Iran uses Internet as tool against protesters

In Iran, the rare move of issuing a public appeal for help via the Internet suggests that law enforcement authorities are overwhelmed by the range of protesters. While the Revolutionary Guard, known as the IRGC, has been expanding into the Ministry of Intelligence's traditional area of coverage, Iran's professional and ideological army is more accustomed to being used to defend the country from external threats. Although Iran's electronic warfare capabilities and ballistic missile and nuclear programs position it as one of the Middle East's most technologically advanced nations, such skills don't seem to have filtered down to an intelligence ministry more famed for its strong human intelligence assets. While Britain and the US possess advanced facial recognition-enabled CCTV networks that allow for the automatic identification and tracking of suspects, Iran is not known to have acquired such an ability.