Perhaps it is time to update the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword" to "The Internet is mightier than dictators."
By Othman Laraki, contributor
While the above statement is made tongue-in-cheek, it is undeniable that we are living through a time of accelerated change. Suddenly, we are witnessing decades-long regimes being challenged by oppressed populations. It is not entirely clear what has changed, but the advent of the Social Internet seems to somehow be involved. Some see Twitter, Facebook and other online social applications as self-congratulating, delusional apps for the Silicon Valley nerd-o-sphere, whereas others view them as dictatorial kryptonite.
As is frequently the case, reality is somewhere in between. It is true that the Social Internet hasn't changed the fundamental fabric of society. It is also unlikely that Twitter and Facebook are the revolutionary coordination weapon the world has been waiting for. Revolutions have always been the tipping of unstable systems, where some relatively minor events offer a coordination point around which dissent congeals. At the heart of the "Revolutionary Equation" is a perspective that revolutions are triggered and won based on information and signaling. Individuals revolt because they expect to make a difference and they expect to be sufficiently numerous that they will overcome their governments' ability to suppress them. Twitter and Facebook have created an environment in which dissent can reach critical mass outside of governments' ability to suppress it. The Social Internet has altered the "Revolutionary Equation" by reducing the cost of dissent and increased the cost of suppressing it.
The Revolutionary Equation More
The strategy worked pretty well for Mubarak in Egypt.
Heading over to the Google (GOOG) Transparency tool this weekend shows that escalating tensions between the Citizenry of Libya and their leader Moammar Gadhafi have incited the leadership to cut off portions of the Internet.
One such bastion of revolution is YouTube, pictured below:
It appears that YouTube was almost entirely shut off the morning of February 17th and continues to be offline. There are also reports MORE
Seth Weintraub - Feb 19, 2011 8:30 AM ET
Wael Ghonim, Google's executive in Egypt and one of the leaders of the uprising, has been missing for a ten days. now Al Arabiya television says he's been set free.
Ten days ago, just as things were getting hot in Egypt, Wael Ghonim tweeted, "Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan25". That was the last communications MORE
Seth Weintraub - Feb 7, 2011 10:44 AM ET
Using the transparency tool, it looks like Egyptians are back online this morning.
Google's (GOOG) Transparency tool is a good way to see to what degree a government is denying/allowing their citizens access to the Internet. Usually China is where the action is, but over the past week, Egypt's government has turned off the Internet amid protests calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
While protests continue, as of this morning, the government has turned MORE
Seth Weintraub - Feb 2, 2011 8:24 AM ET
A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.
"Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform. ... What's the reason for him [Jobs] to trash Flash? There's no reason other than ego." -- Netgear co-founder Patrick Lo in Sydney Australia. (The Register)
"Steve Jobs doesn't give MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Feb 1, 2011 3:19 AM ET
Over the weekend, the new Googlers at SayNow teamed up up with Twitter to build a Voice-to-tweet solution which could help
Google purchased SayNow last week. Instead of celebrating this weekend, the new Googlers (GOOG), with the help of their new colleagues and some folks at Twitter, put together an application that can convert a phone message into a tweet.
We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, MORE
Seth Weintraub - Jan 31, 2011 5:50 PM ET
A curated selection of the weekend's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.
Actor Jesse Eisenberg hosted last weekend's episode of Saturday Night Live and was joined -- albeit briefly -- by none other than Mark Zuckerberg himself. The Facebook CEO, played by Eisenberg in The Social Network, popped in during the actor's introductory monologue, where among other things, he jokingly took credit for inventing "poking." Check it out. JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Jan 31, 2011 3:00 AM ET
A curated selection of the day's most newsworthy tech stories from all over the Web.
A photo of the protests posted on the Facebook group page, "We are all Khaled Said."
Multiple outlets are reporting that Egypt has shut off local web access, a first in Internet history. Tweeted CNN reporter Ben Wedeman: "No internet, no SMS, what is next? Mobile phones and land lines? So much for stability. #Jan25 #Egypt" The MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Jan 28, 2011 6:00 AM ET
Twitter and Facebook have seen outages occur as protestors, following the recent Tunisian example, demand the end of President Hosni Mubarak's reign.
A photo of the protests posted on the Facebook group page, "We are all Khaled Said."
In the history of political upheavals, communication is in many ways the most powerful tool available to both entrenched power and upstart. However control over those communications tends to lie firmly in the MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer-Reporter - Jan 26, 2011 3:23 PM ET
Lily Sussman is back from Egypt with the laptop that got "blown up" at the Israeli border
Photo: Lily Sussman
Three weeks ago, an American student working in Cairo was questioned for two hours at the Israeli border before security officials confiscated her Apple (AAPL) MacBook, called in a sapper, and shot it full of holes.
Lily Sussman, 21, told the story on her blog, where it drew more than a thousand MORE
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