The author of this petition and all undersigned individuals call on Facebook to drastically modify or eliminate its spam-detection procedures for the duration of the crisis in Iran, and/or to deactivate the automatic enforcement of its anti-spam policies. We also fervently request that an official task force with prominently publicized contact information be created to deal with the unintended effects of these policies on those trying to spread the word about Iran.

It is impossible even to give a “ballpark figure” of how many people have been affected by these automatic “anti-spam” measures overall. To state the obvious: the aliases, proxy servers and other precautionary measures that enable information from within Iran to be posted on social networking sites which the government has blocked and is monitoring mean that shared concerns and accidents in timing are all that we (know we) have in common with most of our contacts, and that asking for any more information is not only an imposition but a hazard to many of them. This makes anything approaching a comprehensive survey impossible. Despite such difficulties in information gathering, there are a number of reasons to suppose that this problem has affected a huge group of people. In ascending order of importance, they are: 1) anecdotal evidence from the author of the petition’s own experience and that of some of her acquaintances – everyone knows someone who has been restricted or blocked, if they have not themselves; 2) a definite pattern emerging among cases of which the author has knowledge (both with regard to the nature of the warning messages and the failure of nearly all attempts to contact Facebook’s customer service), suggesting that the criteria on the basis of which Facebook is blocking or restricting these users could apply to all prolific posters of information on Iran, and that these restrictions, once imposed, are not easily reversed; and finally 3) the fact that even prominent and crucial sources and distributors of information have been targeted. Each of these points is spelled out in more detail below.


1) Just from among her very limited set of Iranian/Persian friends and acquaintances, the author has personal knowledge of three cases in which Facebook has restricted and eventually blocked the accounts of users who had no intention but to disseminate information about developments in Iran to *only* those who had expressed their wish to be informed of them (by joining groups devoted to such a purpose, posting related information on these acquaintances’ personal Facebook pages, or some similar means). The contact information for these individuals can be given upon request. Multiple other acquaintances have said that they too are aware of a handful of cases. If this pattern holds for most or even just many Facebook users with similar interests, there would be hundreds if not thousands of cases.

2) Typical warning messages include one or more of the following elements:

-“It is a violation of Facebook\\\'s Terms of Use to repeatedly send the same message or make the same post.”

- “Your use of our Share feature indicates that you may be in violation of Facebook\\\'s Terms of Use.”

- “While we realize that there are applications that provide links for users to send out, we ask that you not repeatedly send these links in messages or post them on Walls or in Discussion Boards.”

While each of the violated Terms of Use provisos referenced has a clear anti-spam purpose, they unwittingly fault Facebook users for the very tactics which allow incomplete pieces of information from diverse sources to spread and coalesce into more coherent and reliable accounts of the events transpiring:

Very often we encounter clips whose sources we cannot verify. Because these clips were made by anonymous protestors rather than (banned) independent journalists, we can be fairly sure that most people will be equally unable to place them; yet, they are much more compelling than any of the types of information which can be thoroughly vetted from a distance. In order to not have to discard or discount such information, we have developed a different method of verification. We post the clips in question in as many (relevant, receptive) places as possible. We post them in places which have as many onlookers as possible: for example, on the walls of Facebook groups organized for this very purpose, or on the pages of individuals who have attracted a huge number of followers due to the amount of related material they dispense. At such information fountainheads where many people gather, every fifteen minutes brings a brand new wave of posts obscuring what came before it. So, periodically, we re-post the clips for which we are in the greatest need of context or corroborating evidence.

Quantitatively and in terms of patterns of dispersion, this looks exactly like spamming; but in terms of the intent and the character of the information being passed on, no comparison could be more outlandish. This is not the indiscriminate shipping out of pre-packaged and mass-marketed junk on the hunch that someone, somewhere, will be stupid or compulsively inquisitive enough to “open the lid” despite the obvious worthlessness of the contents. This is a kind of last-ditch informational “agriculture” done under extremely adverse conditions: the sowing of seeds in every possible corner in the hopes that somehow, somewhere, a “grapevine” will spring up. The only thing that these pursuits have in common is the wild grasp for a receptive party. Passion and parasitism do tend to share this trait – but there the similarity ends. We are trying to latch onto a suitable host of *information* -- and then share it with the world.

Given that the very tactics (inevitably) employed to by many if not most of the best sources for information of Iran are what is leading Facebook to deactivate these accounts, it stands to reason that there are very many as of yet unreported cases. A further pattern related by the author’s acquaintances – the absolute uselessness of customer service hotlines and other contact information provided by Facebook – suggests that there is a building backlog of unresolved cases starting from mid June.


3) Uniformly commended and recommended sources are being blocked by Facebook for “spamming”:

One such individual is Saeed Valadbaygi.

Saeed Valadbaygi and his invaluable blog “Revolutionary Road” have been referenced in and relied upon by multiple mainstream and critically acclaimed media outlets. MSNBC, in addition to using video clips he has uploaded or compiled an untold number of times (for verification of this and other references to specific media outlets, see link at the end of petition), ran an article on his blog. As early as June 16, Times Online recommended that its readers tune in to his Facebook page. Andrew Sullivan has featured multiple blog posts from Revolutionary Road in his online column, “The Daily Dish”; and Periodic Publishers’ Association Award winning Brand Republic magazine labeled him a reliable source for coverage on Iran. He has even been interviewed by Israel’s Channel 2 news. This is only a slim cross-section of the growing list of news organizations which are (admitting to) relying upon Valadbaygi for updates on Iran.

Just as importantly, Saeed Valadbaygi is a household name among the multitudes of laymen who have made a concerted effort to learn about the developing crisis and resistance movements. The author of this petition first found him on June 16, via a Christiane Amanpour Facebook fanpage which quoted the Times Online ticker suggesting that interested individuals “friend” him for access to footage of wounded protestors. Ever since, posts from his Facebook account have been reproduced or referenced incessantly on that page, which now has nearly 18,000 followers. That’s over 10,000 more than it had in mid–June: in other words, thousands upon thousands of Facebook users started frequenting this page only after the intensification of the crisis in Iran, presumably with the primary intent of following it. By this point in time, the vast majority of these users surely know Saeed Valadbaygi’s name. Many of the petition author’s own family members – some of whom could not have found Iran on a map a mere three weeks ago - now follow the posts of Saeed Valadbaygi. If things keep going this way, he will be as famous in the Western media as Christiane Amanpour herself.

Much to its credit, Facebook hosts one of the main “media outlets” through which this brave individual shares his and others’ experiences from within Iran. But instead of doing what it can to accommodate Valadbaygi’s unusal needs and aims or at the very least not interfering with his important work, the social networking site has subjected him to the same treatment that it would a spammer. Worst of all, through its negligence on the customer service end, it has denied him and countless others official recourse.

The full account of Saeed’s difficulties with Facebook – as reported on his wall, and later on the wall of a Facebook group “In defence of Saeed’s Activities on Facbook” [sic] (2,000 members and counting), and subsequently in an article for “Co-ed Magazine”, runs as follows:

Warnings/Threats
*****************************
Warning! You are engaging in behavior that may be considered annoying or abusive by other users.
Sometimes people get these warnings for simply misusing one of our features.

Which of the following links describes what you were trying to do? Clicking on a link will take you to more information on how to use Facebook\\\'s features.

Using Applications
Networking/meeting new people
Connecting with Classmates/Friends
Promoting a business, product or service

Further misuse of site features may result in a temporary block or your account being permanently disabled.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning - Applications!
It is a violation of Facebook\\\'s Terms of Use to repeatedly sent the same message or make the same post. Facebook prides itself on protecting users from spam and behavior that may be construed as abusive or annoying, and we take this standard very seriously.

While we realize that there are applications that provide links for users to send out, we ask that you not repeatedly send these links in messages or post them on Walls or in Discussion Boards. If you continue to engage in this type of activity, your account may be permanently disabled. We appreciate your cooperation going forward.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your account was disabled because you violated Facebook’s Terms of Use, to which you agreed when you first registered for an account on the site. Accounts can either be disabled for repeat offenses or for one, particularly egregious violation.

Facebook does not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations.

We do not allow users to send unsolicited or harassing messages to people they don’t know, and we remove posts that advertise a product, service, website, or opportunity.

Our Code of Conduct outlines the types of content we do not allow on the site. This includes any obscene, pornographic, or sexually explicit photos, as well as any photos that depict graphic violence. We also remove content, photo or written, that threatens, intimidates, harasses, or brings unwanted attention or embarrassment to an individual or group of people.
--

The author and the undersigned attest that we and the general public have only been educated by Mr. Valadbaygi, and are very disheartened to see such charges levied against him.

The great irony in the wording of these warnings is that they usually include the phrase, “Facebook prides itself in protecting users from…” The individuals it is “protecting” us from are trying to piece together sound bites scattered by riot police and muted by thick firewalls, reconstructing the chorus of dissent that they represent. They are trying to use Facebook as a platform for speeches that cannot otherwise be made. If they succeed, Facebook will have a great deal more to “pride itself in” than netting a few nefarious users with a filter.

We certainly hope that Facebook will help that happen.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Thornton and the undersigned


Websites corroborating statements made about Saeed Valadbaygi:


Valadbaygi’s blog, Revolutionary Road: http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/

MSNBC article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31392993/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/page/5/

Times online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6509850.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Brand Republic Magazine (blog of the magazine’s editor): http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/gordons_republic/archive/2009/06/16/social-media-and-the-iranian-elections.aspx

Andrew Sullivan’s “The Daily Dish”: e.g., http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/barrage-shooting.html
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/hiding-the-dead.htm

English transcript of the interview with Israel’s Channel 2 News (corroborating information elsewhere on the internet):
http://shooresh1917.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-with-keren-betzalel-from.html

Facebook group in support of Saeed, detailing the warnings he has received:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=71872097463&ref=ts

Christiane Amanpour fanpage (nearly 19,000 followers) where his posts are frequently referenced:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Christiane-Amanpour/21850561623?v=info&viewas=10047730

Co-ed magazine’s article on Saeed’s difficulties:
http://coedmagazine.com/2009/06/23/is-facebook-helping-to-squash-the-green-revolution/#more-83678

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