…And Taking Armenia Off

Two items recently caught our eye.  There’s not much on our part to add, but in retrospect they both seem to speak to a similar theme – that of how fragile our online worlds can be.

First, the nonprofit Access Now – a loose group campaigning for expanded online freedom and access – has released new report designed to protect pro-democracy activists in the Arab world.  “Protecting Your Security Online” comes in both Arabic and English versions, and includes many ideas and pointers for anyone wanting to protect their online activities from prying eyes.

Topics include secure browsing, circumvention technologies, encryption and many others, including this helpful tip that we think can’t be repeated enough:

“There are increasing options for utilizing GPS technology in order to demonstrate your physical location when online. This can be a powerful tool when used as part of a coordinated campaign to map out reports from the ground using mobiles during a crisis or key event, but it also gives out incredibly sensitive information about your location and activities. We recommend you turn GPS tracking off for programs such as Twitter and Bambuser unless it’s temporary and critical to an activist project you’re working on. Even if the GPS is not displayed, it is critical to disable the collection of this information in your web browser or other client.”

Beyond this specific report, the Access Now site is a rich cache of news, events, and projects focused on expanding Internet access and use, and well worth spending some time exploring.

The second item comes from Armenia, but actually begins in neighboring Georgia.  As reported here by the Guardian newspaper, it seems an elderly Georgian woman who was scavenging for old, unused copper pipes accidentally cut through an underground cable.

The cable that provides nearly all Internet access to Armenia.  Oops.

Seems nearly all of Armenia’s Internet traffic is routed through Georgia, and that particular cable.  Severed with a simple shovel, it threw Armenia’s businesses, government and 3.2 million residents  temporarily offline.  ZDNet adds this incredulous comment:

“I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable,” Giorgi Ionatamishvili, head of marketing for Georgian Railway Telecom, told AFP in the report.  “It has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare,” he added.

Apparently, not robust enough for a spade wielded by a 75-year-old pensioner.  The woman’s name has not been released, but wags in Georgia have already begun referring to her as “the spade-hacker.”

The connection has been repaired, and all appears well.  However, we  worry this may give Anonymous new ideas.

…And Whom It Might Benefit Most

There’s been a certain amount of buzz following a series of stories on the development of what’s being termed a “cell phone panic button.”  At first view, it may seem like a sensible, even helpful idea for democracy advocates.  But there are growing worries that it may not just be the “good guys” who stand to benefit.

In essence it would work like this: imagine  pro-democracy activists are working in a repressive nation.  Their mobile phone is most likely a valued tool – serving as an address book, document library, camera, connection to the Internet and access to social networks.   In the right hands, a smart phone can be powerful – and in the wrong ones, it can be exquisitely vulnerable.

Say now this imaginary activist is arrested by security forces.  Before the police can get access to everything stored on the phone, the activist hits an app – a “panic button” – that sends out an alert to all his or her contacts before entirely wiping the phone’s memory clean. Read the rest of this entry »

Are Social Networks Inherently Democratizing?

“Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia.”  It’s an observation recently made by many – no less in this quote than by Saif  al-Islam, son of Libyan autocrat Moammar Gadhafi.

Unlike Tunisia, there’s less national and more tribal identity in Libya.  Unlike Egypt, there are no strong Libyan institutions – such as the army – other than Gadhafi’s rule to fill the gaps.

And unlike those two nations and others, it appears social networks are  playing little if any role in the pro-democracy uprising. Read the rest of this entry »