The Soft Bulletin
As users of Twitter, how should we feel about the fact that the microblogging service conceded to a recent request from the US State Department?
As we all know by now, in the aftermath of Iran’s June 12 presidential elections, Iranians have increasingly taken to the streets in protest of the election’s hotly disputed results. We know this in large part due to the fact that many of those Iranians have been using Twitter to swap information and inform those of us here in the outside world about what’s going on in Tehran.
This is no doubt a triumph for the company and even for the role of technology in democracy more broadly. Jon Williams, the BBC world news editor, is perhaps sentimental but certainly not entirely wrong in asserting that "the days when regimes can control the flow of information are over."
Many of us also know by now that Twitter received a call from someone at the US State Department last Monday, asking them to delay scheduled maintenance of its global network. This maintenance would have cut off service to Iranians using Twitter to broadcast the moment-to-moment happenings at the protests to the world.
The official position of the State Department was given by P.J. Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs: “This is completely consistent with our national policy. We are proponents of freedom of expression. Information should be used as a way to promote freedom of expression.”
The role of convenience in US policy with regard to promoting freedom of information is not the point here. That point is either facile or wildly contentious, and I’m not interested in finding out which.
Rather, the point — and I think this is critically important for those of us who contribute to Twitter — is that the service has now set a precedent of conceding to the US government. Unlike (e.g.) Google, Twitter has shown willingness (however well-motivated) to respond to "soft" government intervention.
That fact should give us pause in considering our future relationship of Twitter, especially as the service grows and takes on now-unexpected roles in our Internet lives.
| Tagged with: | Design Ethics, Freedom, Google, Information, Politics, Trust, Twitter |
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Comments on this post
1.
Reminds me of a recent article by Jamais Cascio on the potential dark-side of Twitter. In short: the service that can be used to organize protesters can be used to organize a genocide.
Of course, this is just a rehash of the old “it’s not the tool, it’s the user” argument. But it’s important to be critical of these things (especially if they seem benevolent), as Paul points out above.
We’re overjoyed when people use a new technology against an unjust government, but we overlook that our own government could just as easily turn it against us.
2.
Excellent post, and a really astute point. As the new global society slowly congeals, nationalism and internationalism are being redefined, if not thrown out altogether? Not long now before social networks form governments of their own.
3.
“Unlike (e.g.) Google, Twitter has shown willingness (however well-motivated) to respond to “soft” government intervention.”
Google isn’t immune to government pressure. What about Google’s relationship with the Chinese government and its censors?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10265123-2.html
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70081
4.
@Erik - Thanks a lot, and thanks for the link. Also, your blog looks very cool. Ich leibe “Visual Communication und Wissenschaft”.
@Adria - That’s certainly a fair point, and I agree with the spirit of it. Actually, Nick and I talked a little bit about the Google.cn thing as it relates to this post also. I personally feel like the situations have some strategic/ethical nuances that make them a little different, but regardless of whether we count Google as similar or dissimilar to Twitter here, I hope the main drift of the post is still forceful.
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