The Iranian Cyber Police (FATA) is an Iranian law enforcement agency which was founded in January 2011 by Police Brigadier-General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam with the goal of countering "internet crimes". On 23 January 2011, Brigadier-General Kamal Hadianfar was appointed to head the new force, and it took on "anti-revolutionary" and dissident groups who had been responsible for the 2009 pro-democracy protests. In January 2012, the government placed restrictions on internet cafes, monitoring users' personal information and browser histories. In June 2012, FATA cracked down on VPN users to enforce government censorship.