Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Social Networking Spurs Activism Against Repression

Posted by Soulskill on from the freedom-of-poke dept.

The New York Times Magazine is running a story about the rise in political activism in Egypt through sites like Facebook, which allow citizens to gather and share ideas in ways they otherwise aren't allowed. A state-of-emergency law has been active in Egypt since 1981, which, among other things, "allows the government to ban political organizations and makes it illegal for more than five people to gather without a license from the government." As affordable internet access has spread throughout the country, the government is having a much harder time keeping wraps on the ideas of dissidents. Blocking access to the sites isn't a good solution for the government, because many non-dissidents use it for mundane communications. As Harvard's Ethan Zuckerman puts it, "...doing so would alert a large group of people who they can't afford to radicalize."

1 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. Simple Solution by LordKaT · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Make the Social Sites the enemies.

    Since you've got state-run everything, force an ungodly amount of unreasonable requests on these foreign companies, like demanding $1 Million per user from your country (or whatever worthless paper currency your country has issued).

    Report to your citizens - the people you "cannot afford to radicalize" - that they (the social networks) are being unfair and stealing taxpayer money, the main cause of child rape, or some other such bullshit. Twist, lie, and contort until it fits within your cultures limits of reason.

    Since the companies cannot comply with your requests, they have to block access from your country. Now, since you've gone and made them the enemy in the eyes of the people, you can make laws banning their use, blocking access to their content on a government filter, or other such nonsense. You win, because you can then limit the people to use a government sponsored social site (ie, more monitoring of radicalization), and the true radicals will be forced to use technology that will make them stand out.

    It's a lose-lose situation, the perfect scenario for any overly authoritarian government.