image of Twitter.com at around 10 pm yesterday. Credit: TechCrunch.

TechCrunch reports that Twitter Twitter was Hacked, Defaced By ‚ÄúIranian Cyber Army‚Äù. The post also indicates several other sites have been hit. The message read as follows: Read the rest of this entry…

CPB is back on Al Jazeera English’s¬† Listening post about blogging in Iran. Following the very interesting piece on Copenhagen climate change summit activism, find us and news on “the state of the Iranian blogosphere” in part 2.

“There was a political protest in Tehran this past week that much of the foreign media were prevented from covering – which underlined, once again, the growing importance the Iranian blogosphere has in telling the world about its story.”

From CPJ we have very disheartening news, they report in their annual prison census, freelancers mostly online journalists and bloggers make up 45% of all journalists currently in prison.  China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma re the top five jailers of journalism practitioners in world, with China holding the ignominious first position for the 11th year running.

They say in part…

The number of online journalists in prison continued a decade-long rise, CPJ’s census found. At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail. Print reporters, editors, and photographers make up the next largest professional category, with 51 cases in 2009. Television and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers constitute the rest.

Here at CPB we have also tried our best to make know the importance of blogging and how it has come to affect how governments try to control withhold information from their citizens, the fact that more and more bloggers are being arrested is one we totally condemn, couple this with the fact that most have very little or no institutional support adds to an already precarious situation.

One not so pleasant example is China where of the 24 officially in prison at the moment, 22 are freelancers with almost all of the having been arrested and imprisoned because of blogging or publishing online.

We will strive to continue reporting, researching and writing on threats to online freedoms because at the end of the day, some bloggers can only rely on us to raise awareness on their plight.

WSJ.com reports that Iranian expats are being targeted through social networks by the government. This journal story includes one Facebook user they identify as “Koosha,” who received threats from the government over his criticism of the repression of demonstrations in Iran, which he posted on Facebook. He received a message stating his family in Tehran would be arrested if he didn’t stop criticizing the government.

“Two days later, his mom called. Security agents had arrested his father in his home in Tehran and threatened him by saying his son could no longer safely return to Iran.

‘When they arrested my father, I realized the email was no joke,’ said Koosha, who asked that his full name not be used.”

The evidence is more than annectdotal. The Wall Street Journal investigation found that the Iranian intelligence agency is keeping tabs on nearly 900 critics of the Iranian regime in Germany alone, according to a report from that government.

The report itself should send a chilling message to people wanting to express their opinions about the internal situation of Iran online. The Committee does not suggest that people refrain from publishing their honest opinions online. In fact we encourage it. However, people should go in with eyes open and take whatever precautions they feel necessary.

“To cut communication between Iranians inside and outside the country, Iran slowed Internet speeds so that accessing an online email account could take close to a half-hour. It blocked access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. For a while, an automated message warned people making international phone calls not to give information to outsiders.” – WSJ.com

Creating different accounts with false names may be a better way of expressing outrage or posting content that may put a person or their family at risk.¬† The Iranian government is looking to match social profile photos to photographs they’ve taken of demonstrators at their embassies abroad. It may be a wise decision to up the security settings of your online photos or change your profile photograph to an illustration or image that doesn’t depict you.

If you’re being targeted by the government, we’d like to hear from you. Contact us via our form online.

An Iranian youth browses a political blog at an internet cafe in the city of Hamadan VOA file photo)

Bad news in one respect, more online users in Iran are being targeted by the government for supposed “crimes.” Good news in another respect: Web developers working in and on behalf of Iranian civil disobedience are on the front lines of legitimate reform in the country, and are thus seen as a threat by the establishment. If you’re getting attention then you must be doing something effective.

The VOA webiste: “A top Iranian police official says that a new police unit has been set up to combat what he calls ‘Internet crime’. Analysts, however, are interpreting the move as another step by the government to crack down on the opposition, which uses the Internet heavily to communicate and spread its message.”

“Iran’s top police chief, Brigadier General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam says that his organization is setting up a “cyber police division” to combat what he terms ‘Internet crime.’”

Now more than ever Iranian activists need the resources to keep their privacy while organising via the web if grassroots, bottom-up change is to be made. The web is proving to be the organizing tool of choice as the distributed natute makes it impossible for the police state to police.

Read: VOA News – Iranian Police Set Up ‘Internet Crime’ Unit.

Free Hoder!

Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan , aka “Hoder,”¬† is an often controversial Iranian-Canadian blogger who became known in Iran as ‚Äúthe blogfather‚Äù for his role in kicking off the growing Persian Blog movement. Hossein was put in prison in Iran without trial due to his blogging and has spent most the last year behind bars, nearly eight months of that in solitary confinement. During his imprisonment he has suffered beatings in an attempt to coerce false confessions of having ties to the CIA and Israeli intelligence services. Read the rest of this entry…

Hossein Derakhshan

Dozens of Others Alo Remain in Jail without Trial or Due Process

From the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran: Hossein Derakhshan (28 October 2009) The Iranian Judiciary should release Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger who has been in detention without trial for the past year, as well as dozens of other political detainees held without trial, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

‚ÄúDerakhshan‚Äôs case is typical of the lack of justice and due process in Iran‚Äôs Judiciary. How can the authorities justify holding him for a year without even charging him or putting him on trial? He is another victim of the intelligence apparatus‚Äô manipulation of the judicial process,‚Äù said Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesperson for the Campaign. Read the rest of this entry…