Assignment #2: Democracy's Long Tail

Google announced that it would no longer censor search results in China. This came about because Google claims that the Chinese government has launched a cyber attack and sent malware upon some online activists from China. See “Google’s Threat Echoed Everywhere, Except China”



http://images.newsfactor.com/images/id/21339/story-09-China-Censor-01B.jpg
Later, after Google made these claims, some online activists came forward to vouch for their validity. See below for more on this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/14/china-human-rights-activists-cyber-attack

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6996906/Chinese-human-rights-activists-claim-their-Google-emails-were-hacked.html

As soon as the announcement was made, many people the world over have commended Google for taking steps to discontinue it's partnership with China to limit internet censorship. Even Yahoo, a long-time opponent of Google, showed it's support for Google's decision. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/13/google-china-move-gets-ya_n_422040.html

People in Mayanmar (also known as Burma), for example, are using the internet to expose the Junta (military forces) and their actions. Without the internet, we would not have known about the “Saffron Revolution” in 2007. This was a peaceful protest of monks, political activists, and students meant to oppose the Junta who in turn used tear gas, public beatings, and arrests to quell the revolt. After taking pictures with their mobile phones, citizens-turned “citizen journalists” were able to send them online and share their stories with the world.




Note that in most (if not all) of these cases, information is sent to people outside of these countries and blogged about by people in other countries. For example, Ko Htike (an online activist born in Burma and now based in London) has several contacts in Burma send him their footage and he posts it on his blog.
In Iran, videos or pictures of the protests during the 2009 elections were forbidden to be uploaded. Anyone caught taking documentation with a mobile phone risked getting it taken away and possible great bodily harm.
In China, like in Iran, the internet censorship is extremely high. However, people found ways around these restrictions and have found ways to access sites and share their own with other people through proxy servers.
(Visit http://whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/how-do-I-use-a-proxy-server for more information on proxy servers.)


Some tools the "netizens" are using to combat limited speech on the internet include proxy servers (as is the case in China), mobile phones, and internet cafes (as is the case in Burma--videos snapped on a phone can be uploaded as soon as a person gets access to their local internet cafe).

With such a strong underground network of people getting their stories out online (with the help of the Long Tail, anyone can become a "citizen journalist"), I do not see these governments keeping everything censored for very long.