In a February 22nd report on CNN.com, Libya is purported to be the latest country to crackdown on the services of the internet because of the role the web might be playing in the democratic protests that are currently plaguing the country. The electricity is working, cell phones are still functioning, but the internet has been down for several days. Although the outage could be traffic overload or simple power failures, the possibility of a concerted government effort could also be the reason.
Libya would not be the first country to institute restrictions on public access to engage with the outside voices of the world. Internet access restriction has been used by various rigid governments as a way to continue their hold of power. Iran has been known to limit capacity to overload the system to a standstill. Syria, China and Russia are known to use the internet as a way to monitor citizens and have filtered some websites. Egypt completely shut down internet access to its nearly 20 million users for 5 days during the recent protests to remove a 30-year government leader.
It is unclear just how much social networking, email and blogs may be affecting the anti-government protest efforts since only about 6% of Libya’s population is on the internet. The Al-Jazeera news network is reporting that Facebook was used to coordinate the first protests in Libya and that one Facebook group that was calling for a “Day of Anger” grew from 4,400 to 9,600 members in just two days.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/22/libya.internet/index.html?hpt=T1
Post Script
For anyone interested in more information, the following day an article came out on CNN.com interviewing Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. Yes, the internet may initiate democracy as we have seen recently in the Middle East and Northern Africa, but, as this article asks, “what about instances when the internet actually prevents democracy from coming about -- when dictators use social media to track the populace, plant pro-government bloggers and online activists and, in short, increase their own power?” It is a thought provoking piece.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/22/authoritarian.internet.morozov/index.html?hpt=Sbin
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