Experience shows that the first wave of Internet-enabled change was tainted by irrational exuberance. A sober analysis of today's trends reveals that this new participation is both a blessing and a curse. Mass collaboration can empower a growing cohort of connected individuals and organizations to create extraordinary wealth and reach unprecedented heights in learning and scientific discovery... (but) the new participation will also cause great upheaval, dislocation, and danger for societies, corporations, and individuals that fail to keep up with the relentless change.
- Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams, Wikinomics, page 15.
Since Fidel’s (Castro) departure from office and his brother Raul’s succession, bans on Cubans buying consumer electronics, cell phones and staying in luxury hotels have been lifted. But these activities which used to be illegal were common place – the difference is that now, they’re legalized. Many Cubans have been buying these technologies on the black market. Internet access is still tightly restricted by government, but that hasn’t stopped people from getting online.
While this definitely isn’t the case in a communist regime, many democratic countries are looking at using Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate collaboration and engagement with its citizens:
1. Citizens as consumers of government services
2. Citizens as employees of the public service
3. Citizens as stakeholders in the policy making process.
Reported today in the New York Times, Hu Jia, a Chinese rights activitist was convicted of subversion for posting critical comments about the government’s treatment of peasants on his blog. Here is an example of his account of how he has been treated. From the article:
One of the most prominent human rights advocates in China stood trial on Tuesday morning on subversion charges in a proceeding that lasted three hours and centered on whether his public criticism of the ruling Communist Party represented a threat to the state. A verdict is possible within a week.
The case of the advocate, Hu Jia, has become an international cause célèbre for many human rights groups that contend the Communist Party is rounding up dissidents to silence criticism of the government before the Olympics in Beijing in August.
On Monday, the European Union presidency called on China to release Mr. Hu and said his arrest undermined the principle of free speech enshrined in the Chinese Constitution.
Mr. Hu, 34, has publicly condemned the Communist Party for failing to fulfill its promises to improve its rights record before the Olympic Games. His lawyer said that prosecutors presented as evidence six unspecified essays written by Mr. Hu and two interviews he conducted with foreign radio outlets.
“We believe his articles are expressing peaceful views that do not concern state security but that represent criticism of the current system,” his lawyer, Li Fangping, said after the trial.
Mr. Li acknowledged that some of Mr. Hu’s comments have been “pungent,” but argued that the government should not ban speech.
There is a discussion underway at the Wall St. Journal Law Blog.
Following up on Danny’s post about the strength of China’s internet firewall, and its ability to withstand the curiosity and ingenuity of its citizens, Pakistan is now the latest country to ban access to YouTube. The decision taken by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has directed all ISPs to block access to YouTube “for containing blasphemous web content/movies.” In particular, the PTA makes mention of the controversial cartoons that sparked debate, and more unfortunately, riots across the world. So I’m guessing they’re doing it to protect their citizens, right?
This popular Pakistani blog disagrees, noting that it may have more to do with trying to shield the world from the voting irregularities that several individuals had captured on film and subsequently posted on YouTube. Blocking access to the site, and thus distribution of what may or may not actually have happened during the elections, is thus a nice modern spin on the creation of a Potemkin Village…. things are fine because we say they are.
In a post by Don earlier this month, he wondered if China would ever bring down its firewall. In the post, he speculates that the coming Olympic Games would only make the crackdown worse. Well it looks like he may have been right and wrong according to this piece in the National Post yesterday.
The article says China will open up very limited parts of the “Great Firewall” in order to give visiting foreigners unrestricted access to the internet for the duration of the games. They’re able to do this because the Chinese Internet censorship system is precise enough that it can filter (or not) searches from specific IP addresses as well parts or all of any webpage - the Chinese are hoping to medal in this discipline in 2008.
The New York Times wrote a good article about how Wikileaks, a web site that allows users to anonymously post leaked documents has been shut down.
From the article:
[The site]… invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging “unethical behavior” by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing.
This brillliant legal mind didn’t consider that the magic of the Intrawebs, could somehow keep it going in Europe.
Great discussion on the legal blog at the Wall St. Journal (great site, btw, I referenced it in an earlier post) about the ethics involved. Free speech is a concept valued highly by free society. But should anonymous free speech be held as sacrosanct? Surely, if someone is giving the right to say whatever he or she wants, they should endure the responsibility of the consequences.
Starting later this week, you will be able to not only hear all about Britney from CNN, but you will also be able to report back on the station’s favourite sweetheart using the Network’s new site iReport.com.CNN is set to take Internet news to the next level with this launch that will feature entirely user-generated and reported stories from around the world.Visitors will be able to search indexed clips based on keywords such as location and subject matter and according to CNN, “The community will decide what the news is”, with the only monitoring to be for “objectionable content”.This will mark the migration of the iReport news content from the CNN site and on to its own platform. (The domain name “iReport.com” was earlier purchased for a tidy sum of $750,000, with the name “i-report.com” being thrown in for free)
While CNN has left a very open window to reserve the right to judge what can be proclaimed “objectionable”, this will mark a big step into not only community produced, but more importantly community moderated news.If the Wikipedia model of community self-regulation can transfer for iReport.com, the new site will have tremendous potential for developing the way the world views its news.
Since launching their iReport feature in August of 2006, CNN has received nearly 100,000 news photos and videos, with over 10,000 trickling in over the past month alone.Typically less than 10% of submissions have been featured in on-air broadcasts or on cnn.com, but with iReport.com, this could reach nearly 100%.
According to CNN, nothing will be encouraged or discouraged and “iReport will be completely unvetted”, but the site will make it clear that content does not reflect CNN’s editorial views.
Stay tuned, and for anyone interested, I’ll consider taking bets on how many minutes iReport will remain “unvetted” – I’ve got one and a half.
PostSecret.com is a site where members obtain a form of therapy from anonymously sharing their secrets with the world. The project started with physical post cards about 4 years ago and has since made the migration to social media. There have also been a number of books and videos created as a result of the more than 180,000 secrets that have been shared.
It amazes me the creativity, honesty and emotion that individuals are willing to display anonymously via the web. The most recent compilation from PostSecret.com, A Valentine Video, can be seen below.
The key to the success of the PostSecret model is the anonymity of those who are sharing their secrets. However, when we talk about collaboration in the enterprise that same anonymity that drives creative and honest expression is shunned. The truth is that when companies implement Web 2.0 solutions they are afraid of what employees might say or do if they are not held accountable. What if someone blast the CEO in a blog post, post inappropriate content on the social network or vandalizes project information in the wiki?
These are all valid concerns, after all companies have rules and regulations that they must abide by and need to maintain a safe work environment for employees. But what about the creativity, the innovation, and the honesty that comes from the freedom to express your thoughts anonymously. In the enterprise cultural and political reasons often prevent employees from feeling comfortable to share their true opinions, but the good news is there are ways to get the best of both worlds.
Companies could try creating a forum for employees to anonymous submit thoughts and ideas being clear that all content must be work appropriate. If needed, monitor the site and allow users to flag inappropriate content (ala youtube) or if necessary monitor the submissions before they are posted (making it clear to submitters why the have been censored). If that is to radical, start by allowing employees to express themselves by ranking and rating content. The idea is to give employees a voice and the freedom to break free of the hierarchy and danger of group think. I was just talking with my colleague Alan and we discussed how an anonymous forum could be valuable tool on those occasions when everyone is thinking the plan from the top is flawed, but doesn’t feel comfortable voicing their opinion.
I think it’s something worth thinking about if you are moving the way of Web 2.0 in your organization.
Have you ever heard of this company? TenCent QQ. Well… it has over 220 million active users and over 641 million registered users – to be fair, that’s including multiple accounts. The success of TenCent and other grassroots Chinese companies have established such a stronghold over the Chinese user base that even Google is having trouble establishing firm ground in China (not to mention the heat they’ve been getting for complying to strict Chinese censorship conditions).
you can purchase a virtual QQ pet (pet penguin) and bring him online to meet friends, you can even buy clothes for him and get him educated.
The New York Times had a great article yesterday that focused on a growing backlash against China’s pervasive online censorship system - also known as the Great Firewall. Interestingly enough, it seems that many people in China didn’t even realize there was much of a system in place, but have learned of it’s presence thanks to a growing appetite for sites like Flickr and YouTube. In terms of the importance some place on the fight to overcome such censorship, to quote one brave soul who has taken a branch of China Telecom to court over some restrictions on Web content:
“The Americans have an expression, ‘You can’t fight City Hall. However, I believe that with the help of today’s Internet, the mood of the public, I can win this case. I can even make a contribution to improving Chinese democracy.”
Many think fights such as these can’t be won, and the fact that the Olympics are coming to China shortly will make this a very, very interesting issue. While some people argue that the country won’t do anything to drastically harm their reputation when the spotlight is about to shine at it’s brightest, stories like this one by Jim Yardley indicate the crackdown might get worse. Notably, only state-sanctioned companies will be allowed to broadcast video and audio online, and China arrested no fewer than 51 online dissidents last year (far more than any other country) according to Reporters without Borders.
Burmese bloggers based around the world are using contacts inside Burmese borders to relay information, images and video (from cell phones).
With the help of the Internet, and computer savvy users, the dissemination of information regarding protests against the military government to the world, has become somewhat easier.
From the article:
CENSORSHIP IN BURMA
Burma ranks 164 of 168 states on press freedom
0.56% of population has internet access
25,000 people have official email addresses (2005)
Two state-controlled internet providers
“Pervasive” filtering of political websites Sources: Reporters Without Borders, OpenNet Initiative
With Internet access at less than 1%, the impact of the Internet and the ability to get information to the outside world is still undeniable. The Net Generation in Burma, no matter how few, are using their skills to make a difference. They are by-passing the censorship and are being taught by bloggers and activists from the outside world to use foreign-hosted proxy sites – allowing them to view blocked sites. The government is well aware of the threat imposed by bloggers and are doing all they can to repress the movement and censor information. Users must register their computer with one of two state sanctioned and controlled Internet providers, otherwise they face a 15-year jail term.
The Internet has allowed the world to see into the closed gates where Burmese citizens are living and struggling. Recent protests have risen due to the government’s announcement to double the price of fuel.
The Dumbest Generation? Have your say. I must first acknowledge my personal bias on this topic...
As a member of the Net Generation research team at nGenera (and a member of said generation myself), I am a firm believer in the tremendous accomplishments and potential of the Net Generation (those born between 1977 and 1997). So, I must say that when I [...]
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