e825cf4b7e088210VgnVCM100000e56411acRCRDapproved/thenational/Articles/Migration/2009-Q2War on Twitterd825cf4b7e088210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____The Iranian government has begun to resemble the Luddites, waging war on all manners of newfangled technology in its futile quest to turn back time.<p>Tehran would probably prefer a world without Twitter. Its use to organise the massive street protests against last Friday's elections results and to disseminate information needed to bypass government censors has frustrated Iranian authorities. Yet they remain persistent in their efforts to silence the public. Indeed, the Iranian government has begun to resemble the Luddites, waging war on all manners of newfangled technology in its futile quest to turn back time. From text messaging, to YouTube, to Twitter, to blogs and Facebook, the authorities have decried the use of such media. The Revolutionary Guard has pledged action against what it terms "deviant news sites".</p> <p>But Tehran does not hate all technology. There is one piece of innovation without which the government would be a mere shadow of itself: Photoshop. When one of the country's new missiles failed to launch last summer, Photoshop ensured that it did. And now, it appears to have come in handy to the Iranian regime yet again. To bolster their claim that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has the support of the people, the government staged a pro-Ahmadinejad rally on Tuesday. But according to some experts who have examined the photos, it appears that Photoshop helped ensure that the rally was sufficiently well attended.</p> 84YYOPINION2009061900000020090619000000100ARhttp://adedit.ad.atl.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090619/OPINION/706189894570618989420090619100000000