The seemingly never-ending conflict between Israel and its Mideast neighbors has spread to Facebook, as an Israeli hacker who goes by the name of Hannibal posted the email addresses and passwords of 85,000 users of the social network from Saudi Arabia and Iran.

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In Iran, logging onto Facebook isn’t just a fun way to pass the time and catch up with friends. It’s a crime—punishable by jail time.

Houshang Fanaian found that out the hard way. The 47-year-old Baha’I man was awarded one more year in prison for his session on the social networking site.

He had previously been sentenced for acting against national security and “insulting the country’s supreme leader” because of his religious activism, according to Radio Free Europe.

Fanaian’s sentencing may be a rarity, but his case and others indicate that Iranian authorities are keeping a closer eye on Iranians’ Facebook activities.

According to some activists, authorities have taken to sending rights campaigners and intellectuals they suspect of engaging in anti-state activities a friend request to determine what information is being posted.

The country banned its citizens from using the social networking site, but despite that (or maybe, in part, because of it) the social media site has become even more popular within the country.

Users log on using pseudonyms and some use the open forum to discuss political developments with people both in and out of the country.

Facebook has also been used in Iran, as it has many other countries, to advertise in-person protests. One such protest occurred in February, “where a protest to support the Arab uprising attracted tens of thousands of Iranians to the streets,” Radio Free Europe said. Since then, the organizers of the event have been held under house arrest.

Even university students in Iran report being questioned and even facing discipline for their Facebook pages. In one case, a student who had posted photos of a private party was questioned because of the display of what some considered “immoral” behavior.

Although the Iranian government is trying to rule by fear, Facebook users are finding a work-around: Many have created two Faceboook pages, one under their real name and a secret one where they post about state politics, the poor condition of the economy, lack of freedom and other grievances.

But we wonder if this work-around is a good long-term solution. After all, Facebook’s rules state users can’t have duplicate accounts. If authorities shut down Iranian citizens’ duplicate pages, will government be, in essence, destroying the free speech and networking they’ve tried to foster in the first place?

Readers, do you think Facebook should allow users to have more than one account?

As part of an experiment called “Behind Closed Doors on the Net”, five journalists from Canada, France, Switzerland and Belgium will be locked in a house from February 1st to 5th.  The goal will be to determine what image of the news they receive when interpreting solely through Social Media.  This analysis can certainly help provide some analysis into Twitter, which unexpectedly rose as the primary communication channel for protestors during the recent Iranian election, and has recently been used a tool for aid in Haiti.
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Tonight Facebook will be posting on their blog that they’ve launched the Persian translation of the site to help those in Iran communicate more effectively. What’s not as clear is if Iran has unblocked access to Facebook which had been difficult to access from within the country according to numerous sources. This evening Facebook stated that, “because of the sudden increase in activity we decided to launch it sooner than planned.”
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One of the world’s most hardline leaders may soon lose his position as the President of Iran thanks to the increasing level of free public expression, much of which appears to be taking place on Facebook. Only three weeks ago I wrote about Iran blocking Facebook, but within days the site was back up and running. Mirhossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate, and former Prime Minister, has experienced tremendous growth in his Facebook Page from around 5,000 fans just a few weeks ago to almost 40,000 as of today.
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This morning I’ve been receiving numerous reports that Iran has blocked Facebook. After doing a little searching around I found an article stating that it was blocked “to prevent supporters of the leading opposition candidate from using the site for his campaign.” Mir Hossein Mousavi has attracted over 5,200 supporters on the site. While it’s far from a majority of voters, it was clearly the beginning of a movement that the Ahmadinejad regime was not a fan of.
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With the new Facebook terms of service ready to be passed, many are practically oblivious to the fact that the Facebook Governance vote ever took place but some of them may become aware once Facebook is no longer available to them. One statement in the latest Facebook terms has a few Iranians concerned, that they may no longer be able to use the site, even though Iran is no longer blocking Facebook.
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