[HacktionLab] Emailing under internet blackout

[Tim Dobson]

I'd probably avoid emailing them for the moment.

I'm less sure you'll get them in trouble, and more worried that whatever
you email may be outdated by the time it arrives - wait til there's more
clarity, and then raise comms by asking how they're doing (which is a very
neutral question and should be answerable easily even if they're worried
about interception).

I hope your friends come through this fine.

On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 at 21:22, Patrice Riemens <patrice at puscii.nl> wrote:

>
> Hi All,
>
> As far as I can judge from here (Rural SW France ;-), it's going to be a
> tough job to contact yr friends in teheran in the present circumstances.
> Won't surely work over gmail. The Guardian had a good explainer on how the
> blackout works - it appears to be very precise and even Musk's Starling is,
> at least partially blocked - using Russian technology form the war in
> Ukraine. yet some messgs seem to filter thru. I'd think a relay of friends
> of friends who know a friend who manages to ... etc. Pb is that you need to
> have contact with yr friends to be able to cantact the friend of a friend
> who etc ... Not easy, but you might have luck, or tough luck if yr queries
> fall in the wrong hands.
>
> Now pray the ugly theocracy falls sooner rater than later. It will.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "brentc" <brentc at riseup.net>
> To: hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org
> Sent: Tuesday, 13 January, 2026 22:01:35
> Subject: [HacktionLab] Emailing under internet blackout
>
> A question came up about emailing to Iran: "I have some contacts in
> Tehran who are anti-authoritarian educators I was supposed to be
> recording a presentation for them to show at their seminar series (I've
> done this for them before) - next week. I'm not sure what to do now, I'm
> assuming if I email them [they on gmail] I won't get through. Big/stupid
> ask - Does anyone tecchy know how an internet blackout is likely to
> work? I.e. I'm not sure whether to email my contact, could it be
> intercepted and get him in trouble?"
>
> I didn't have conclusive answers. Any thoughts? I don't know exactly how
> sensitive the comms are and I gather encrypted comms hasn't been set up.
>
> b
>
>
>
>
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