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Showing posts with label arab revolt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arab revolt. Show all posts

The end of Free Facebook


Now that regimes all over the world are aware of Social Media the balance of power has moved to their advantage. For a poorly policed site like Facebook the combination of Social Networks and a Terror State will quickly neutralize any democratic aspirations on the that Facebook might have fostered.

We saw it first in Bahrain this development in Bahrain. Bahrain was one of the first regimes in the Arab world to take its battle against its own people to Twitter and Facebook. With Gaddafi joining the war on Social Media, Facebook is no longer a safe place for Arab reformers. Gaddafi is adding a new twisted strategy in their war on Facebook. Gaddafi supporters are identifying Libyans, many who live in the west, on Facebook pages and threatening them.

Given Gaddafi's record of terror and killing, even beyond his own border these sites on Facebook are deeply disturbing. But even more disturbing is the face Facebook is not doing enough to police this area, not even taking down sites with considerable twitter attention like this one. Hundreds of people have complained about this page, maybe even more. But Facebook system of policing activity seems unable to respond to a site that contains:
  1. Creditable threats of violence,
  2. Harassment of specific people,
  3. Attacks on women and homophobic attacks,
  4. And even IP violation using photos without permission.

It is pretty clear that Facebook's entire history is a series of unintended accidents. Its success has been more a combination of random factors than any strength of the product. And its role in Arab Revolts was also clearly an unintended accident. Sadly Facebook own blindness may soon have very serious negative consequences.

Tracking real time tweeting in major Arab cities



Beirut is the city closest to Syria, has the strongest ties, and has the most to gain or lose from the situation in Syria and we anticipate high tweeting the city today.



Tahrir as the de facto Capital of the Jasmine Revolt and the site of pro-democracy protests ongoing. In Cairo scores of over 80 are very high.



Kuwait is a major hub for tweeting and it will be interesting to see if levels raise above their normal highs in the 80s.



Tweeting in Bahrain has fallen massively since the crack down, on a combination of arrests and state terror along with protesters on twitter learning to use identity hiding systems like Tor.

Tracking Friday Tweeting levels in Arab World



Beirut is the city closest to Syria, has the strongest ties, and has the most to gain or lose from the situation in Syria and we anticipate high tweeting the city today.



Tahrir as the de facto Capital of the Jasmine Revolt and the site of pro-democracy protests ongoing. In Cairo scores of over 80 are very high.



Kuwait is a major hub for tweeting and it will be interesting to see if levels raise above their normal highs in the 80s.



Tweeting in Bahrain has fallen massively since the crack down, on a combination of arrests and state terror along with protesters on twitter learning to use identity hiding systems like Tor.


We are starting to see how tweeting may reflect a fundamental set of human rights. When a community like Bahrain's Shia's suddenly stop tweeting we can safely assume that repression of one form is being exercised against them. On the other hand if a community starts tweeting on a sustained level like the people of Cairo we can hope that new freedoms of expression being exercised.

Again twitter is just a tool. Its use needs to be linked back to bigger social processes that are forming history.

Getting medical data on twitter in Arabic

Pierrette Wilmes Tweep @, is providing medical information in Arabic on twitter. Very valuable service especially seeing that in Libya, Bahrain, and Syria repressive regimes are trying to keep protesters from getting medical services.


Pierrette <span class=Wilmes" class="user-profile-link" id="112227618" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(0, 0, 255) !important; ">
Pierrette <span class=Wilmes" class="user-profile-link" id="112227618" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: pointer; ">
Pierrette Wilmes
TREAT FRACTURES -ARABIC-pp1
// كسور العظام:
Pierrette Wilmes
TREAT FRACTURES - ARABIC-pp2
// 30 Apr Favorite Reply Delete
Pierrette Wilmes
Treatment of CHEST INJURIES in ARABIC pp1
// من إصابات
Pierrette Wilmes
ABDOMINAL INJURIES in ARABIC
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Disturbing drop in Shia Bahrain geo-tweeting



We have been tracking geo-tagged tweeting coming from Bahrain for some time. We are seeing a disturbing pattern of collapse in tweeting coming from most Shia areas this week. We fear this collapse is linked to the crack down being carried out in that nation.



Deborah Esch
Must-read: @ A terrifying list of threats, arrests on journalists & bloggers in



Since the majority of the population is Shia this could be a disturbing effort by the regime to cut the protest movement from its only outside contact. It may also reflect growing fear among Shias in Bahrain who are now learning to use identity masking technology like Tor.
This earlier reading of tweeting from the Lulu protest shows just how much communication via twitter has vanished since the regime cracked down on Bahrain.
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Tracking Twitter in Syria's Day of Rage

There is no geo-tagged tweeting coming out of Syria, but today we are anticipating solidarity rallies in many Arab cities which we are tracking on twitter.



Beirut is the city closest to Syria, has the strongest ties, and has the most to gain or lose from the situation in Syria and we anticipate high tweeting the city today.



Tahrir as the de facto Capital of the Jasmine Revolt and we would expect to see solidarity protests there after prayers. In Cairo scores of over 80 are very high.



Kuwait is a major hub for tweeting and it will be interesting to see if levels raise above their normal highs in the 80s to 90s over protests for Syria.

The twitter hastag Syria is very active.
أخبار درعا وحوران
#Dsraa حوران : عاجل : تأكيد استشهاد عشرة شباب على جسر صيدا في مجزرة فك الحصار التي قامت بها قوات الغدر و...
»
shaamnews
شام - بانياس - أطفال جمعة الغضب 29-4 ج3
abdalrahman rabea
الأن حرر محضرك في أقرب كنيسة فهي بديل لأقسام الشرطة
Aisha Alsalloum
ودمعٌ لا يُكَفْكَفُ يا دمشقُ !*
Sherin M.
The attack on people in Sheikh Miskeen near has been described as a massacre.
Anas Qtiesh
Every Friday the protest in grow larger. Security forces kill more people. Tens of thousands are protesting today in multiple cities.
kurdish blogger
Syrian forces shoot villagers near Deraa -witnesses
Norm Gorton
"@: URGENT: Heavy fire by Syrian regime tanks now on area in " @-See what news looks like?
One reads many posts the reflect the feelings of the Egyptian Google Exec and Democracy hero Wael Ghonim that the Royal Wedding is at best a distraction. Sentiments expressing frustration that a non-story like a future constitutional monarch will get so much more press time than a massive day of Syrian protests is understandable.

Wael Ghonim
People's divorce from the regime in is way more important and noble than the .
Top Tweet
Blake Hounshell
While Britain celebrates Bashar al-Assad is hosting a mass funeral in .
Top Tweet
Goldie
12,000 journalists for . Thats more than and combined.
Top Tweet

But one can not say this is the main stream media or states, private people elect to twitter globally much more about the Royal Couple than Syria. But twitter does contain the criticism that too much media effort is being applied to the lesser of two stories. This is a critical media service by itself.


There are many youTube videos coming out from Syria now




We did have a stream that claims to be from Homs today inside of Syria. We can not confirm its origin though, but it has also gone down

Watch live streaming video from syriar at livestream.com

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