The wireless and wired “Internets” have become battlegrounds as citizens (us) around the world rally to publicize government (them) abuses while the authorities try to block the attempts.It’s a serious game of thrust and parry, move and countermove.Governments wield enormous power, but citizens often have the upper hand as communications technologies proliferate in so many forms, in so many countries.
Just last week, pro-Tibet sympathizers used cellular phones to track the route of the Olympic Games’ torch bearers in San Francisco.A New York Times blog post notes that many protestors stationed across the city employed TextMarks, a Web-based SMS service used by Students for a Free Tibet.The torch bearers’ route was changed in anticipation of protests, but protestors had a good idea of the direction from SMS updates.
The protestors’ key informant, Marjora Carter, a torch bearer who was sympathetic to their movement, rode on the bus carrying the torch bearers. She had intended to provide information about the route via her cellular phone, but the city’s officials banned the use of phones on the bus.
When it was Carter’s turn to carry the torch, she instead unfurled a small Tibetan flag as part of the protest.She was taken into custody by the San Francisco police, who put her on the sidelines -- where she immediately began to send SMS messages about the route.One user of Qik’s live streaming cellular video service posted videos of the protests, as well as pro-Tibet demonstrations in New York City.
The U.S. government could have shut down cellphone and/or Internet service, but that’s not how we do things.The Chinese government hasn’t shut down Internet access because of the Tibet protests, but the Chinese are notorious for Web censorship and have been blocking such sites as YouTube Inc. and Google Video that host videos of Tibet demonstrations.However, the situation is being discussed on Twitter and Fanfou, the Chinese version of Twitter, according to a CNET blog.
Circumventing government controls During last year’s protests in Myanmar (Burma), the government shut down much of that country’s Internet access.Still, the word got out because of courageous journalists and many more brave citizens who used other means, such as transmitting text, photos, and videos from camera phones.
In Zimbabwe, the government controls the media and has blocked shortwave radio programs in urban areas that are broadcast from SW Radio Africa in London.So SW Radio Africa’s Website offers live streaming radio, podcasts, and news articles.Also, the station emails program transcripts and, most recently, began transmitting news via SMS, according to Gerry Jackson, SW Radio Africa’s station manager, who was interviewed on the BBC’s “Digital Planet” radio program.
Computer expert and libertarian John Gilmore has said, “The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”Let's hope we continue to find ways to reroute tyranny.
I suspect the banning of Twitter by Dubai ISPs is political, but I try to keep an open mind. If there are cultural reasons for the ban, I'd certainly like to know.
Based on the characteristics of the human race and governments, I'm not optimistic that banning will stop.
But even if Twitter is banned, other services are available and new services are launched all the time. Trying to ban Internet services is like trying to hold back the oceans, to be trite! Even China, arguably the country with the most massive Internet censorship, can't block everything.
Thanks for the information. This is just a further proof of what we've been discussing here quite recently. I agree with you entirely that all this censorship is all about preserving their political stranglehold on the masses.All this talk of preserving cultural status quo is just a smokescreen to keep the ordinary folks ignorant. I do respect peolpe's culture but which culture in the world does not really like to be in constant touch with one another in the way the internet has made it possible for us? It's really sad that even in the 21st century we still have nations where a few folks could still decide what is appropiate for the population.
I'm very optimist that in the internet, these regimes have face the perfect matchup. With the unlimited opportunites for communication the internet has offered us, these regimes know it won't be too long before thier control is ecclipse. It will be tough but at least the means are now available to us.
This isn't a reply to a comment, but a comment about a very relevant situation of "Us vs. Them." James Karl Buck, a journalism graduate student at the University of California - Berkeley was detained in Egypt, but released from jail in part because his used Twitter to alert people about his detainment.
According to the article, Buck was photographing a protest in Egypt when police took him to jail. He used the microblogging service Twitter to post one word: "Arrested." Friends called UC Berkeley, the American Embassy in Egypt and the news media, such as Associated Press and the International Herald Tribune.
UC Berkeley hired an Egyptian attorney and Buck was released the following day.
An article in ZDNet reports Twitter is blocked in Dubai and includes a graphic from the ISP who is blocking the site.
The graphic says the site is blocked "due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates." Some of the commenters to the ZDNet article say different countries have different cultures so we shouldn't be quick to condemn the censorship. Other commenters and the ZDNet writer, Larry Dignan, say it's a political move. Dignan writes, "It’s becoming increasingly clear that Twitter is quite a way to broadcast things that a government may not want folks to know about."
I know something about Arab culture, but I'm certainly not an expert. My instinct tells me that blocking Twitter is more political. But I could be wrong. In any case, this is certainly an example of what I wrote in "Us vs. Them" -- how technology can be used to thwart oppression and how governments can fight back. I wonder if this incident will lead to more countries blocking Twitter and similar sites.
Many people coming from overseas comment about Americans' poor knowledge of overseas events. Except for The New York Times and The Washington Post, most newspapers and TV stations ignore foreign news. The view among journalists is that Americans don't care about foreign news and ratings decrease if it's broadcast. Newspapers and TV stations for years have been cutting back on their overseas news bureaus.
Regarding the use of technology for politics, I have followed this for years in my own camera phone weblog. A few countries have actually asked citizens to report instances of potential election irregularities by sending SMS, e-mail or even camera phone videos of possible election abuses. The South Korea election commission asked citizens to use mobile technology if they saw election irregularities.
At the same time, I remember one article where, allegedly, Chinese authorities asked citizens with relatives in Hong Kong to pressure their Hong Hong relatives to vote for China-backed candidates and to get them to take camera phone photos of their ballots!
Just to comment on the typical American knowledge about other countries you mentioned in this reply. I think the adjectives you used are fittingly in place. I was really very surprised at how ignorant the typical American whenit comes to what operates in other countries considering the wealth of information available to them. May be i could well have beenin the same position had i been one of them!! My colleages here at the University pretty much don't know a thing about what is going on in other countries and they even get surprise that i know much more about their country than they do.
I agree with you that these regimes are still powerful but their power base is being eroded. During our last election back home, the incumbent government tried various scheme to rig the elections during the polling day but without success.At one polling station, an agent leaked information through sms that there are surplus ballot papers and in less tyan no time, the staion was surrounded by angry voters who demanded that counting be done in their presence. so the point here is that things are really becoming tough for these regimes to hold on to their dominance. There will always be avenues open for people to share information and this is a serious nemesis to their power base. We can only hope the economic situation continue to improve in those nations so that people can afford to get the latest communication devices.
Thanks for pointing out that article about how the Chinese newspapers are generally painting a rather rosy picture of the progress of the Olympic torch bearers. Technology can help the truth get out, but with the media and Internet so controlled in China, it's especially difficult to learn the truth. Also, many people (whether in China, the United States and other countries) don't know all alternative methods of finding information -- or don't want to be bothered.
There are ways around Internet censorship in many cases, but you have to know how to do that and want to do that.
Still, I am quite optimistic about the truth getting out because of, for example, SMS, which is such a "least common denominator" that most cellular users have. Of course, only about half of the world have cellular phones.
To digress slightly, the U.S. isn't controlled the way it is in repressive countries and we have a wealth of information sources for which to select, but the typical American's knowledge of other countries is pathetically tiny. It's a disgrace, actually. At least it's possible to become more informed about the world than during any other time in history by looking at the wealth of information available on the Internet from overseas newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations and bloggers.
Thanks for the information about digital versus analog. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of transmission. And, yes, when you're speaking on an analog cellular phone and moving into a poor signal area, the transmission often degrades while with digital the conversation quality is sometimes better for a long period but then ends quickly.
Also, thanks for the link to the detailed article about the problems of digital radios in emergency situations.
I hope we will always find ways to reroute tyranny even if evil leaders are finding ways to reroute "universal rights". The sad thing is that china leaders are lying to their people. As far as the chinese media coverage is concerned, "the flame’s journey has been mostly all good news", despite the chaos that occur in its path across the planet. For chinese leaders, there is No Chaos for the Olympic Torch despite the shacky evidence. It is sad how these people are dishonest.
modulation does not perform better than Analoge. Current 9,600 to 14,400 bs. is not meeting performance requirements in PSR systems, mainly Fire. The low rate, while effective for encrypted, (secure) voice for Police use, (only the most secure needs) is failing the need of Fire radio users. The data rate effiency on nonsense sylables recovery is 88 percent of first transmission. FM (analoge) in a fully saturated recieved signal is 98 to 99 percent. Digital does not get any better or worse; in fact it also chops in and out during fringing; making understanding even more difficult. FM when it fringes; fails softly, allowing the mind to stich spoken thoughts together in the brief dropouts.
I champion only the best recovered audio, whether digital or analoge.
Sampling Rates and Other Messy Stuff Read about it here.
The sampling rate you use in recording any signal must be chosen with awareness of a theoretical limit called the Nyquist interval. At the very minimum, the sampling rate must be at least twice the highest frequency found in the input sign
The ear is sensitive, and too coarse a reproduction will sound unnatural or even unintelligible.
In dealing with analog voice signals, we must accurately reproduce a the input signal for it to be understood. The ear is sensitive, and too coarse a reproduction will sound unnatural or even unintelligible.
As this applies to performance by fire radio users of current portables, you can read good information and misinformation here.
Certainly misleading is the words of : scientifically speaking, digital signals penetrate buildings better than analog signals. “I'm puzzled by that problem,” he said. “All of our testing shows that a digital signal produces a higher-quality signal in noise conditions than an analog signal.”
Penetrating buildings is talking about the propogation model. " Not the modulation method " So wrong on propogation of digital being superior to analoge. All of our testing shows; is conjecture; and is misleading in asuming digital produces a better SNR in recovered audio, without mentioning the sampling rate...
i can only state that the physics should put us all on the same page. and ! that is my closing point.
I heard Howard speak a few times, including to a relatively small group during a book reading in a Washington, D.C. bookstore. I'm glad he's as good in teaching as he is in other "informational" endeavors. I'd certainly like to take his class!
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With the number of mobile broadband users more than doubling in 2009, and soon to exceed fixed broadband, the Internet saw a historic transition this year – and the long-term effects are incalculable.
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