mera

@natsecboogie @Shayan86 Yeah, I've also come to the conclusion that's the best way to do it. State video is authentic and geolocated but that proof won't be shared publicly due to risk to person filming's safety.

@MeraMeraska @Shayan86 Further, you can say as a person or organization that you independently verified w/ other persons or organizations that the information & general location is accurate to add further validity to what you are saying.

A kind note to fellow open source researchers: Do not post the coordinates of videos from Iran that reveal the home addresses of people, particularly if they're chanting anti-government slogans or showing dissent. It could put them at risk of being identified and detained.

You're right, not everything has to be, but you should assume someone will once it's on mass social media. Public geolocators are a fraction of what's going on behind the scenes, and their purpose is typically to help the public(and journalists, and institutions) know that footage is real. In some cases that can put people at risk, and yes judgement should be used.

@MeraMeraska @Shayan86 Not every video released needs to be geolocated. Not every photo shared needs to end up on the @GeoConfirmed or @FaytuksNetwork map. There are things that are more important than that & geolocators have a responsibility to use judgement on whether or not a geo will do harm.

The value is the video can be deemed authentic. And imo regardless of Mitch doing it or not, people (including irgc) will geo it, so I mean that goes without saying. There's people going this privately for all kinds of uses, including people wanting to do the protesters harm. When you protest in a large city people including irgc and police will know about it.

@MeraMeraska @Shayan86 What value does providing coordinates or a proof/laydown add at the end of the day wrt those two videos? Further, if you told someone that if they were going to share their video their location would be compromised & lives threatened, we imagine many would not release the video.

@ChrisOsieck @Shayan86 Thanks for the effort, will read this

@MeraMeraska @Shayan86 I was involved in the following article in 2023 on ethical dilemmas during digital research. I think it’s valuable for every researcher to read. The main point is that one should put safety of the people that are living under war, dictatorship, or occupation, as a priority:

@hey_itsmyturn Probably just these flaring, unless we have some fire footage

@hey_itsmyturn How sure are we those are new fires and not just heat anomalies that have always ocurred in this area?

Yeah it's tough because personally I'm one to say "If it's online, we can geolocate it" but I understand the risk to individuals here. How would you suggest then something like the above is handled. If we geolocate an incident being video'd and publicly shared of people chanting death to the IRGC, how can we share with the world that we verified that it is in Tehran without putting anyone at risk? Perhaps you have some ideas, I have thought about Something like "We have confirmed that this is in x city, exact proof is available to accredited journalists in private" or something? Some people at the BBC did geolocate(or attempt to) events like these and then deleted it later, so I'm also curious how you guys will handle things like these.

@MeraMeraska Not referring to any specific video, just a general point. And you're right, they definitely know their country perfectly well, and the people who film those videos are aware of the risk. It's just best we don't make the IRGC's job easier for them if we can.

"If your audience doesn’t trust you enough when you say you can confirm this" a separate point but you shouldn't trust anyone on twitter, always verify. You are right about people's safety though. I just doubt Mitch helps the IRGC much with this as if they dont know their own city, but with things like this maybe it's better to be safe than sorry. In any case please raise your points to him, he might change his mind or change how he posts. He has geolocated protestors being gunned down before too, which helps show the world about those actions, don't think of him as an IRGC spy.

@MeraMeraska @NiohBerg @Mitch_Ulrich @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed @Faytuks Bro, you can do the due diligence and find the exact coordinates, but no need to publish them! If your audience doesn’t trust you enough when you say you can confirm this, do something about it other than give the IRGC the coordinates of people’s homes. People’s safety first!

Geoconfirmed. Chants of protestors can be heard throughout Chitgar Town in District 22, Tehran, Iran. POV is approximately 35.74879, 51.18685 with multiple distinct buildings visible along with unique features of the complex. @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed

"You can confirm the location" How does one do this without being another "Trust me bro this is definitely in Tehran" propaganda twitter account. And much of the proof of so many Iranians being slaughtered is thanks to people like @Mitch_Ulrich and others mass geolocating public events like this one. I think people have a point about the homes thing, please engage with him constructively over it.

@MeraMeraska @NiohBerg @Mitch_Ulrich @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed @Faytuks You can confirm the location without publicly stating the coordinates! Media coverage has nothing to do with coordinates being published! Also how much more proof we need to provide to the world after the slaughter of tens of thousands of Iranians in their journey to liberation?!

In the video I think you are referring to, the videoer is in fact not expressing dissent, but also, I really doubt the IRGC members who live in Tehran don't know their own city. The moment that video expressing dissent was widely posted on social media all the necessary info to glean from it was already up for grabs. But I will reiterate you have a point and a valid concern, I hope public info like this wont be misused.

@MeraMeraska I'm specifically talking about videos filmed from people's windows and when they're expressing dissent, which is a tiny portion of all the videos coming from Iran. All that's needed is to avoid posting the POV of those specific videos wherever we can.

What home info did Mitch give anyone, or which individual did he pinpoint? In the videos I saw him geolocate the person videoing wasn't shouting any slogan, and I couldn't really make out anyone else shouting something in the video any more than anyone else might pinpoint it. That being said you still have a point, but another point is also, how do we know protestors are protesting in Iran if no one verifies it. Do they want major media coverage or not(which leads to increased attention from all sorts of actors)

@MeraMeraska @NiohBerg @Mitch_Ulrich @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed @Faytuks You do realize that they cannot cover the whole country and be there in person to identify each home, but you are giving them this information, right? What is the benefit of pinpointing individuals who are shouting slogans from their home? This is reckless and very dangerous!

@NiohBerg @Mitch_Ulrich @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed @Faytuks If people are shouting slogans in a city you think the police and irgc/their collaborators are not going to know about it and where?

@Mitch_Ulrich @FaytuksNetwork @GeoConfirmed To @Faytuks and @FaytuksNetwork, your contributer is pinpointing where dissidents are shouting slogans that risk getting them executed from. This is insanely reckless and puts lives in danger. Not every fucking thing needs to be geolocated.

@talhagin "Presidential candidate"

@Smith4Gm @DrewPavlou The Iranian weekend is not the same as yours(can look it up)

@DrewPavlou Why would the children have been in school on the weekend? Is that standard in Iran?

The school strike on Minab is obviously a terrible tragedy - if the US carried out the strike by mistake I believe they should apologise to the Iranian people and pay compensation to all the families. However, satellite images show that the elementary school was literally part of an IRGC base up until 10 years ago. The evil IRGC bastards basically built an elementary school inside a literal military base. That is an extraordinarily evil thing to do. I believe the primary moral responsibility lies with the Iranian regime for building an elementary school inside an IRGC base. This is morally wrong and horrific on every level. We know that the regime has no respect for human life because they mass murdered 30,000 protesters in January including children. We have IRGC generals on television right now openly threatening to kill children if they are sympathetic to the “enemy.” They brainwashed thousands of child soldiers and set them to clear minefields in the Iran-Iraq war. Ultimately the Iranian regime is an incredibly evil entity dedicated to the mass murder of innocents and they own 100% moral responsibility for all suffering in Iran right now.

Explosions seen from Al Jahra Stables (اسطبلات الجهراء) towards Ali Al Salem Airbase. Pov C: 29.322155, 47.578158 h/t @MeraMeraska @john_marquee @GeoConfirmed @FaytuksNetwork

@talhagin @DougAMacgregor x.com/DougAMacgregor… Don't bother

Hi @DougAMacgregor, please show all of the "recent videos" showing "absolute chaos" in the streets of Tel Aviv. As a verification specialist, I would be happy to verify them - As your post is based on those videos.

@benreuter_IMINT I wonder how much success they'd get from mining the entrances after they collapse them

This is good proof that these attacks only work in the long term and iteratively. The visible logistics have long since been destroyed, while the UGFs are still largely intact. Now they're waiting for one or two mice to crawl out so they can strike immediately.

@MyLordBebo Least you can do is credit the geolocator x.com/i/status/20294…

🇮🇷🇮🇱 Yesterday’s footage of a shot down jet, is hence the yak … NOT the F15 The Yak was hunting surveillance drones and the F-35 had an easy shot. The bigger thing here is, F35s fly over Irans skies unpunished. If Iran can’t clean its skies, they can’t launch missiles at scale and hence can’t sustain their campaign.

@hey_itsmyturn @IRGCHunter2026 If you say "He's alive. And he was extracted." you kind of already gave it away.

@IRGCHunter2026 No comment.

@hey_itsmyturn 👀