The rapid spread of cell phones in the Middle East over the past decade has created a new space for young people in closed societies to interact and express themselves while providing activists with more efficient ways to organize massive political campaigns.
In so doing, mobile technology is reshaping the region’s cultural landscape. VOA’s Aida Akl has this look.
Mobile phone use around the world is expanding, and nowhere is that more true than Afghanistan. It’s estimated 150,000 new subscribers are added every month, with ‘no end in sight’ according to that country’s communication minister.
The proliferation of mobile technology is changing how people live, work and, increasingly, fight. VOA’s Catherine Maddux has much more here.
Before doing anything online, it’s worth remembering that the Internet never forgets. Our electronic networks that make so much information available to us are also quietly gathering information about us…and making that available, too.
As a growing rank of people bitten by the Internet can attest, going online may forever change what the world knows about you.
VOA’s Todd Grosshans has this look at who may be watching you online.
Media advocacy groups say the Internet is becoming the new battleground for press freedom as authoritarian governments around the world crack down on growing expressions of dissent on the web.
From China to Iran, bloggers have provided voices of dissent in places where few, if any, were heard before.
But a group of U.S. congressmen and press freedom activists are drawing attention to the growing censorship of online journalism around the world.
VOA’s Jerome Socolovsky has more in this report.
The power of digital devices, such as mobile phones equipped with cameras, was seen in protests that followed the disputed Iranian election in June, 2009.
Oleg Kozlovsky, Issac Mao, Ernesto Hernandez Busto use the Skype technology to participate in the recent conference on the Internet and dissidents - VOA
Postings on such websites as Facebook and Twitter brought thousands to the streets, and digital images from Tehran fueled sympathetic protests around the world.
A recent conference in Dallas looked at the Internet as a tool for democracy activists, and at the challenges facing Internet commentators, or bloggers.
VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan was there, and filed this complete report.
Iran is home to one of the most vibrant and active blogging cultures in all the Islamic world. This in a nation whose government has an ambivalent relationship with bloggers – at best.
VOA’s Doug Bernard has this look at how the Internet is changing the way Iranians learn about the world – and how the world learns about Iran.
The Internet…we’ve been jumping on and off the information super-highway now for almost 20 years. But is every lane of this cyber-roadway open to all? No – in a number of countries, access to and use of the Internet is heavily restricted.
And in many more, the ‘net isn’t as free as you might think. VOA’s Todd Grosshans has more in this report.
In the digital age, anyone with a connection to the Internet can make themselves a writer, a poet, a commenter…or a critic. The language can be harsh, and the treatment rough. And writers can do all of this cloaked in anonymity.
Is that a good thing, or a bad thing…or more likely, some combination of both? Rebecca Ward has this look, after the jump.
The U.S. government is making free speech in cyber space a key part of American foreign policy in a fresh bid to reach out to Internet users around the world.
Experts say the push not only highlights the growing influence of the Internet and its power to pressure even the most tightly controlled governments, but it also seeks to shed light on the link between economic growth and Internet freedoms.
VOA’s William Ide has a complete report here.
Google’s recent disclosure that it was the target of a highly sophisticated cyber attack has brought renewed attention to the growing problem of cyber security threats.
Officials and security experts say that while past cyber attacks focused largely on national secrets and defense technologies, that focus is changing.
VOA’s William Ide has much more here.
