a href="http://nedanet.org/">here</a>.</p>
<p>UPDATE:  Actual death threat received.  I have taken appropriate precautions.</p>
