A story that may have been buried in all the season’s festivities about the US Senate trying to force Twitter to close/block accounts believed to be registered to terrorist groups such as the Taliban and Al Shabab from Sudan. Reports have also claimed that Israel has threatened Twitter with legal action if they do not close Hezbollah accounts.
So…free speech is only okay with the expressed permission of the USA. Twitter has bravely resisted getting involved in this shocking abuse of power and state censorship but I wonder how long the company will be able to hold out. I am not a supporter of terrorists but I am against opression and double standards. Social media aided the Arab Spring and social media was blamed for the London riots. It is only a communication tool and some governments seem to feel threatened that they do not hold monopoly over free speech any more and insecure that they cannot control and manipulate information and communication to suit themselves.
The national security excuse is lame, intelligence services have all the world’s technology at their disposal surely Twitter is not a threat. Also over the holidays in India Facebook was threatened and internet censorship was an issue in general as the government protested to certain stories and opinions being published in particular against Sonia Gandhi.
Interesting times we live in!
Bubbly
The Chatterjis Blog 