The Phone Is Mightier Than The Sword

Revolutions used to be very expensive in terms of both lives lost and maimed and collateral damage. As technology has progressed, revolution has evolved from mass death/casualty and structural damage to cyber warfare and a digital battle for hearts and minds.  Civilian access to mass communications has changed the balance of power from the hands of a very few to anyone who has a cel phone.

From Julian Assange’s “Wikileaks” to the recent successful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, technology, not guns and tanks, not political ideology or religious persuasion, seems to have become the great equalizer.  In Tunisia and Egypt there were far fewer casualties as compared to if a civil war had ensued. Jordan Yemen and Saudi Arabia seem to be next in line for popular uprisings spurred on and organized by people who have discovered the power of the cel phone.

Some people are concerned that these events might cause the Mid East to explode into more chaos and war, the demise of Israel and the flow of oil to the West. Once oppressed people experience a taste of freedom they cannot unknow that taste. I think people can learn to live in peace and prosper. Freedom trumps all ideology and as people become more educated and have access to information they will see there are other ways of being.

While I was watching a live feed of the Freedom Square in Cairo, I noticed during a night view there were thousands of small glowing dots on the screen. When the camera zoomed in I noticed all those glowing “dots” were the screens from celphones.  It was amazing.

We must never give anyone the power to shut down phone service or the Internet. I worry about the US Government’s desire to give the President the power of having an Internet “kill switch. The Egyptian government shut access to the Internet down for a few days yet information still flowed out to the world. Tyrants keep their power by having many secrets and keep their secrets by limiting access to information. It looks like the days of secrets are numbered.

One thing I would like to see is some of these hackers and computer experts follow the money trail of greedy dictators and help recover and return it to the people it was intended for.  Wishful thinking on my part, not at all. We live in a brave new world where the phone is indeed mightier than the sword and the internet is leveling the playing field.