Kamangir (Archer)

Wordpress.com: Filtering, the sneaky way

Kamangir | July 27, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, Iran

Wordpress.com, although being a very popular blogging service, is under attack by the filtering system in Iran.

The filtering system generally targets a whole website. The issue of wordpress.com, however, is a bit different. In fact, rather than filtering the blogs, the ssl-enabled control panels are being filtered. This inhibits the users from updating their blogs and, according to persianweblog.ir, this measure has resulted in a sheer decline in the rate of updates of Persian blogs which are hosted on wordpress.com.

As a countermeasure, Persian users of wordpress.com have started using anti-filter tools and proxies for accessing the control panels of their blogs. Due to the nature of these tools, this endangers the privacy and security of these bloggers (because proxies use identical IP addresses for different users, thus confusing security protocols and enabling hackers to gain access to restricted sources, including the control panel of a blog).

Do Not Be A Dinosaur Blogger - My Article in Gozaar

Kamangir | July 18, 2008 | Category Blogging, Features, Lead Story, media

Similar to the worldwide blogosphere, or maybe even much deeper and more faster, the Persian blogosphere is adopting the new tools and is mastering the new technique, in order to increase the efficiency and to enhance the quality of the content in the Persian blogosphere. In a piece just published in Gozaar, I go through this process and give a brief introduction into the new face of the participatory media.

There was a time when “becoming a blogger” was as easy as logging into blogger.com and creating an account. This fortunate player in the era of participatory media would then write down his or her thoughts and publish the masterpiece. The next few hours and days would pass with our hero waiting for passer-byes to read, ponder, and post a reply upon the content. This was how blogging was defined in the early days - Read the rest of the article in Persian or in English.

How to wipe Israel off the Map: Ahmadinejad’s Way

Kamangir | July 13, 2008 | Category Iran, Islamic Republic, Israel, Picture of the Day

Knowing Ahmadinejad’s love of photoshop, his calls for Israel to be wiped off the map may indeed be only a matter of playing around with Photoshop, than actually sending nuclear missiles down the path (the missiles might end up being painted paper as well).

So, this is how Ahmadinejad will annihilate the Jewish state, according to Gooya News.

Before the operation.

After the operation.

Mahmoud’s Fantasy: Video

Kamangir | July 12, 2008 | Category Features, Humour, Iran, Islamic Republic, Lead Story, Picture of the Day, Video of the Day

A compilation of the “fake Iranian missile contest” from all over the web (originated at boingboing). See the frames here.

(direct link to the video)

Frames and music copyright of owners.

Magnificent Missile Test, Pictures of which do not exist

Kamangir | July 11, 2008 | Category Features, Islamic Republic, Lead Story, media

Will you be surprised if I tell you that the picture they used for the front page of the state-run ultra-right newspaper Kayhan was in fact two years old?

Front Page of Kayhan, July 10th, 2008, “Iran fires 2000-Km Missile, Israel: We are not going to start a fight with Iran”

Picture published on November 2006

The Two Images overlaid

Boosting the Morale with Old Pictures

Kamangir | July 10, 2008 | Category Features, Islamic Republic, Lead Story, Picture of the Day

If you thought the Islamic Republic had only once made the “mistake” of using old images for propaganda (see: Iranian Missile Drill: Pictures do not Lie!), well, they seem to have plans to go ahead with it for some more time (on top of using Photoshop of course).

In today’s pictorial report of the state-run television, form Sepah’s drill, there is a picture we had seen before.

Supposedly taken recently

Published two years ago.

Iranian Missile Drill: Pictures do not Lie!

Kamangir | July 9, 2008 | Category Features, Iran, Islamic Republic, Lead Story

Maybe all the worries about the new missile drill by the Islamic Republic are just overreaction. What would you think when you realize that neither Fars News, nor Mehr News or ISNA published any picture of the event. Add to that the fact that one of the pictures the state-run IRIB published actually looks too much like a picture taken at a drill which happened two years ago.

Presumably taken recently, published by the IRIB.

Published two years ago. Compare the clouds, the layout and the trail at the bottom right.

Maybe this is just another bluff. Not a good timing of course.

Related:

• Boosting the Morale with Old Pictures
• Magnificent Missile Test, Pictures of which do not exist

Filtering and Web 2.0: Project “Profiler” Launched

Kamangir | July 8, 2008 | Category Blogging, Didish, Features, Iran, KiBeKi, Lead Story, Profiler

As I also briefly mentioned in the previous post (see: Kamangir is Back), I have started working on Project Profiler (see the development log here).

In short, Profiler attempts at discovering the map of the Persian blogosphere, through analyzing the connections between the Persian bloggers in different social networks, including Friendfeed.com, which I have been focused on for the last couple of months. This project will also use the reports now being regularly published by Project Didish.

As a short presentation, here, two preliminary graphs generated by Profiler will be posted. As of know, there are 717 entries in the database, each representing one Persian blogger.  These bloggers have been discovered through friendfeed.com.

The first graph shows that from the 566 blogs registered in the database, 171 are on wordpress.com (30%), 122 are on blogspot.com (22%), and 58 are on blogfa.com (10%). Interestingly, about 186 blogs are on their own domains (33%) (also see the corresponding pie chart in the latest Didish report).

The second graph shows the ten services used by the most bloggers registered in the system. Red bars indicate filtered services, while green and magenta denote services which are accessible in Iran and those about which mixed reports have been given, respectively. The category “blog” is included in the mixed reports because many leading blogs are indeed filtered. More detailed analysis of this issue will be carried out in the coming phases of the project.

Profiler not only aims at producing a large detailed map of the Persian blogosphere, it will provide information about connections, usage statistics, and trends in this online society.

“They want to execute us”

Kamangir | July 4, 2008 | Category Blogging, Human Rights, Iran, Islamic Republic

They want to execute us

Effective tomorrow, anyone who wears stripped pyjamas will be executed for acting against public and private safety*.

p.s. From now on, this blog will be dedicated to apiary in alpine heights, the positive effects of cucumbers in getting rid of stomach gas,  modern sewing methods, making flowers with flour, the importance of a diploma in migrating to Canada, and games for cellphones.

p.s.2. We might actually go to Siberia, because Tehran is getting too warm and the danger of execution is becoming too imminent.

p.s.3. Or in fact, maybe we just die….

p.s.5. Maybe, for the whole summer we just sit and not do anything, except for scratching our butt.

p.s.6. And if scratching our butt is violating the internal or external safety, we just stop doing it.

It really seems like in this country, that I am just hating more at any minute, we are the problem. The fact that we live here, our existence, that is becoming a problem. The situation is just becoming so bad that leaving the country is becoming the only solution. I really wish that these ignorant Iranians would just die out [for not standing up against the regime].

* Refers to a common reason mentioned by the regime for prosecuting people: “acting against the public safety”

The blogger is obviously too angry about the recent developments and the possibility of the Parliament approving the legislation which will pave the way for harsh actions against bloggers who question issues such as the religion, and the official narration of it.

Kamangir is Back

Kamangir | July 4, 2008 | Category Blogging, Didish, Features, Iran, Lead Story

The date on the last post in this blog used to read “June the 13th” for almost a month. This was quite a change for this blog, which used to be updated more than once on almost every day for over two years. Things had changed, but better, less tense, days are ahead.

First, there was my studies. I finally did my Candidacy Exam on yesterday (the first step toward becoming Dr. Kamangir). It was a success, well almost, and I will have a lot more free time before defending my thesis, which is completely irrelevant to the stuff I post here (see more about my thesis in here).

Second, following a lot of discussions, and deliberations of course, I had shifted a lot of the time I spend blogging to the Persian companion of this blog. The reason is that, put briefly, what will bring the regime to its knees is not the CNN or FoxNews bashing it. It is the Iranians who are the problem, and the solution at the same time. It was in the news a week ago that a brother strangled and then stabbed his sister because she asked for the permission to get married to a man the family did not like. This, unfortunately, did not happen on the surface of Mars. It happened right before our eyes. The problem is not Ahmadinejad. The problem is the Iranian youth who argue “Well, we have different values”. To deal with these “values”, the language is Persian, not English.

Third, I am spending a lot of time on my projects on the Persian blogosphere. Didish and Feedcounter are becoming benchmarks Persian bloggers use to compare each other against. With that, today is in fact the day I am launching project “Persian Blogger Profiler” or in short “Profiler”. The aim of this project is to collect all the information I have gathered from the Persian blogosphere into one relational database. The data collected through this project will be used for producing the larger graph of connections, friendships, and interactions in the Persian Blogosphere.

So, Kamangir is back and, as we say in Persian, I’ll be keeping the lights on (sort of implying that I will be posting more regularly).