Behind the Lines- Using Technology to Fight Oppression

The world is changing and for some it's turned into a fast paced, adrenaline rush of meaningless Twitter babble and adult ADD (guilty). For a while, I've been skeptical of the overall social benefit of technology. When you analyze how many Facebook friends people have vs. real-life friends, or how often we IM someone who's standing in close proximity it seems like we have a serious problem. But, this week I've been inspired by the pulse of social media and its ability to transcend oppression and empower the individual to speak out against injustice- and be heard.


We've all heard about the elections in Iran, so I'm not going to start there. This morning, I came across an article about a Chinese girl who stabbed a man to death when he tried to rape her. He was a Communist official and she was promptly thrown in jail. A blogger got wind of the story and rallied an "online outcry." Here's a snippet from the NYT article:

The case of Ms. Deng is only the most recent and prominent of several cases in which the Internet has cracked open a channel for citizens to voice mass displeasure with official conduct, demonstrating its potential as a catalyst for social change.

The government’s reactions have raised questions about how much power officials have to control what they call “online mass incidents.” China’s estimated 300 million Internet users, experts say, are awakening to the idea that, even in authoritarian China, they sometimes can fight City Hall.

It's pretty amazing that despite the closing of TV stations, shutting down the Internet and arresting protesters, the truth can still prevail. Deng's story reminds me that - despite how bleak and irrational the world can seem - people will fight for justice and truth.


Since the word broke out about Ahmadinejad's "victory" in the Iranian elections, something has caught fire in the Iranian people that has laid dormant for 3 decades and technology has been the catalyst. For this fight, there are few journalists on the ground- instead reports are coming from amateurs on the ground who leak rocky shots of protesters being beaten. After I stumbled across the Twitter #IranElection filter yesterday, my stream updated with 169 tweets in ONE seconds- many of which spoke of people on balconies watching the rallies, others which gave the world instructions on how to help. Inspired, I wrote an email to my dear friend (whose name I will not reveal, for her safety) and asked if she and her husband were okay. I would like to share her email with you, but first I'd like you to take a moment to think about this:

In this moment- I am sharing with you a letter from half-way across the world. I will embed this link into a number of social network profiles and broadcast the hell out of it. Within seconds, this post will be searchable, tangible and immortal for whoever chooses to seek it. This is the power of technology - and in this case, it's fighting oppression against the individual.

Dear Emily

Thank you for your email and your attention. Nowadays we are fine, of course physically but spiritually, what can I say.....!!!

It is so nice that the world can hear our voice. This is the voice of real Iranians who are tired of hearing lies from the authorities. The result of presidency is a big mistake which makes us upset and aggressive. We think that this is our human right to choose our president by ourselves, but our votes were not their favorite so they changed it and it is not acceptable for us.

The situation is so taught . I myself try to follow all news minutes by minutes. In my life and in my country, I have never seen something like state. In all protests, people try to stay calm , but unfortunately the opposition side are so nervous and uncontrollable .

We want just to know that " WHERE ARE OUR VOTES ???"

Is it difficult to understand???

Hope one day, everyone lives in a peace and safe world .

again thank you

Big Hug .......VIVA

In our little Silicon Bubble of glossy icons and over-communication, it's truly inspiring to see technology give voice to those that are silenced by their governments. We're reaching an unprecedented era of accountability, where the people are informed and empowered to voice their opinions about the actions of their leadership. But, as we all know from Marvel comics, with great power comes great responsibility. We as individuals have to realize that our leaders- from Obama to Putin, Kim Yong II to Netanyahu reflect our voice and it's our job to exercise it.

* photos taken from the New York Times

beyond a reasonable doubt

It is not required that the state prove guilt beyond all possible doubt. The test is one of reasonable doubt. A reasonable doubt is a doubt based upon reason and common sense----the kind of doubt that would make a reasonable person hesitate to act. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, must be proof of such a convincing character that a reasonable person would not hesitate to rely and act upon it.

a few weeks ago, i was in a bar listening to a young lawyer explain the logistics of her defense cases to me. after a deep line of questioning and the mental acrobatics that followed, one crystalline fact rose to the surface: our justice system has nothing to do with justice. it's a chess game of revealing certain facts and flashing them in front of the jury box like a red cape, hoping that they don't ask questions beyond that. indeed, to my knowledge, jurors aren't even allowed to ask questions to counsel.

then how do you quell reasonable doubt? if the base of our legal system is that people are innocent until proven guilty and attorneys must prove them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, how can someone who takes their responsibility as a juror seriously be true to their conscience without bringing up the questions that are on their minds as individuals. in florida, a mistrial was called when 8 jurors used their cellular phones to research whether a defendant had illegally sold prescription drugs online. and why not? if the information is publicly available, isn't it simply researching common knowledge?

but this is where we get into the strategy of defense, what can and cannot be included as evidence based on how it was collected and so forth. the young lawyer that told me about her case was completely candid about what she knew and was keeping from the jury. if she was forced to give up all relevant information, which objective justice would require, there would be little strategy left to be had. but isn't that the fair way to do things? shouldn't law be about justice not about trickery?

Eduardo Galeano from 'Patas Arriba'

Does history repeat itself? Or might it be that it repeats itself only as a penance of those who are unable to listen to it? History is not mute. As much as they burn it, as much as the break it, as much as they lie about it, human history refuses to shut its mouth. The time that was continues to beat, alive, from within the time which is, even if this time (the present) doesn't want it to, or doesn't know. The right to remember doesn't figure among the human rights consecrated by
the UN, but today more than ever it's necessary to reinvigorate it and put it in practice: not to repeat the past, but to avoid repeating it; not so that we, the living, should be ventriloquists of the dead, but so that we may be able to speak with voices not condemned to the perpetual echo of stupidity and disgrace. When it is indeed alive, memory doesn't contemplate history, it invites us to make it. More than in the museums, where the poor man gets bored, memory is in the air we breath; and she, from the air, breathes us.

he's a keeper

my neighbor and i have a joke about building a dictionary for all the terms that our generation uses to abbreviate slang. clearly, sometimes 3 syllable words are so laborious to sound out that they are butchered into words like, obvi and totes. as an x- reading teacher this pretench way of speaking is so abhorrent to me that it borders on repugnant.

so today, i receive a text message from jeremy- who seemed normal enough when i met him at a party months ago, but i haven't seen or heard from him since. so oddly, he tries to open the door up again with the lamest attempt at spitting game i've ever seen. here's the message:

--
emily its jeremy. i saw ur nmber stl in phone. we dnced at cole st hourse party n i liked that. thght id let u knw i hve salad grns if u njoy that sort, holla.
--

beyond this shoddy attempt at rekindling what never, my distaste was further flared at the vague, possibly sexual innuendo that this text presented. what the hell does salad grns mean anyway? was young jeremy being cheeky and hoping i was down for salad? if he's referring to pot then he obviously doesn't know me. either way, this text representing one gigantic fail and needed to be addressed lest he think this kind of laziness was acceptable on any level. i responded with the following:

--
Fer srius? Salad grns need tossin? WTF? U Shld git ur shizzle togetha be4 u holla at a grl.
--

UPDATE...jeremy responds with the following:

--
... grns for eatin or use as culinary HerbS is what im sharin. keep that quik wit n byte cutie.
--

modern day ragnar...sort of

one of fannie mae's engineers planted malicious code that could have wiped out the servers and destroyed their data, had he not been caught. guess that's a good thing, since our government would probably give them bail-out money to fix their servers anyway.



"According to media reports, a federal grand jury in Maryland has indicted a 35-year-old man for planting a malicious script, designed to destroy data on the US financial giant's servers.

Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, worked for three years as a software engineer contractor at Fannie Mae's offices in Maryland, where he is said to have had access to all of the company's 4000 servers.

...'Had this malicious script executed, engineers expect it would have caused millions of dollars of damage and reduced if not shutdown operations at Fannie Mae for at least one week," said FBI agent Jessica Nye in a sworn statement. "The total damage would include cleaning out and restoring all 4,000 servers, restoring and securing the automation of mortgages, and restoring all data that was erased.'"

http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/01/29/fannie-mae-employee-accused-planting-malware-timebomb/

it's raining

the fog rolls in and it's raining.
the repetitive simplicity of the piano keys, one bright note lingering above a dark chord
like a kite attached to a gnarled tree.

a child stands under an umbrella, weathered brown boots in a puddle murky water and concrete. in her hands she holds a music box and turns the key. the gears churn and prick the tiny pieces of metal, causing the notes to sing from her tiny hands.

an airplane in the distance catches her eye, and she looks up toward it to see where it's going, where it's been. it's not bright, but she narrows her eyes, shields them with her hand as she watches the plane disappear into her imagination.

she pictures them going to france, or to tokyo- somewhere where it's still raining and still chilly, but somewhere where the cobblestones or the glitter make it seem glamorous and purposeful.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/ugly-sneakers-generate-electricity.php