January 18, 2010

Planet Iran editorial

Greens boycot the Iranian communications system

In another innovative action by supporters of the Green movement, Wednesday, January 20th has been designated as Silent Green Day, which calls upon all Iranians to boycott the Iranian communication systems. This includes the use of all landline telephones, mobiles and the use of SMS.

The Green Silence message has been flooding the SMS boxes on mobiles throughout Iran. The message invites protesters to  boycott the Iranian communications systems, adding: “From 7 a.m. on Wednesday, 30th of Dey (January 20th) till 8 p.m. We will not use any of the services provided by the communications systems (landline, mobile & SMS).”

This action also directly confronts the tapping and surveillance of the communication systems throughout Iran by the Revolutionary Guards and Iranian intelligence and security forces.

Despite the continued suppression of protesters and the continuation of widespread arrests  at the hands of the plain clothes agents of the Islamic regime, the Green movement continues to devise new and peaceful means of confronting the coup d’etat administration of Ahmadinejad.

In early September a majority stake in the formerly state-run Telecommunications Company of Iran was acquired by the Etemad’eh Mobeen consortium, a corporate holding company for the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The purchase has given the Revolutionary Guard, control over the country’s telecommunications network, which serves, among other things, as a medium for internal political discussion. The IRGC purchase of Iran’s telecommunications company has made it easier for the regime authorities to promote their own disinformation and block the sites they do not wish the public to surf.

Like the United States, Iran has an information grid to protect from cyber-attacks designed to shut down networks or vacuum up closely held information.