Digital freedom acitivist organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging its supporters to set up a Tor Bridge or Tor Relay to help Iranian activists protesting the recent “election” better communicate without getting caught by authorities. “Tor” is an acronym for “The Onion Router,” which is free and open-source software used for online anonymity.
EFF says “moderately savvy” Internet users can run a Tor bridge or Tor relay, which essentially allows users to pass along messages from computer to computer without exposing the source:
“Normally, when accessing websites, your computer asks for and receives a Web page out in the open, a process that exposes your IP address, the URL of the website and the contents of the site, among other information to third parties. When accessing websites with Tor, your computer essentially whispers its requests for a website, to another computer, which passes the request on to another computer, which passes it on to another computer, which passes it onto the computer where the website is hosted; the reply returns in the same, chain-message manner.”
The “whispers” also are encrytped, so that neither the authorities — in this case, the Iranian government — or the multiple messengers (those hosting Tor relays) are able to read the contents of the messages.
So for those of you who wish to help Iranian protesters fight the good fight against tyranny, EFF provides a link to step-by-step instructions.