At the first Hacker’s Conference in 1984, Stewart Brand said, “Information wants to be free”—a phrase calling for free and open exchange of information.
The May announcement from the OpenNet Initiative said 41 countries filter Web content. I believe people will try to access the content by any means possible.
For instance in Myanmar, 100,000s Buddhist monks marched to protest the totalitarian rule of the military junta. The government responded by shutting down the country’s two Internet service providers. The New York Times reported:
“Along with the Internet, the junta cut off most telephone access to the outside world. Soldiers on the streets confiscated cameras and video-recording cellphones.”
But information does have a way of escaping.
“Since the protests began in mid-August, people have sent images and words through SMS text messages and e-mail and on daily blogs, according to some exile groups that received the messages. They have posted notices on Facebook, the social networking Web site. They have sent tiny messages on e-cards. They have updated the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.”
“They also used Internet versions of “pigeons” — the couriers that reporters used in the past to carry out film and reports — handing their material to embassies or nongovernment organizations with satellite connections.”
Information will be free by one method or another.
