The Iranian election crisis is being fought in the reaches of cyberspace as well as the streets of Tehran. Those without power or arms are dictating the flow of events -- and to some extent -- strategy through the power of the Internet.
Their weapons include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other forms of real-time Internet communication. Tiananmen Square survivor and Internet activist Yang Jianli writes that cyber warfare "is undermining the world's dictatorships and opening a fast lane to democracy."
Authoritarian governments like those in Iran, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are fighting back with aggressive blocking and filtering systems that often use Western technology. Companies such as Google, Wikipedia and Yahoo have accepted government censorship of their in-country Web sites, in effect neutralizing the Internet's democratic promise.
The United States must fight fire with fire in finding ways to breach these cyberwalls, which dictatorships use to control their people and keep themselves in power. Tearing down these walls can match the effect of what happened when the Berlin Wall was torn down. No one understands this better than the dictator states.
First of all, American companies that have abetted repressive regimes in censoring information must reexamine their relationships and ways of doing business. At a minimum, they should stop providing products or services that will be used to restrict information. Above all, they must refrain from turning cyber dissidents over to governments. If companies fail to take these steps, Congress is likely to mandate them.
Secondly, the government in its approach to cyber warfare must elevate efforts to promote Internet access into a more active tool of foreign policy. Congress recognized this when it declared that "ensuring the freedom of Internet communications in dictatorships and autocracies throughout the world is a high and critical national interest priority of the United States." The Iranian crisis and China's efforts to "purify" the Internet have lent urgency to the cause.
Third, Congress needs to make sure that funds to promote Internet freedom go to organizations with proven track records in enabling large numbers of users to breach the most sophisticated and repressive Internet firewalls operated by closed society regimes. In the past two years Congress has spent $20 million on Internet access. A bill I am sponsoring would raise that to $50 million in the new fiscal year.
A number of organizations have developed software that can be used to bypass the most sophisticated Internet restrictions. The most prominent is the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, creators of the software used by Iranians to communicate both internally and with the outside world during the election crisis. The Consortium also developed ways around China's efforts to censor the Internet, neutralizing its so-called "Golden Shield" and "Green Dam" barriers.
Another non-profit group of anti-censorship activists offers free software to send messages secretly or to reach blocked Web sites. A third program, developed by political scientists at the University of Toronto, allows anyone to evade Internet firewalls using a Web browser.
The walls used by 21st century tyrannies to isolate and control their citizens are increasingly electronic rather than physical barriers. American interests and values will be powerfully advanced in finding ways to breach those walls. Imagine a president of the United States able to interactively communicate with any group in the world -- safely and anonymously for the persons listening and responding to him; or residents of closed societies able to access Western Web sites and communicate safely when their regime initiates political crackdowns or seeks to cover up internal scandals.
The technology to achieve this capability exists now and can be implemented today for a cost that is insignificant compared to the promise of advancing American interests or securing freedom for so many.
Rep. Ed Markey: Time for Net Neutrality
Since its earliest days, the Internet has been guided by the principles of non-discrimination and freedom. And as it continues to evolve, we are now faced with a choice.
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I started working locally as a member of the Twin Cities Freenet's Organizing Committee in 1994. The first political action that we did was put up a newsgroup called mn.politic
I was very wrong. Once the private sector took over the Internet, that was the end of the idealism to bring democracy to all of us.
Alobar
Will U.S. companies like Dell and Hewlett-Pa
There are over 300 million internet users in China, and the government is already active in restrictin
Now, as the twentieth anniversar
China has also sought to ban internet services like Twitter and Flickr with its so-called "Great Firewall." So far, these efforts have largely failed, but internet safety experts fear that the "Green Dam" software could serve as a Trojan Horse to give the Chinese government far greater power to censor the internet.
So who will carry out the thwarting of the Chinese people's right to informatio
http://act
Pinwale, Einstein 3 project which AT&T is forerunnin
CyberSecur
You want freedom, go ahead and talk terrorism, assassigna
Yes, Senator Specter, the internet is the future of democracy. There will be no more 2000 style voter fraud elections. The people have a tool to demand justice and we will - all of us, around the world. If you want true democracy, stop telling us we cannot accurately count votes in this country and give us a verifiable paper trail. VISA and MASTERCARD have no trouble tracking pennies; why does the US Government find it impossible to track votes or billions of dollars?
The federal government is already storing all of your informatio
Remember the 4th Amendement
People are so into the grid these days and cell phones that the federal government sees the opportunit
Read into Pinwale and Einstein 3 project and more new ones are coming out. CyberSecur
And nobody mentions what the NSA is up to, why? The NSA needs to be watched and oversighte
Too many people are wired into the system or grid, quite easy for the government to control society if things get out of their liking. The U.S. government has been taking notes in China and Iran and don't think for once they cannot do that here!
Yes, Senator Specter, the internet is the future of democracy. There will be no more 2000 style voter fraud elections. The people have a took to demand justice and we will - all of us, around the world. If you want true democracy, stop telling us we cannot accurately count votes in this country and give us a verifiable paper trail. VISA and MASTERCARD have no trouble tracking pennies, why does the US Government find it impossible to track votes or billions of dollars?
The thing that scares me about this post is that if all this firewall breaking technology is so readily available what's to stop factions opposed to the U.S. from using it on us? I just read some article about all the cyber attacks that happened this past weekend on U.S. and South Korean institutio
I think we just take it for granted that our computer guys are better than their computer guys and noone could ever possibly hack into our energy grids or our stock exchanges or our defense department but this isn't an issue that should be taken lightly.
Big business, and their GOP puppets, are spending hundreds of millions on internet propaganda
The internet is a double edge sword, which can be manipulate
One of the problems with traditiona
Maybe a better approach is to stop thinking in such small terms "America's interest first and only" and more "How can American interests fit with the rest of the world?"
Second, isn't it a little disingenuo
You want us to "rally 'round the flag" to bring freedom of expression and true democracy to the Middle East through the internet? Nice idea. How about we clean up our own act first, so we can help others learn from our mistakes?
Lastly, you do understand the down side with free access, yes? Consider our "penetrati
"American interests and values will be powerfully advanced in finding ways to breach those walls."
That's why some are already making war against us. That's the downside. You may not be willing to fight and die for your moral vision of the universe, or if you prefer, to risk death in defense of your culture and way of life by way of its protection from the alien culture, but some others are. And they don't call us "decadent" for nothing. So careful what you wish for.
Have you guys heard of Einstein 3 Project?
Pinwale?
You better start researchin
http://www
A regime with confidence in its concept would encourage questionin
However, if questionin