Twitter postpones 'critical' upgrade to avoid outage during Iran demonstrations

[jefferson_dem]

Twitter postpones 'critical' upgrade to avoid outage during Iran demonstrations

Worst. Timing. Ever.

That was one of the many criticisms of a planned hour-long Twitter network upgrade, smack-dab in the midst of unprecedented demonstrations in Iran.

The downtime was initially scheduled for tonight U.S. time. That would be morning or mid-day in Tehran. "However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran," notes a recent Twitter blog post. "Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran)."

Twitter has emerged as an important communication tool in Iran for those challenging the claim that Iranian president Ahmadinejad won re-election in a landslide, despite many indications that one of his opponents had much stronger popular support.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/twitter_iran_elections

[anonymous171]

1. Obviously the Capitalists at Twitter are plotting against the Glorious Iranian Republic.

[IrishBuckeye]

4. How do they make money, right now?

How is twitter making money right now?

[Stellabella]

2. Good for them!

I'm impressed.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Interesting...

]Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School who is an expert on the Internet, said that Twitter was particularly resilient to censorship because it had so many ways to for its posts to originate — from a phone, a Web browser or specialized applications — and so many outlets for those posts to appear.

As each new home for this material becomes a new target for censorship, he said, a repressive system faces a game of whack-a-mole in blocking Internet address after Internet address carrying the subversive material.

“It is easy for Twitter feeds to be echoed everywhere else in the world,” he said. “The qualities that make Twitter seem and inane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/world/middleeast/16media.html?_r=1&hp

[O is 44]

5. Oh this is really good news..

It seems that twitter has been one of the main sources for info these past few days.

Ps. Thanks jefferson_dem I always find your posts very informative. I don't always get to post here but I do try to check out this site to get updates.

[jefferson_dem]

9. My pleasure, O is 44.

Thanks for the kind words and I hope you continue to post when you are able.

[spindrifter]

6. We owe a great debt to Twitter. No matter

what its critics say, it has forced the outrageous efforts of the regime in Iran to come under the scrutiny of citizens all over the world. It has been a vehicle not only for us to learn what is happening, but for us in our small way to show our Iranian brothers and sisters that we are with them in their search for freedom of choice.

[liberalmuse]

7. I used to mock Twitter.

I'm so ashamed!

[O is 44]

8. Ha, me too

still not sold but in this instance it has been great.

[Born_A_Truman]

10. This is wonderful news!

I am so glad their provider realized how critical Twitter has become to this situation and moved their maintenance to a less critical time in Iran. Yay for Twitter!!