The Atlantic :: Reliance means vulnerability, and the activists and citizen journalists of the Arab uprisings rely heavily on the Internet and mobile technology. They use text messaging to coordinate protests, for example, or social media sites to upload the photos and videos that then make it into mainstream global media. In the first protests in Tunisia, because traditional journalists could not get access, citizen journalists filled in, using YouTube and the live-streaming platform UStream to give the world -- including, for example, the Egyptians and Syrians who later began revolts of their own -- a window into the events there. For all of the good this technology has done, activists are also beginning to understand the harm it can do.
Hat tip: Kari @gokari via Clay Shirky:
Syria accused of targeting international journalists with the help of western tech companies - goo.gl/boNaX
— Kari(@gokari) March 6, 2012
Continue to read Trevor Timm & Jillian C. York, www.theatlantic.com
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