Facebook in Tunisia

My article talked about the story with Facebook that actually unfolded in Tunisia. Facebook.com, the world's fastest growing social networking site, no longer holds records for their rapid expansion, but now holds the title of saving a country. Tunisia, a country in Africa known for political upheval, constantly faces internet censoring and this censoring forced the people of Tunisia to turn to one of the only social networking sites that was not blocked: Facebook. Facebook, with it's compatibility to uploading photos and videos and its accessibility to up to date information posting, made it the easy place for political activits to converge and share ideas and news. Activists started to notice though that their posts were being deleted and they immediately contacted Facebook about this right on the cusp of the new year. Facebook looked into it and found that the government that was in power was hacking into the internet through the country's service providers and was stealing the login email and password and was using it to get into the accounts and delete the peoples' posts.

Facebook, being an international company and having the rights to intervene when their site is being hacked, decided to go in and set up roadblocks to the hackers. Eventually, safety returned to Facebook, and the Tunisian government faced a wake up call that forced the governemnt to reevaluate thier control over the people.

I thought this article was fascinating because I love Facebook because of its ability to connect so many people around the world. I think that this occurance was a great step for both Facebook and the people of Tunisia.

Where Mao Meets the Middle Class

I found the first chapter interesting. When looking at the phrase, "crossing the river by feeling the stones" I felt that although it was a creative phrase, it was not the smartest idea. China needed to modernize and step up and join the world as a power, however, the risk never outweighed the reward. The people of China suffered to the point of death from famine even though the country has stroage place upon storage place full of food. The gap between government and the people is to the degree to where the people are dismissed like ants on the ground. They are good enough to work for hours upon hours and lose limbs to keep the economy going and expanding, but they are not good enough to feed and instead were forced to trade their own children for a neighbor's child in order to eat. It was hypocritical of the government to condone the sectioning of farm land amoungst the people at the time of thier underground meetings and then eventually praise them for subsidizing farming agriculture.

This chapter was an eye opener to the fact that China's economy was fueled not by the blood and sweat of the Chinese people trying to help their country, but rather by authoritarian leaders who pushed and pushed and saw the people as numbers of laborers instead of the people they were.

Putin in Kremlin Rising

Since the beginning of time, Russia’s government has always been dominated by one centralized source of power. Pre 1917, this power was in the hands of the Tsars and Post 1917; this power fell into the hands of the President. Regardless of the title of the head of government, the same style government remains the same: authoritarian.

The question posed, is Russia heading towards democracy or towards complete authoritarian government is not an easy question to answer. If a person looks at the Russian government without bias from any perspective, then yes, the government would appear to be more democratic than in the past. Elections are held, media reports on the news, there is a separation of powers within government, and there is a written constitution. If you let your own Western, biased perspective in, things start to look a little different. Elections are held, but it is limited who can run and if the votes are even tallied correctly. The media reports on the news, but only the news that sheds a positive light on the government in power. There is a separation of powers within government, but the leaders of these separate braches are either selected by the president himself or by committees which were hand selected by the president, so either way, the president has control over who leads government. The constitution that is written has more of a symbolic meaning to the Russian people than it does legislative force. When looking at these different characteristics that make up a democracy and then looking at them in the way Russia has fit them into their own system of government, it becomes apparent that Russia was never headed for a democracy at all. Instead Putin has taken the authoritarian ways that Russia has always known and put a new face called ‘democracy’ on them. Although these ‘new’ ways and new policies are disguised as democratic, there is nothing democratic about them at all. Putin is brilliant in the sense that he has figured out a way to manipulate the people into believing Russia is becoming democratic, but in reality, Russia never left an authoritarian system of government. Government, especially Putin, found a way to disguise their authoritarian power into this new way which includes freedom and choice, but in reality just means Putin’s choice and whatever freedom Putin decides the people should have, which in his case- is none.

British Police Department Uses Facebook to Fight Crime

World News Leader BBC posted an article about a police force using an international social networking site to ask the public to help them find a murderer. Facebook.com, the world’s fastest expanding social networking site is not only used to help locate old friends, but a police force in Bristol, Britain has found a new use for it: catching murderers. In Great Britain, a young woman by the name of Jo Yeates disappeared on December 17 when returning home from going to a pub with friends. On her way home, she stopped at three shops and a pizza place. Evidence of receipts from stops on her way home was found in her flat, but there is no evidence of the pizza that she purchased on the way home. Police and officials responded to her disappearance by posting information about the case to their website which is linked into Facebook through their own Facebook group and various ads which are posted on the sides of pages. This effective way of spreading information is deemed efficient by the task force because they recognize that most people use and check Facebook every day. Though Jo Yeates body was found on Christmas Day, the murder is still on the loose. Police are now once again turning to their Facebook page to ask for aid in catching the killer. By allowing pictures, up to date case information, and discussion boards to be easily viewed and on-the-go cell phone accessible, the Avon and Somerset Police Department has demonstrated their tech savvy use of social media tools to help find the murderer and put him/her to justice.

I found it interesting that the police are utilizing Facebook to update the public and ask for their help on solving this murder case. Over this course, we’ve seen debate throughout countries like Russia and China on media and internet censorship but Great Britain has taken the opposite approach and encouraged the use of social networking to bring about legal justice within their country. I think this method is going to prove very efficient because of the sheer amount of people who are on Facebook and may pay more attention to it than any other website. I think that the police are very smart in using this technique in addition to their 24-hour hotline phone lines and the fact that so many people can view Facebook anywhere at any time, this just makes it easier for quick updates from the public’s side of the table.