This week the emphasis shifts again. Recently I've been looking into the effects of social networking websites including Twitter and Facebook on "oppressed" populations. Based on a few articles it seems like that despite the increased rate of information spread accompanying the internet, it also brings along certain dangers. In the video put together by Al Jazeera, the government in Tunisia set up phishing scams to find dissidents and shut them down. Furthermore, many countries in similar situations have control over the internet within their borders and such as in the case of Egypt, may shut it down entirely albeit temporarily. There are many positives and negatives to this new way to transmit information, the most significant being that it causes social tension to erupt because of the rapid spread of information and it also lets the outside world know more about whats happening. Overall, to simplify things, it makes the environment more reactive and also more dangerous, lowering the chance of success for governments while increasing the danger faced by the population in revolt. Unfortunately, it's hard to discern whether or not this is a bad thing and I'm inclined to say that the social benefits of spreading information outweigh the risk of being discovered and shut down.
It is very fascinating to look at this issue through the opposite lens, and think about how governments can use the internet for their own purpose to block decent. In a democracy the government should represent the rule of the people. Therefore, one would think that the government shouldn't have the right to censor or take surveillance of what is happening on the internet. People should be able to access any information easily and voice decent against any political wrong-doing. In some developing countries,democracy is not the norm and dictator governments often clash with their citizens. In these cases the internet becomes a dangerous battle ground. The side that is most competent in cyber space will have a clear advantage.
ReplyDeleteI do not necessary believe that it was only the internet and social networks that resulted in the recent revolutions to take place, but I do believe that they made them happen much faster and much more easily. The spread of information allows people and governments all over the world to witness something that is occurring thousand of miles away which in some way protects those who are innocent which are often the revolutionaries.I must say that I agree with your claim that social benefits of spreading information significantly outweigh the risk of being discovered and shut down.