Proxies: How you can help Iran

As the Islamic Republic of Iran clamps down on it’s people, getting reliable information out of the country is getting more and more difficult. One of the key weapons the people of Iran have right now is being able to communicate with the rest of the world. This is becoming increasingly difficult as cellphone and SMS networks are routinely shutdown and internet access inside Iran is severely restricted. Many of the sites that have been bringing us the latest videos and information, such as Twitter and Youtube, are no longer accessible to the majority of Iranians. How can we help?

If you have a cable internet connection or better, and a computer that you can leave on for long periods of time then you can help by setting up a proxy. Essentially what this means is that you will run a program on your computer that will allow someone in Iran to connect to you, and surf the censored websites by using you as a middleman.

A few questions and issues immediately come to mind and I would like to address them before I begin the tutorial:

1. What do I need to commit? Thanks to the efforts of many, notably Austin Heap, we are able get these proxy addresses to people inside Iran. These people are revolutionaries who are pressed for time and resources and will often be putting themselves at risk trying to access the internet. It is imperative that those of us who decide to setup a proxy keep it running for as long and as often as we can so that it is accessible when it is needed.
2. Can people outside of Iran access my machine? If you follow these directions your proxy will only be accessible to computers inside of Iran. Furthermore, all known government computers will be blocked from accessing.
3. What is the risk to me? If you follow these directions, the risk to your computers and files should be minimal. The only people who will have access are those in Iran and your network will not be accessible. That being said, what you are providing is a very real and very dangerous weapon to the oppressed. This is a war and as protesters are arrested and proxy IPs are discovered the government may try to retaliate by trying to overwhelm your internet connection. This may mean losing your connection for a few hours or a couple of days. You should be aware of all the risks, and you should not do this on a machine that is critical to you.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Installing Squid for Windows (directions for Mac and Linux):

1) Download this slightly modified Squid for Windows.

2) Extract the zip archive and move the “Squid” folder to the root of your drive (probably C:\).

3) After moving the squid folder, open “C:\squid\etc\squid.conf” in notepad (do not use Word).

4) Make and save the following changes:

• • On the second line, insert your IP address after visible_hostname. eg: visible_hostname 24.12.42.57
  • After the fourth line there is a list of ports. It’s important we don’t all use the same ones as that will make it easier for the Iranian government to block them all. Just pick some random 4 digit number combination. I try to stick with things that will be easy to remember in case someone is trying to memorize it. If you are using a router, you may have to setup port forwarding for each of the ports you select here.

5) That was the hardest part. Now you need to create a squid cache file and setup squid to run as a service.

• • Open a command prompt
  • Type in c:\squid\sbin\squid -D –z
  • Type in c:\squid\sbin\squid –i

6) You’re done, now you just need to test and verify that everything is working and to submit your proxy. Do that here. (Squid is now running as a service on your computer, to stop it you’ll need to go to your services list.)

Please refrain from posting your proxy address publicly, as it will quickly be blocked inside the country.