Reply #137: One U.S. Corporation's Role in Egypt's Brutal Crackdown

[TBF]

Timothy Karr

Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com
Posted: January 28, 2011 12:15 PM


The open Internet's role in popular uprising is now undisputed. Look no further than Egypt, where the Mubarak regime today reportedly shut down Internet and cell phone communications -- a troubling predictor of the fierce crackdown that has followed.

What's even more troubling is news that one American company is aiding Egypt's harsh response through sales of technology that makes this repression possible.

The power of open networks is clear. The Internet's favorite offspring -- Twitter, Facebook and YouTube -- are now heralded on CNN, BBC and Fox News as flag-bearers for a new era of citizen journalism and activism. (More and more these same news organizations have abandoned their own, more traditional means of newsgathering to troll social media for breaking information.)

But the open Internet's power cuts both ways: The tools that connect, organize and empower protesters can also be used to hunt them down...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/one-us-corporations-role-_b_815281.html