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In the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of last week and how important "social media" was with spreading the word among Egyptians to motivate political change, do you believe the government has a right to shut down servers so that citizens do not have access to sharing information during political upheaval?
Because the users of the social networking outlets (Twitter, Facebook, etc) share information that spurs political social change, is it right that oppressive governments shut down access to these social networks in order to prevent change?
Does a government have the right to shut down access to their network in order to control the population?
Nope, government does not have the right. Our government specifically doesn't. The U.S. government's rights are clearly outlined in the Constitution, and the right to control the means of communication isn't one of them.
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
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Well, good luck with that "constitutional" argument....
Wikileaks situation may be used to censor and/or take down the Internet (http://7bends.com/2010/12/08/silencing-dissent-patriot-act-and-wikileaks/ - broken link)
BTW, slightly different subject, but some folks have questioned whether it's appropriate or even wise, for the citizens of any country to be fomenting political unrest in another one (albeit with a completely different culture and values)... regardless how "noble" the intentions?
I don't think the government has a right to shut them down in an attempt to prevent political revolution by American citizens, but I think the government has a right to shut them down to prevent terrorism against American citizens. For example, if the government found out that terrorist were using them to plan an imminent and wide scale terrorist activity.
Yes they have a reight to prevent terrorist usig the media. In fact its their jobs to do it and protect the people from it beig thus used.In fact governa,nts have done it thru put tiem to suppress the enemies use of communications and even actaully inserted themselves into it.
The term "terrorist" in America can be anyone doesn't agree with the government of America and decides to do something about it i.e. Revolution...so that argument is null
In the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution of last week and how important "social media" was with spreading the word among Egyptians to motivate political change, do you believe the government has a right to shut down servers so that citizens do not have access to sharing information during political upheaval?
Because the users of the social networking outlets (Twitter, Facebook, etc) share information that spurs political social change, is it right that oppressive governments shut down access to these social networks in order to prevent change?
Does a government have the right to shut down access to their network in order to control the population?
I do not agree with that but I do believe that a government has the right to enforce their own laws. I would not try to tell other countries what right we have or not. We know what our rights are according to the Constitution, take care
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