[tor-talk] Tor Usage Statistics for Iran

[Joe Galvin]

Hi all,

I'm currently researching the use of the internet by the political
opposition in Iran for the years 2009 and 2010, and I'm hoping if you can
answer some questions. Well, one specific question. At the beginning of the
year the Iranian authorities began to become more sophisticated in their
attempts to block Tor, but recently usage appears to have resurged to
unprecedented levels according to Tor Metrics.

Was there any particular reason for this? How were the users able to bypass
Iran's new censorship tech? And have you any idea why it's surged to such
levels in recent months? There is no specific political or social reason why
it should be higher now than ever before, so I'm curious to know why it has
grown. Was there a concerted effort by somebody or some group to spread the
software? 2011 falls outside my study, but it's interesting to see the
growth in usage, especially as it really is a dramatic surge - over 40,000
users for August 2011 as about to a max of about 8,000 in August 2010.

Cheers,
Joe
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