Internet Issues

Last week we discussed several different topics about the internet and its role in the categories. Several topics flowed together, such as how governments use and control the internet. Some countries like our own allows its citizens full rights to say what they want and view what they want (all problems of legality taken into consideration of course). Other places are not so lucky, like Egypt and Tunisia. Since the governmental bodies owned most of the wiring companies and hardware that provided Internet services, they were able to quickly shut it all off. They also got some help from outside governments who were heavy suppliers of cell-phones, bullying other governments into going along with their total shut-down efforts. It was all an attempt at stopping the political activism that had begun to erupt in the country, as groups were talking on Facebook and making gathering times for their rallies and protests.  I cannot even think what it would be like to live somewhere and not be certain whether or not the entire world wide web would be suddenly shut off or inaccessible to everyone I knew!  We should consider ourselves to be lucky to live in a country that provides us the freedoms we have.