'Government Abuse' of the Internet Makes Some People More Equal Than Others, Says Study (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Washington Post: When the Arab Spring spread across the Middle East and North Africa, the internet was considered to have been one of the main facilitators of the revolutions, and while the Arab Spring has since become a source of frustration to many of those who fought for it, the assumption that the internet will facilitate future uprisings has rarely been questioned. A new study, however, now raises doubts about to what extent the internet plays a role in fostering democracy. In fact, it may make some people more equal than others. To voice discontent online, groups first need access to the internet, but too often, that is precisely what they lack, according to the report which was published by the academic journal Science. Those findings could force Western governments and nongovernmental organizations engaged in pro-democracy initiatives to rethink how they spread their message. Comparing the accessibility of internet in certain regions and taking into account the existence of minority communities, the authors found "a strong and persistent political bias in the allocation of internet coverage across ethnic groups worldwide [...] an effect that cannot be explained by economic or geographic factors." Around 500 minority groups worldwide were included in the study, with consistent findings of what the authors called "digital discrimination." The 10 worst-affected minorities mostly come from Russia and Malaysia, said researcher Nils B. Weidmann.

Comments

"arab spring" and western media

[sittingnut]

western media called so called "arab spring", "twitter revolution", especially the egyptian incarnation.
they ignored what was really going on(an islamist revolution with mass support against mostly secular dictatorship ) even when truth stared them in the eyes.

1st signs were the attacks against coptic christians during christmas before the so called spring and dictatorship's inability to control them. but western media ignored them.
when spring took place, western media high lighted western educated "liberal" individauls , who got aid from western ngos, but totally ignored mass supported islamist parties .
at demonstrations they somehow diminished reports on attacks( including rape) by same protesters against westerners, including reporters .

their ignoring of reality was ended only at elections which gave largest share of votes to islamist parties , then to parties allied to dictatorship, while so called western liberal heroes got next to nothing .

we know what happened next; western governments agreeing to a brutal military overthrow of elected islamist government .

so much for democracy , "new media" and internet , and revolution!

Re:Just track the funding for color revolutions

[TapeCutter]

The Arab spring is really,really, simple to understand when you strip away the politics and religion, it was a direct result of millions of empty stomachs. The worst drought ever recorded in the 10K years humans have been farming the fertile crescent caused 2 million Syrian farmers to surrender their land to the dustbowl and move into the already overcrowded cities seeking work. That was 2009-2011, severe drought had also occurred in Russia and Oz cutting their harvest in half for several years (2005-2009), 2010-11 grain prices skyrocketed in the ME and NA. There was a series of food riots in major cities such as Cairo and Aleppo in the lead up to the uprisings. The guy who very publicly self immolated in Libya in 2011 was credited with "sparking" the uprising, he was not demanding democracy, he was one of millions demanding bread for his family.