Operation Iran

Operation Iran (OpIran) is an ongoing Freedom Operation run by members of the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous.

Background

The establishment of OpIran parallels the foundation of the Iranian Green Movement in 2009, which sprang from the Iranian Election Protests of that year but has earlier roots within Anonymous via the website iran.whyweprotest.net. As a Freedom Operation, OpIran maintains the specific goal of working with the Iranian people until they are satisfied with the political state of their country. Therefore this Operation, unlike other Anonymous operations, is ongoing.

Methods

Working with Iranian protestors, partizans, ex-patriots and associates, OpIran develops a calendar and timetable for protest support. The forms of support vary from action to action, but generally consist of the following: "White fax" and "Black fax" campaigns, where helpful information and supportive messages are sent to protest supporters or public locations, such as field First-aid guides translated into Persian and sent to universities and libraries. "Black faxes" are called such since they are sent as white text on a black background, warning the recipient to not arrest those who seek freedom of speech, to harm those who take to the streets, and to side with their fellow Iranians in protest. Other forms of support may include helping to distribute Anonymous or other groups (Telecomix, PLF) information for Internet access, access to Google's Speak To Tweet service, anonymity software availability and support, and political disruption/riot survival information.

Hacktivism done by participants of OpIran vary widely but may include: e-mail bombing, service disruption, false flagging, web defacement and various forms of denial-of-service protest. It is important to note that any denial-of-service protesting done is strictly voluntary - OpIran does not employ so-called "bot-nets" that make use of compromised machines.

OpIran is also very careful to not make attacks that would interfere with the internet access of the Iranian people. In many cases, denial of service to particular regime website will be announced through social media such as Twitter, and conducted for a particular length of time. After which, an additional message will be sent out confirming the "release" of the website, as well as a short message to the regime or in support of the Iranian people. This minimizes the amount of traffic within Iran's domain, while still communicating the message of the protestors.

Participants

There are certain participants that have been present consistently over time. Members of OpIran tend to stay within OpIran or Freedom Ops in general, being more interested in human rights than the higher-level legal miscellany of other ops. Some have even offered that they cannot understand how people could be so concerned with material rights of citizens when others in the world live as they do. "We deal more at the base of Maslow's Hierarchy than say something like OpGoya or OpSony, for one thing."

Actions

Following what would become standard form for Anonymous, Operation Iran released a series of videos as announcements for direct actions and other forms of Electronic Civil Disobedience as "Action Alerts":

• Anonymous Iran Jun 18, 2009 YouTube. Jun 18, 2009 Retrieved 2011-04-30
  
• Anonymous Iran Aug 2, 2009 YouTube. Aug 2, 2009 Retrieved 2011-04-30
  
• Anonymous: Operation Iran - عملیات ایران YouTube. Feb 11,2011 Retrieved 2011-05-05
  
• To The Most Respectable and Honorable Citizens of Iran. YouTube. Feb 14, 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-02
  
• ANONYMOUS - OPERATION IRAN - Short Press Release YouTube. Feb 14, 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-02
  
• ANONYMOUS - OPERATION IRAN - A New Press Release. YouTube Apr 26, 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-05
• Anonymous - OpIran - Stealing of 10,000 emails from Iran's MFA

References

External links

• Hackers group says it will target Iran on Sunday CNN.com 30 April 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-05.
• Anonymous to target Iran with DoS attack CNET.com 29 April 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-05.
• Anonymous Aims At Iran This Weekend gizmodo.com 29 April 2011 Retrieved 2011-05-10.
• iran.whyweprotest.net -- Original 2009 Iranian protest support site.
• anonymousiran.org -- Early site created around time of Iranian election.

See also

• Operation Egypt
• Operation Tunisia