Bugunku feedblitz de ilginc seyler var.
uzunlugu icin bagislayin.
Saygilar
Mustafa Akgul
*OSCE asks Turkey to change the laws allowing Internet blocking
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087277&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Media Freedom
representative Miklos Haraszti asked the Turkish Government on 18
January to change their Internet law in order to observe OSCE
commitments and other international standards protecting freedom of
expression.
A survey commissioned by Haraszti's office, analyzing Turkey's Internet
Law in force since 2007, has shown that based on the respective law, the
Turkish authorities were able to block the access to Internet of about
3700 websites. These sites included foreign websites such as YouTube,
Geocities, DailyMotion and Google, blocked by court orders and
administrative blocking orders issued by the Telecommunications
Communication Presidency (TIB).
The study also shows a lack of transparency in relation to the blocking
orders issued either by the court or TIB and the fact that TIB has not
made public the blocking statistics since May 2009.
"The impact of the current regime and related deficiencies are wide,
affecting not only the freedom to speak and receive information, but
also the right for blocked websites to receive a fair trial," says the
study.
In his statement to the Turkish authorities, Haraszti said: "In its
current form, Law 5651, commonly known as the Internet Law of Turkey,
not only limits freedom of expression, but severely restricts citizens'
right to access information."
Haraszti believes that even is some of the content of the blocked sites
is considered bad such as child pornography, the law is not fit to
sanction it. "Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from
Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file-sharing or social
networks."
OSCE representative considers that some of the reasons for blocking
sites are "arbitrary and political, and therefore incompatible with
OSCE's freedom of expression commitments." He also said that the Turkish
law was failing to safeguard freedom of expression and criminal code
clauses were used against journalists who risked ending up in jail.
The main recommendation of OSCE is therefore to reform or abolish the
Turkish Internet Law. "I hope that the Turkish authorities will soon
remove the blocking provisions that prevent Turkish citizens from being
part of today's global information society," stated Haraszti
Report of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media on Turkey and
Internet Censorship (11.01.2010)
http://www.osce.org/documents/rfm/2010/01/42294_en.pdf
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.osce.org/documents/rfm/2010/01/42294_en.pdf>
Turkey blocking 3,700 websites, reform needed: OSCE (18.01.2010)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60H2WJ20100118?type=technologyNews
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60H2WJ20100118?type=technologyNews>
OSCE Press release- Turkey's Internet law needs to be reformed or
abolished, says OSCE media freedom representative(18.01.2010)
http://www.osce.org/fom/item_1_42372.html
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.osce.org/fom/item_1_42372.html>
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.2/turkey-internet-blocking-osce
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.2/turkey-internet-blocking-osce>
*The Public Domain Manifesto
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087278&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
A new public manifest called the Public Domain Manifesto was launched on
25 January 2010, as a document developed within COMMUNIA, the European
Thematic Network on the Digital Public Domain, during the last two years.
According to the network, The Public Domain ensures that the principles
of Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("Everyone
has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and
its benefits") can be fully enjoyed by everyone across the world.
The document outlines a series of general principles (opening with: the
Public Domain is the rule, copyright protection is the exception) along
with various issues relevant to today's Public Domain, and provides some
recommendations aimed at protecting the Public Domain and ensuring that
it can continue to function in a meaningful way - with particular
relevance to education, cultural heritage and scientific research.
The Manifesto also includes a number of issues relevant to the Public
Domain that must be addressed immediately. The recommendations refer to
reducing the copyright term, taking into account the effects on public
domain when changing the scope of copyright protection and suggest to
legally punish any false or misleading attempt to misappropriate Public
Domain material.
The authors of the Manifesto hope that the new document can be embraced
by the civil society at large as a tool to maintain and promote this
precious common good for citizens across the world and for future
generations to come.
The document already includes a list of individuals and organizations
that have signed the Manifesto, but the list is also open to anyone for
new endorsements.
The Public Domain Manifesto
http://www.publicdomainmanifesto.org/node/8
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.publicdomainmanifesto.org/node/8>
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.2/public-domain-manifesto
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.2/public-domain-manifesto>
*The 9 most important events in Open Source history
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087279&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
Have you ever wondered about those key moments in time that made open
source software such an immense success story? We just did, and here
below is our list.
We have narrowed the list down to what we consider the nine most
important events that shaped open source into what it is today. The
focus is on events that propelled open source forward and resulted in a
rich inheritance, or events that strengthened the reputation of open
source software in the eyes of the public.
Although this article is not specifically about open source products,
some are included because they have had such a huge impact on the open
source movement.
The list is presented in chronological order. You may not agree with all
of them, but that's almost inevitable when it comes to a subject as rich
as this. If you have your own additions to make, please let us know in
the comments.
1980 -- Usenet arrives
Maybe this is a controversial inclusion to start with, but open source
development has always been driven by collaboration, and with the
arrival of Usenet, developers could collaborate on a worldwide level
like never before and made it easy to share software.
Usenet (built on top of the infrastructure that is now called the
Internet) was in many ways a precursor to today's Internet forums and
predated the World Wide Web by over a decade.
1983 -- Richard Stallman starts the GNU Project
Started by Richard Stallman in 1983, the GNU Project is a mass
collaboration project for open and free software that has flourished
even to this day. Stallman followed up the GNU Project with the creation
of the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to further support the free
software community.
The GNU Project has resulted in a huge amount of open source software
over time and gave birth to the GNU General Public License (GPL),
arguably the most popular open source license model out there. And when
the Linux kernel arrived, GNU software made it into a complete OS.
1989 -- Work begins on 386BSD
Although BSD Unix had been open source for many years and had one of the
first open source licenses (the BSD license), unfortunately you also
needed a separate license from AT&T to be able to use it because it
included AT&T Unix code.
This problem was finally fixed by William and Lynne Jolitz in 1992 when
they released 386BSD (also called Jolix). In development since 1989, it
was the first completely free and open source version of BSD,
independent of the AT&T license. It would spawn several versions of BSD
that are still in wide use today; FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD.
1991 -- Linus Torvalds creates Linux
The decision by Linus Torvalds to develop his own version of the Minix
kernel resulted in the now world-famous Linux. (An interesting side note
is that he initially wanted to call it "Freax".) The Linux kernel became
the last piece of the puzzle for the GNU operating system project,
providing an entirely free and open source operating system.
Torvalds famously posted the following message to the comp.os.minix
newsgroup in 1991:
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.
1993 -- The founding of Red Hat
Red Hat, a company based around its own Linux distribution, made open
source big business. The company proved that it was possible to be
highly profitable with something that is, at its core, free. Red Hat has
raised the profile of open source significantly over the years.
To give you an idea of how much buzz there was around Red Hat in the
late '90s, when it went public in 1999, it had one of the largest
first-day gains in the history of Wall Street.
1994 -- Development starts on MySQL
Michael Widenius and David Axmark started developing MySQL in 1994 (in
Sweden, something we feel compelled to point out since we're Swedes too
here at Pingdom ;) ) and released the first version in 1995.
Over the years, MySQL has become the open source database solution of
choice and is used by a huge number of companies and websites like
Facebook and Wikipeda. As of 2009, there were more than 11 million MySQL
installations.
MySQL has also, just like Red Hat did, shown how open source can be big
business. In 2008, Sun paid one billion dollars for the company.
1996 -- Apache takes over the Web
The Apache HTTP server showed how an open source product can come to
almost completely dominate a market. Based on the NSCA HTTPd, one of the
very first web servers, Apache has consistently been the most widely
used web server software on the Internet since 1996, and it doesn't look
like this will change anytime soon.
1998 -- Netscape open sources its web browser
In its increasingly desperate war with Microsoft and Internet Explorer,
Netscape finally decided to open source its web browser early in 1998
and started the open source community Mozilla to hold the reigns.
Although Netscape eventually faded into obscurity and folded, without
this historic move there would have been no Mozilla, and without Mozilla
there would have been no Firefox, and we all know how influential that
web browser has become.
2004 -- Canonical releases Ubuntu
When South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth's company, Canonical,
released the Debian-based Ubuntu in 2004, few could have expected what a
massive success it would become. Ubuntu quickly became the most widely
used Linux distribution by far, especially on the desktop, and has
brought Linux to the masses like no other distribution.
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/15/the-9-most-important-events-in-open-source-history/
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/15/the-9-most-important-events-in-open-source-history/>
*Social media is finally about the media
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087280&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
by Caroline McCarthy
What does the maelstrom of hype around the launch of Apple's tablet
device have in common with Google's announcement that select Sundance
Film Festival titles will be available for rent on YouTube, or Digg
founder Kevin Rose's comments to the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper that the
social news site he founded has "drastic" changes ahead?
A lot, actually. They're all signs that for the first time since the
social media craze started to explode a few years ago, the emphasis is
finally on "media."
Thank goodness: we'd had enough time marveling over the
sometimes-groundbreaking (real-time, searchable tweets coming out of
crisis areas), sometimes-banal (two words: sheep-throwing) ways that we
could now communicate with one another and broadcast our lives on the
Web. There have been more than enough breathless news reports about
exactly how Ashton Kutcher has used Twitter to transform his image from
meathead comic actor to aspiring new-media mogul. We now all know that
Facebook profiles can get you fired, that most celebrities sound even
more banal on Twitter than in red-carpet interviews, and that YouTube is
great for finding videos of unruly pets and instant-messaging them to
your friends when it's a really boring day at the office.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10440209-36.html
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10440209-36.html>
*Denmark: High-Speed Networks and IT to Ensure Danish Growth and
Welfare <http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087281&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
A key element in Denmark''s response to current challenges involving
intensified international competition and productivity requirements will
be initiatives to promote IT and broadband. This is stated by the
High-Speed Committee in a new report.
- The recommendations and analyses from the High-Speed Committee are
very interesting and noteworthy. The report deserves a central role in
the current public debate, says Science Minister Helge Sander.
- We need to focus on the intensified international competition, not
least from the new knowledge centres in Asia. They generate substantial
growth rates through a very deliberate effort to promote and utilise new
technologies. So we must not be lost in reverie and come to a standstill
while we enjoy Denmark''s leading position in international digital
benchmark analyses.
- Efficient use of IT and high-speed connections can contribute to
solving the requirements for increased productivity that have to be met
these years by the private and public sectors alike.
About one year ago, the Science Minister appointed the High-Speed
Committee under the chairmanship of Erik Bonnerup, former head of the
administration department in the Ministry of Finance and managing director.
The Committee was assigned the task of recommending how Denmark can
develop into a high-speed society - and how all Danish citizens and
businesses can have access to ultra-fast broadband everywhere in Denmark
as soon as possible.
- The Committee''s ambitious recommendations are by no means a matter
for the Science Ministry alone, but for the whole Government. So after
the consultation phase we will deal with the report in further details
here.
- But basically the Committee''s recommendations - such as strengthening
the digitalisation of the public sector and the Danes'' IT competencies,
promoting green IT and what is known as ''cloud computing'' - are very
much in line with the Government''s policy.
- In fact, we have already started to meet some of the recommendations
following the negotiations on the Finance Act this autumn.
Helge Sander considers it important that there has been a consensus in
the Committee that broadband development should still be market-based
and technology-neutral.
- At the same time, the Committee has focused on the ability of local
authorities to give a helping hand in the most sparsely populated areas
if demand alone cannot ensure access to ultra-fast broadband. This is of
course a very crucial issue as the Government is dedicated to ensuring a
good development and growth potential all over the country.
- We have seen similar discussions within the framework of EU and in a
number of other EU countries, and the Government will of course devote
its efforts to finding a balanced solution model, says Helge Sander.
The report of the High-Speed Committee will be circulated for
consultation over the next few weeks.
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1835
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=sa&id=1835>
*ISS astronauts finally get Internet access, post first space
tweet <http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087282&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
Astronauts of the International Space Station (ISS) finally have
Internet access, only when there is a solid high-speed communication
link to reach a desktop computer at Mission Control. Space station
resident Timothy (TJ) Creamer had been working with flight controllers
to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved
in last month. On Friday, his efforts came to fruition when he
successfully posted the first live Twitter post truly from space.
Creamer is one month into a five-month mission. He is sharing the space
station with another American, one Japanese and two Russians. "Hello
Twitterverse!" he wrote. "We r now LIVE tweeting from the International
Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your
?s" Before, orbiting astronauts had to send such Twitter updates by
e-mail to Mission Control in Houston. The crew can now use an on-board
laptop to d that without the need for controllers to post their tweets
from Earth.
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iss_astronauts_finally_get_internet_access_post_first_space_tweet/
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.ejc.net/media_news/iss_astronauts_finally_get_internet_access_post_first_space_tweet/>
*Ericsson: 4G Lead Will Take Time to Materialize in Earnings
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087283&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
Ericsson may have established an early market lead in the
next-generation of wireless technology, but it will take several years
before long-term evolution (LTE) revenues start making an impact on its
earnings sheet, the company's CFO said in an interview.
Today Ericsson fell victim to the declining market for 2G and 3G network
infrastructure, reporting a 13% decline in sales in the fourth quarter
and announcing plans to lay off a further 1500 employees this year.
Ericsson has made huge steps in establishing itself in the emerging 4G
market, winning pieces or entire contracts with Verizon Wireless and
MetroPCS in the US, NTT DoCoMo in Japan and TeliaSonera in Scandinavia
-- all of which will rollout large-scale networks by the end of the
year. In an interview today with Connected Planet, Ericsson chief
financial officer Jan Frykhammar said that while those contracts are
critical for Ericsson to establish momentum in the next era of wireless
infrastructure, those deals are still too few and too early in their
deployment schedules to have any serious impact on Ericsson's financials
this year.
https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/38673?7649
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/38673?7649>
*Spanish Broadband Penetration at 21% at November 2009, DSL
Alternates Continue Strong
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087284&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
According to a market update from regulator CMT, the Spanish fixed
broadband subscriptions totalled 9.686 million at end-November 2009, up
7.8% year-on-year (y/y) and representing a penetration rate of 21 per
100 inhabitants, against 19.5% a year earlier. Of the net additions in
the past three months, incumbent Telefónica took 28.4%, cable operators
17.7%, and DSL alternates 53.9%. In terms of market shares, Telefónica
remained the largest with 55.3% of the subscriptions, followed by the
DSL competitors (24.7%) and cablecos (20%). In the mobile sector, there
were a total of 52.586 million subscriptions, up 4% year-on-year (y/y)
and representing a penetration rate of 113.9%, against 109.6% reported
for November 2008. There were also 1.817 million mobile broadband
subscriptions, up 24.5% y/y. Over the three months ending in November,
Telefónica's share of net additions was 24.9%, Orange's 30.1%, Yoigo's
27.7%, and the MVNOs' 35.5%; Vodafone registered a net loss of 18.9%
against the combined total. Telefónica remained the market leader with
43.7%, followed by Vodafone (30.7%), Orange (20.3%), and Yoigo (2.4%);
the MVNOs provided 2.9% of the subscriptions.
Significance: In the broadband market, the DSL alternates continue their
strong performance and are eating further into Telefónica's market
share; the incumbent, however, benefits from the softened competition
posed by cable-based rivals, most notably the financially pressed Ono.
In the mobile sector, the market leader's downward price actions have
similarly managed to budge some of the customer outflow, and although
Telefónica has seen minor decreases in its market share, its slice of
the net additions remains clearly in the positive side.
https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/38680?7649
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/38680?7649>
*Colombia: Mobile connections dip in 4Q 2009
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087285&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
Colombia ended 2009 with 42 million mobile lines in service, down 0.74%
compared to the end of the third quarter, according to recent figures
from the country's industry and trade agency, the Superintendencia de
Industria y Comercio (SIC). According to the SIC the three mobile
operators added 1.28 million new lines during the year. Comcel, a
subsidiary of America Movil, continued to lead the market ending the
year with 28.8 million subscribers, but this was down from 29.5 million
at the end of September. Movistar, meanwhile, had 8.96 million
subscribers at year end, up from the 8.81 million registered three
months earlier, while Tigo, ended 2009 with 4.19 million subscribers, up
from 4 million.
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=31838
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=31838>
*Mozilla Leader Worries About Internet Limits
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087286&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
The leader of the Mozilla Project, whose Firefox Web browser now has 350
million users, said Sunday that she is concerned that legal restrictions
could limit Internet expansion.
Mitchell Baker said she worried about "the increase in laws that make it
difficult to run an open network," especially rules about content.
"You suddenly become liable for anything that gets downloaded, whether
it's legal or not," she said. "If you said to a municipality, if you
build a road, you have to guarantee nothing illegal happens on it ---
that's what's happening on the Internet now. So that's the kind of
regulatory disruption that's going to have some long-term consequences."
Baker spoke at an opening panel of a three-day conference on digital
innovation and creative ideas.
The DLD conference --- which stands for Digital-Life-Design --- is
chaired by Hubert Burda of Germany, owner of Hubert Burda Media, and
digital investor Yossi Vardi, who co-pioneered instant messaging and
chaired the panel, titled "Disruptive."
Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder of Skype which now has over 500 million
users, said successful companies can't become complacent and must
continue to make improvements and not be afraid "of disrupting themselves."
Vardi asked J.P. Rangaswami, chief scientist of the BT Group in Britain,
what he thought of what Skype was doing to telecommunications companies
like his.
"Watch this space," Rangaswami replied cryptically.
Vardi then asked Rangaswami whether he sees the industry following
Skype's efforts to set minimal charges for phone calls around the world.
"I think those parts of the industry that don't follow what Niklas is
doing will either find themselves out of a job or working for him," he
replied.
American entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, whose nonprofit charity founded
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that has 350 million users, said
it was a "very, very bad business" to try to compete against because the
reference work is offered for free.
He ruled out advertising on the site for now --- but left open the
possibility it could happen sometime in the future to raise money for
the charity.
Moderator Vardi expressed amazement that the Internet companies had
small work forces despite their vast number of users.
Skype has just over 600 employees, Mozilla about 250, and Wikipedia just
30.
What advice would the three give to companies trying to get 100 million
users?
"Stay out of software first of all," said Mozilla's Baker. "Go to Web
sites and services."
Wales said, "Have a very pure, simple vision that everyone can
understand immediately."
Zennstrom said the idea should also "make consumers' lives easier." And,
he stressed, "don't do a copycat of someone else."
BT's Rangaswami said he believes the Web in the past 20 years has made
people more willing to collaborate, to work together. The emphasis is on
online data "because it's through that that people can do things," he
told The Associated Press.
Ranjaswami said the key is transparency.
"So I think all the data.gov <http://data.gov> initiatives are very,
very important because that's laying the foundations of the next
generation --- how we use that transparency of public information to
start really making change as a result of community," he said.
Yves Daccord, director-general of the International Committee of the Red
Cross, said in a video presentation that Twitter and the social media
have been very important in mobilizing a response to the earthquake in
Haiti and giving the people "the sense that we are very close."
In the future, he said, he expects victims of disasters to use social
media more effectively to communicate their needs so humanitarian
organizations can deliver better services and reunite families.
https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/38661?7649
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/38661?7649>
*Internet companies voice alarm over Italian law
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087287&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
Internet companies and civil liberty groups have voiced alarm over a
proposed Italian law which would make online service providers
responsible for their audiovisual content and copyright infringements by
users. The draft, due to be approved next month, would make Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) like Fastweb and Telecom Italia, and websites
like Google's YouTube, responsible for monitoring TV content on their
pages, industry experts say. It comes as Google's YouTube unit is
engaged in a legal battle with Mediaset, controlled by Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi. Italy's largest media group wants EUR 500m in damages
from YouTube for copyright infringement. The proposed regulations would
make Internet sites as liable as television stations for their content
and subject to hefty fines by the AGCOM media watchdog, according to a
33-page draft. Italy's parliament, which is holding consultations with
civil groups and Internet associations, is due to present a non-binding
opinion to Silvio Berlusconi's government by early February. Raffaele
Nardacchione, director of the Asstel association of telecommunications
providers which represents ISPs like Fastweb and Tiscali, said the
decree far exceeded the terms of the original European directive by
extending the definition of audiovisual media to Internet firms and by
tightening copyright.The draft decree only requires presidential
approval. EU sources told Reuters Tuesday that the Commission could open
an investigation into the decree for infringing EU norms.
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/internet_companies_voice_alarm_over_italian_law
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.ejc.net/media_news/internet_companies_voice_alarm_over_italian_law/>
*Egypt's Internet Crackdown
<http://feedblitz.com/r.asp?l=44087288&f=1246&u=11298&c=0>*
by David Keyes
The crackdown on bloggers in Egypt is as ferocious as anything in Iran,
and yet the United States has ignored it. David Keyes on the West's
shameful silence.
On January 15, more than two dozen Egyptian bloggers and activists were
arrested en route to a show of solidarity following the deaths of six
Coptic Christians in the southern province of Qena. Among those detained
were some of Egypt's most famous Internet activists, such as Wael Abbas
and Ahmad Badawy. The bloggers' cellphones and IDs were taken by
Egyptian police. Though they were released a day later, this crackdown
sent shockwaves through the dissident community in Egypt. Wael Abbas was
even rearrested and sentenced to six months in prison on the spurious
charge of damaging an Internet cable.
In the case of Egypt, the familiar dictum that all that is necessary for
evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing is far from sufficient.
The Egyptian government's ruthless repression of Internet activists
shows no signs of easing. On the contrary, one of Egypt's leading young
bloggers attested on condition of anonymity that the regime's crackdowns
have only gotten more sophisticated with every passing month. Though
technology has dramatically increased dissidents' capacity to organize
and protest, Princeton historian Bernard Lewis told me that it also
gives modern Middle Eastern dictators the ability to "surveil, control,
and repress undreamt of by Haroun al Rashid, Suliman the Magnificent,
al-Hajjaj" and other autocrats of yore.
In the case of Egypt, the familiar dictum that all that is necessary for
evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing is far from
sufficient.Evil triumphs in Cairo because supposedly good men in the
West openly and unapologetically fund and arm it. America has supplied
Egypt with approximately $50 billion of aid (primarily military) since
Hosni Mubarak came to power three decades ago. Stability was supposedly
bought at the price of liberty---a fool's bargain. Instead, Egypt
remains impoverished, illiterate, autocratic, corrupt, and repressive,
not exactly the conditions for lasting stability or peace.
In the summer of 2006, I sat with an Egyptian friend in a Cairo cafe and
began to talk politics. He silenced me immediately. "Il hitan liha
withan" he said in Arabic. "The walls have ears." I vividly recall the
vast numbers of security forces on the streets of Cairo brandishing guns
outfitted with bayonets. How revealing, I thought. The Egyptian regime
is afraid, first and foremost, of their own people. This is why they do
not trust them to write, think, or blog freely. It is also why they need
antiquated knives on their ends of their guns. Bayonets will not
intimidate any foreign army, but they just might work against bloggers
and students.
Last December, 24-year-old blogger Kareem Amer's final appeal was
rejected and he now enters his fourth year in prison for the unthinkable
crimes of criticizing Egypt's dictator and "insulting" the predominant
religion. A steady parade of Western diplomats have come through Cairo
in the past four years and it is fair to ask how many times Kareem's
name has come up. If ever there was a man whose struggle symbolized the
values of America---it is him. He is a staunch advocate of Jeffersonian
separation of religion and state and is a living exemplar of Patrick
Henry's dictum: Give me liberty or give me death. In his last blog post
before his arrest, Amer, who hopes one day to open a human-rights law
firm, wrote "I shall not recant, not even by an inch, from any word I
have written."
I asked one of Egypt's leading female bloggers, who requested that I not
publish her name, if the recent crackdowns increased fear in the
blogging community. "No!" she responded defiantly. "The opposite always
happens. When someone deprives you of something, you want it more.
Kareem Amer is serving four years in jail because of blogging, but this
actually increased the number of bloggers not decreased it! The more
activists jailed, the more new activists appear."
The primary explanation for the West's appeasement of Egyptian autocracy
is faulty priorities. Liberty is playing second fiddle to stability and
thus neither has been achieved. Rather, the seeds of misery, terror,
extremism, and poverty are being sown in Egypt with open acquiescence
from the West.
The release of heroic dissidents like Kareem Amer will be the one true
sign that progress is in motion. American aid should be directly
conditioned on Egypt's respect for freedom of expression. Anything less
constitutes appeasement of tyranny and will come back to haunt us.
David Keyes is director of Cyberdissidents.org, which promotes the free
expression of online political dissidents. He can be reached at
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-25/egypts-internet-crackdown
<http://www.feedblitz.com/t2.asp?/1246/11298/0/http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-25/egypts-internet-crackdown>
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