You mean I can be a freedom fighter in Iran just* by sitting here at my computer?

[Poll_Blind]

  And I can do it by merely making open proxy servers so total strangers can use my internet connection anonymously and/or participate in a http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5853197">clearly-labeled Distributed Denial of Service attack on Iranian websites?

  Well, hell- SIGN ME UP! Wait, no sign-up necessary?! Even SWEETER!

  I mean, how the fuck could my intention to spread Democracy backfire by letting absolute strangers from around the world use my personal internet conenction or by participating in an easily-traced-back-to-me felony?

  I'm sure the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force is gonna look the other way because it's for a good cause. Right? Besides, who the hell ever gets caught doing something like this- I'll be lost in the massess already doing it.

  And when I post instructions on how to do these things on DU and incite others to do them, I'll be helping Democratic Underground, right?

  Well how the hell could that be a bad idea? Shit, Skinner might even send me a free star or maybe the Iranians'll thank DU on TV or something and I can proudly say:

"I was there. I clicked that link! And now the world is a better place- all because I did things that strangers told me to on Twitter!"

:sarcasm:

PS: 40,000 anonymous and shadowy entities in the Ukraine present you with a heart-felt Thank you for those open proxy servers.

PSS: Do not Google Dmitriy Guzner, nobody's watching- honest!

PB

[Billy Burnett]

1. A computer isn't a requirement. A cell phone will do it.

Move along.

[vadawg]

2. rofl,

[liberalmuse]

3. What's wrong with you?

:eyes:

[jobycom]

4. I understand none of that but the sarcasm, but maybe they'll name a square after you in Tehran?

Next to Bush Square.

[chill_wind]

5. You read my mind. K & R.

[dem629]

6. Oh, thank goodness for the "sarcasm" gif. What would we do without it here?

:sarcasm:

[Chulanowa]

7. Meh. Just link it to right-wing websites

Let the professional 101st Keyboard Division handle it. And the blowback.

[Life Long Dem]

8. they are opening fire on the protesters right now.

The media is feeding this, and the people of Iran know this. I feel for these people because we have been through the same thing. We had a total media blackout. But Iran could get the support from the world.

[Oregone]

9. Im awestruck at the stupidity being displayed here

[RoseMead]

10. Which "here" are you referring to?

"Here" in the OP? "Here" in the thread comments? "Here" on DU?

No flaming here, just honestly trying to understand. :)

[Oregone]

12. Here, as in the armchair revolutionaries

[RoseMead]

15. Ah, Ok, thanks. n/t

[cwydro]

11. What have I missed?

What's this about then?

[KittyWampus]

13. someone started a thread that tells us to go to a link where we can open a browser and supposedly

help jam websites in Iran. What it really does is illegal and probably really harmful for your computer.

[cwydro]

14. Thanks,

Yeah, I just saw that thread. Seems a bit risky to me.

[Poll_Blind]

16. Ha ha- and it just gets better! Usage of the Bit.Ly links feeds information directly back into...

....Twitter itself where the information about what you clicked, where you clicked it from and so on can be index and cross-indexed with information in your Twitter account and friends list and then monetized. And when I say monetized, I mean right down to a geo-spatial analysis of everything about YOU.

  This is so slick it ain't even funny- check out the BetaWorks family of companies. Don't miss lotame.com and (of course) bit.ly, itself.

  Not too shabby for a Lybian-registered domain name being hosted in Denver (by the airport, no less!) as part of a self-indexing social network whose whole goal is to gather every bit of information about you (even if you're not on the terrorist watch list) and then feed it back to advertisers who pay top dollar to own the metrics of your life, interestes, hopes, dreams, medical conditions, sexual peccadilloes, etc. etc.

  BTW, have fun with The Revolution (TM)!

  The Twitter-style participation in this event smacks more of Political Live Action Role-Playing for the benefit of corporations than anything else.

  Psst, has anyone broken it to you yet that all the candidates in the Iran election are given "clearance" to run by Islamic clerics and that the concept (as I've heard around here) that Moussavi is the Iranian Obama is...heh heh, oh, you get the idea!

PB

[EFerrari]

17. Well, there is that.

:)