“[C]yber attacks, whether or not they are undertaken with the acquiescence of a government, have the practical effect of denying people free access to information, and they must be condemned.”
Julie Finley, U.S. envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Videos posted by Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas in 2006 of police brutalizing a detainee fueled popular outrage against to police brutality and helped result in the convictions and prisons sentences for two officers.
Despite tight government control over the mainstream media, Malaysia’s ruling Barisan National coalition suffered its worst election showing since assuming power in 1957. The popularity of blogs, which presented the Malaysian opposition’s case, played a major role in the March 8 election results.
The early days of Burma’s 2007 pro-democracy protests were chronicled by bloggers and videos and photos from cell-phone cameras, fueling international sympathy before the country’s military rulers severed access to the Internet and cell phone relay stations.
Writers and journalists in Mauritania have formed the country’s first union of bloggers. Their March 21 statement said the union is aimed at "protecting the rights of bloggers and defending them in a bid to develop blogging activity in Mauritania."
As people around the world gain regular access to the Internet and mobile phones, there is less need for them to monitor news sources constantly to learn of breaking events. Once subscribed to their sources of choice, they are alerted instantly to important information ranging from local traffic jams to natural disasters.
“[C]yber attacks, whether or not they are undertaken with the acquiescence of a government, have the practical effect of denying people free access to information, and they must be condemned.”
