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Pourquoi ces pays s'en prennent-ils à RIM ? Les reproches faits aux BlackBerry, conçus pour le monde de l'entreprise, concernent son système de sécurité unique. Les données transmises par les BlackBerry transitent en effet par les serveurs de RIM pour y être chiffrées ou déchiffrées. Il n'est alors plus possible de surveiller les données captées ou émises par ces téléphones. Or l'Arabie saoudite ou les Emirats arabes unis censurent largement Internet.

"Ces jeunes gens n'ont rien fait de mal : ils avaient dans un premier temps prévu la tenue d'une manifestation pacifique, et l'ont finalement annulée pour ne pas violer la loi. (...) Dans l'impossibilité de déchiffrer les données chiffrées du réseau BlackBerry et d'accéder aux données personnelles des clients, les forces de sécurité ont donc décidé d'intimider les utilisateurs de ces services"

Après son élection, Barack Obama avait dû livrer une longue bataille avec les services secrets américains pour être autorisé à conserver un téléphone RIM, ses services considérant qu'il était dangereux de laisser le président des Etats-Unis utiliser un mobile, même avec chiffrement, pour échanger des informations stratégiques. Barack Obama avait finalement obtenu un BlackBerry, dont les protections ont été spécifiquement renforcées pour son usage. Principal revers : seule une dizaine de personnes connaissent son adresse e-mail, et son téléphone commence à ennuyer Barack Obama. "Ça n'est pas très drôle, a-t-il déclaré sur la chaîne de télévision ABC. Personne n'ose m'envoyer de messages croustillants, parce qu'ils pensent qu'ils seront probablement versés aux archives présidentielles".

The easiest way to characterize the difference between a fan of a consumer business and one of a local institution or a nonprofit is by their degree of desired engagement.

The problem is that most local institutions—I’m singling out hospitals here for special attention—and nonprofits don’t do a very good job with their pages. They certainly don’t put as much care and feeding into those pages as their commercial counterparts do.

becoming a fan of a Facebook page is motivated by the expectation that the organization will use the page as a vehicle for keeping its fans up to date. Many hospitals, for example, host educational events for the community, but few hospitals take advantage of the “events” tab on fan pages to list those activities.

hey have added their own new hashtag, #CN4Iran, and even built a new site to support the struggle of the Iranian people, titled CN4Iran.org. Global Voices interviewed one of the cyber activists behind this initiative.

Our site was created in Dec 28, 2009, hosted by Dreamhost.com (US). Our objective is to support the Iranian people for liberty and democracy, learn from them and spread the experiences to Chinese people.

Our target is the Chinese cyber citizen, firstly the Chinese users on twitter.com, and then other Chinese Internet users who read our information. Also, we infrequently have some worldwide readers, and we tell them the reaction in China (by translating some Chinese news into English)

Israel announced plans last week to use the Web to improve its image abroad in two ways: by setting up a new unit of the Israel Defense Forces devoted to fighting criticism on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and through what the Israeli newspaper Haaretz described as “an initiative by the Information and Diaspora Ministry to train people to represent Israel independently on the Internet.”

YouTube is already a key front in the battle for international public opinion about what is happening in the contested West Bank

Either way, the internet, not to mention Twitter feeds, are abuzz with news that President Obama doesn't use the popular social media application after he admitted to a group of Chinese students in Shanghai that he's "too clumsy to type on the phone". The question came about after he was asked by one of the students, "Should we be able to use Twitter freely?" In a country where the internet is heavily censored and online dissent clamped down upon, it was a critical question for the President. "Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone," Obama replied. (However, it was widely reported that upon entering the White House, the new President refused to give up his Blackberry much to the chagrin of the Secret Service.)

But because in the United States, information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."

Iranian leaders have announced that they will create a special court focusing on "media crimes," a move that will surely deter even more journalists and citizens from using the Internet to disseminate information about the protests

The capacities of the Internet that are most threatening to authoritarian regimes are not necessarily those pertaining to spreading of censored information but rather its ability to support the formation of a counter-public that is outside the control of the state

Dissent is not just about knowing what you think but about the formation of a public. A public is not just about what you know. Publics form through knowing that other people know what you know–and also knowing that you know what they know.

Thus, social media can be the most threatening part of the Internet to an authoritarian regime through its capacity to create a public(ish) sphere that is integrated into everyday life of millions of people and is outside the direct control of the state partly because it is so widespread and partly because it is not solely focused on politics. How do you censor five million Facebook accounts in real time except to shut them all down?

Pratique minoritaire au sein de la population européenne, la fréquentation des médias sociaux semble en revanche s’être installée comme une pratique commune et solidement ancrée au sein de la jeunesse européenne : 66% des 15-24 ans disent utiliser ces médias au moins une fois par semaine ; 50% des 15-24 ans utilisent les médias sociaux quotidiennement.

Dimanche, jour du premier tour donc, Christophe Grébert le blogueur, que l’on retrouve sur Facebook et Twitter, a justement « tweeté ». Des messages dénués d’enjeu politique, d’après ses arguments exposés hier matin aux juges de Nanterre. « Annoncer l’ouverture ou la fermeture d’un bureau de vote, ce n’est pas de la propagande. Aucun message n’incite à voter pour moi ou contre le candidat de l’UMP. » Et justement, « j’ai fait attention à ne pas faire de propagande », commentait-il hier après l’audience. Pour Vincent Franchi, les tweets de son adversaire sont pourtant bien « de la propagande électorale », explique-t-il dans l’assignation. Parce que, sur le site Internet du candidat Grébert, il est « fait mention » d’un lien avec le compte Twitter de Christophe Grébert, invitant les internautes à « suivre les élections cantonales » sur son compte. Du compte en question, un clic suffit à faire apparaître la photo du candidat du MoDem avec ce texte : « Grébert pour Puteaux ». Le candidat UMP, qui n’a pu être joint hier, dénonce également comme de la propagande le commentaire d’un abonné au compte Twitter de Christophe Grébert. Un commentaire sur une histoire de plateaux-repas que n’auraient pas obtenu les assesseurs des bureaux de vote. Ses tweets de dimanche ne sont que « des informations factuelles d’une grande banalité », reprend Christophe Grébert, pas plus contestables que les images présentées au journal télévisé de 13 heures le jour d’une élection présidentielle, où l’on voit les candidats déposer leur bulletin dans l’urne, serrer quelques mains et dire un mot à la caméra.

A decalogue like a work in progress, to promote the idea and the principles of a new Public Administration more able to act and operate in the era of the Nets. This is the “Manifesto Amministrare 2.0”

The Venetian event permitted to collect a lot of ideas and suggestions useful to the writing of the document. First of all, anyway, it was very important to understand that many italian Administrations, and inside them politicians, managers and civil servants, are strongly convinced that the Public Administration need to embrace, at least partially, that “web 2.0 philosophy” who is changing the web and, more important, the life of organizations, enterprises and millions of people

The role of politics Politicians must be able to take responsibility of their choices. The organizational dimension Public Administrations must change their organization and their procedures, pursuing a new idea of relationship with citizens and abandoning the self-approach. The Net as a right The access to the Net, specially to broadband, must be easy and cheap everywhere. Beyond the cultural divide Citizens must be helped to develop a new digital culture. The involvement of citizens There’s no Public Administration 2.0 without a strong intervention in favour of participation. The multi-channel approach as opportunity Service are really tailored if there’s attention to the channels more appropriate for the different users’ target. Disintermediation to better act To promote a Public Administration no more “one way” and finally “2.0” is important to foster a bigger disintermediation between institutions and citizens. Re-start form the semantics of public contents The semantics presentation of public information, services and contents must be conceived with the final users and open to folksonomies. Software as enabling factor Software used in public sector must be open and re-usable by other administrations. Foster the development of active communities User groups and social networks must be considered as a fundamental stimulus to design public web services, starting from their desires and indications.

TheyWorkForYou is mySociety’s most visited site, providing citizens with a range of information on their politicians, such as: Who their local MP is What MPs said in Parliament Summaries of how MPs have voted Text of debates in Parliament Video of MPs talking in debates Written questions MPs have submitted to government departments, and the answers they’ve got back Email alerts whenever an MP speaks, or a topic is mentioned in Parliament Comments and annotations from our users on what has been said TheyWorkForYou was visited around two million times in 2007 (according to Google Analytics) and has become a small institution in British politics.

If this was meant to be a public conversation, why take so few questions from the web? Was the point here to give Facebook employees a chance to interact with the president, while we watch? Did it really make sense to have Zuckerberg, the owner of the platform, ask the questions (and, it seems, possibly pick them)? For all those people newly paying attention, you have to wonder whether they were encouraged to come back and do it again. In a bit of bad timing for both the White House and Facebook, this happened to be the day that all over the news were comments of a Facebook staffer suggesting that perhaps they had been allowing "too much, maybe, free speech" in countries not accustomed to the free flow of information we enjoy here in the States.