How YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook will Change the World

Iranian College Student's computer, destroyed by militia forces

The tumultuous times in Iran are of major importance to our world, and these events do deserve their own recognition. But once the dust settles, for better or for worse, one thing will become clear: this was the internets first example of its true potential.

Over the past week a new phrase has entered my vernacular “cyberwar.” True, I have heard the phrase before or two-bit sci-fi movies, but I had never actually heard it used in real world terms. Indeed, BoingBoing’s “Cyberwar guide for Iran Elections” may prove to be the opening salvo for a new generation of intelligence and counter intelligence.

In many ways the Green Revolution is a digital revolution. Pro and anti-Ahmadinejad are using tactics similar to overt warfare online – blocking access to strategic pro sites, cutting off or reducing bandwidth (read: supplies) to anti sites, tracking (and yes killing) anti blog writers, and ambushing pro supporters through communication. In short the information superhighway looks less like a road and more like the trenches.

And that is the key - this battle in particular, and struggles in the future, will place information management, disinformation, counter attacks, and media blitzes at its forefront. Sadly, weaponry will still be a part of these disputes, but as the internet becomes more and more integrated, it will be the international community – and more specifically the international citizenry, that decides who is right and who is wrong.

Today, as it comes out that Iran has opened fire on its own people, the Pandora’s Box effect follows soon behind. The simple fact of the matter is that once something is posted, it only spreads. Indeed, that is what the internet is about, the spreading of information – no matter how insignificant or Earth-shattering. We may often mock stupid YouTube clips or Tweets, but, today, we see why the internet is so important.

None of us knows what will happen to the people or government of Iran, but the otherwise tame tool of the internet has shown its teeth. This is the first internal struggle that has had direct fighters from all over the world, where the internet culture is taking active steps to protect those on the front line, feeding everyone vital information. Indeed, information is the only true power the masses have and, in the end, we have seen that governments really do work only through the consent of the governed.

Original post can be found at www.blueinredzion.com