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Oliver Hennessey

Relax: Twitter's New Censorship Policy Is Actually Good for Activists - 6 views

mashable.com/...twitter-censorship-activism

Net308_508 Twitter community organisation political protest censor

shared by Oliver Hennessey on 26 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Oliver Hennessey on 26 Mar 12
     
    Catone, J. (2012). Relax: Twitter's New Censorship Policy Is Actually Good for Activists. Mashable. Retrieved March 23, 2012 from http://mashable.com/2012/01/27/twitter-censorship-activism/ This news article from the online news site Mashable takes a look at the announcement that Twitter will now censor tweets on a country-by-country basis, and argues that this is actually a good thing for online activists. This is contrary to the widespread backlash that has been made against Twitter with users pledging to boycott the service over its new censorship rules. The author points out that Twitter has always been subject to takedown requests, and that this was on a global scale so that if a tweet or user was removed it had to be done for everyone in the world. The author believes it is a lot better that "now, Twitter can remove that tweet in that country, but allow the world to see it". His rationale is that everyone outside of the offending country can still see the tweets, and that if Twitter were to refuse a takedown notice from an oppressive regime it could have its service totally blocked for all users in that country. The fact that Twitter has pledged to increase its transparency in dealing with takedown notices strengthens his argument. I agree with the author on this and find this an especially useful resource as it provides links to circumvent Twitter's technology in an effort to get around censors, and arguments that this new change could even allow the message of censored activists to be more powerful.
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Dean Strautins on 27 Mar 12
     
    Listen to how people can create thousands of unique Twitter accounts to manipulate the messages on Twitter http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/dont-trust-the-web/3725726 Therefore Twitter needs some rules.
  • Victoria Jobling on 09 Apr 12
     
    This article discusses Twitter's announcement that they can "censor tweets on a country-by-country basis" (Catone, 2012). This policy change initially received backlash online, as users did not understand how beneficial this could be for some activists. In comparison to other articles shared in the project, this news report is not of as great a value, however, it is still relevant to the topic and highlights the importance of sharing information with the world, rather than a local community. The significance of censoring on a country-by-country basis is that when a tweet or user is blocked in a specific country, like Egypt, people outside of Egypt can still view the blocked user and their tweets (Catone, 2012). Prior to the policy change, a censored user or tweet was blocked worldwide, meaning that people can still communicate with the rest of the world (Catone, 2012). This change is of great importance to political activists in many countries like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, because it means that they can continue to update other nations of the latest circumstances and events. During the Arab Revolution, people captured photos and video footage, not just to show to their local community, but also to provide credible evidence to the outside world (Beaumont, 2011). Clearly, this highlights Twitter's support for protestors in developing or struggling nations, as they have provided an outlet for activists to reach and inform a wider audience. While this article was not as useful as others, it is relevant to the topic and appears to be a reliable source. It, quite simply, demonstrates the importance of being heard in an online environment. Reference: Beaumont, P. (2011, February 25). The Truth about Twitter, Facebook and the Uprisings in the Arab World. The Guardian. Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
  • Stephen R on 10 Apr 12
     
    This article is of relevance to my chosen topic (the Anonymous online activism group) as it deals with Twitter and the way oppressive governments seek to deal with it's collaborative and organisational power. Mansfield-Devine (2011) discusses how Anonymous use Twitter heavily as a method of collaboration during their activism operations. Though the article says otherwise, if Twitter's censorship were to inhibit this kind of collaboration this could affect the way in which Anonymous organises itself. The reliability of the source is reasonable. Mashable may be a somewhat sensationalist online news website at times, but this article in particular has many links within allowing one to see the sources behind various claims. The article is of considerable relevance to the topic of online movements as it deals with threats to online activism. Twitter itself is subject to pressure to silence of voices of dissension in certain rendering Twitter less useful for activism purposes. I found the article somewhat useful. It highlights that Twitter impervious to control and censorship. It also highlights that Twitter is a powerful tool for organising uprisings and political movements. This article is quite valuable to the overall collaborative resource development project as it is reasonably reliable, deals with the collaborative potential of Twitter and highlights some of the threats to online movements. Mansfield-Devine, Steve. 2011. "Anonymous: Serious threat or mere annoyance?" Network Security 1: 4-10. http://dx.doi.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1016/S1353-4858(11)70004-6
  • jessica_mann on 11 Apr 12
     
    Prior to reading this article, I had not been aware of Twitter's new censorship policy related to each individual country. After reading the title of the article, I failed to see how censorship on Twitter could possibly be considered to be a good thing for activists so I was interested to see the writer's arguments. I definitely agree that Twitter's opting to censor certain tweets is the more desirable outcome than a whole country be denied access to the site. Twitter's approach to censorship, something that they don't seem to be able to avoid on some level, has been handled in the best way possible given the circumstances. I believe that transparency of the 'take down requests' has real potential to alleviate some of the frustration users may feel when they notice that something that was there yesterday is suddenly gone today. This method of publically displaying the reason why something has been removed seems to work well for YouTube in similar censorship cases, particularly in relation to copyright cease and desist claims.
Stephen R

Online Activism - 14 views

My topic of choice is the Anonymous activist group who's activities are often, but not exclusively, enacted online. The online activism by Anonymous is similar to the online activism described in Y...

Net308_508 collaboration organisation crowds china kony 2012 online activism

started by Kate Namestnik on 26 Mar 12 2 follow-ups, last by Stephen R on 10 Apr 12
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