Technology Lifting the Veil on Iranian Protests

Western leaders have voiced concerns over the authenticity of the election held in the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 12, 2009. Their concerns are not unfounded. Several cities have reported that there were more votes than voters. The city of Taft, for example, had an improbable 140% turnout.

Immediately after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner protesters took to the street. For six days now protesters have been voicing their anger and frustration. Yesterday, in Tehran, more than one million people assembled to voice their concern and distrust for their government. On Friday the protests are expected to be even larger.

From a technological standpoint, what's really interesting about the protests in Iran is the amount of cell phone video that has made it's way to YouTube. You will find a number of amateur videos documenting what is happening at the street level. The government can control the news agency but not the people itself. That's doubleplusgood.