Egyptian Google executive Wael Ghonim was a major figure in the uprisings over the last fortnight. A positive thing all around, surely? Don’t be so sure. One: A Google Inc executive who has become a hero of the Egyptian revolution is public relations gold for the Internet power, but analysts say the company must be…
Showing all posts tagged Google
Wael Ghonim talks to CNN and dispels some myths over Egypt
He explains the major role of the internet in the uprisings, the non-existent place of the Muslim Brotherhood in the beginning and how the time to negotiate with the regime is over (when innocents are being tortured and murdered in the streets):
Google opens its heart a little in the Islamic Republic
During research for my book The Blogging Revolution, a great deal of time was spent examining just what companies such as Google actually do in Iran. The company has posted the latest information: During the protests that erupted in Iran following the disputed Presidential election in June 2009, the central government in Tehran deported all…
Are Twitter, Facebook and/or Google monitoring Wikileaks?
We are entering an age where the complicity of internet companies in censorship is becoming clear to many. We have allowed them to become too powerful and now they can act like this. By the way, so much for the Obama administration being any different to the Bushies over human rights, secrets and intimidation: WikiLeaks…
US government doesn’t quite get the internet part 8622
The CIA, keeping the US safe: Looks like the CIA created a “honeypot” wikileaks mirror at wikileaks.psytek.net, presumably to see who is downloading the leaks—but they screwed up the anonymization. A quick Google reveals who’s behind psytek.net. Wonder what other mirrors they set up, but with better cloaking?
Google, Twitter et al on path to helping US imperialism
The introductory section of this recent essay in the London Review of Books paints a disturbing nexus between the US government and major web companies. They seem worryingly comfortable assisting US foreign policy goals. Putting a nice, sexy face to occupation. Beware: On a balmy evening in April 2009 Barham Salih, then deputy prime minister…
Are we addicted or too pleased to notice?
Some startling facts: – There are now more than 500 million active Facebook users, with 50% logging on to the site on any given day. Worldwide, users collectively spend 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. – Google’s email service Gmail ended July with 186 million worldwide users, a 22% increase from the same time…
Jon Stewart on using fooking humour to make his point
Wonderful New York profile of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, a program that becomes even more essential as America’s two-party system crumbles before our very eyes (but don’t tell them; they don’t need to realise): After September 11, Stewart began to employ his newfound anger, becoming a voice of comic sanity in the whirlwind…
Get ready for the Ahmadinejad Google
Foreign Policy’s Evgeny Morozov explores the possibility of an Iranian search engine and the “growing politicization of the internet in general and of search space in particular.”