明報
2011年2月26日 星期六
2011年2月22日 星期二
2011年2月20日 星期日
Mobile Security and Safety: SMS and GPS (RTHK Police Report)
Mobile Security and Safety: SMS and GPS (RTHK Police Report)
RTHK Police Report : GPS
RTHK Police Report : SMS
RTHK Police Report : GPS
RTHK Police Report : SMS
2011年2月17日 星期四
2011年2月14日 星期一
2011年2月11日 星期五
Egypt : A Facebook Revolution ?
http://www.socialmedialibrary.co.uk/blog/2011/02/egypt-a-facebook-revolution/
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship-by-any-other-name is under siege by grassroots activists buoyed by the recent events in Tunisia that saw their despotic leader forced to flee the country. The Egyptian people have taken to the streets in their millions and have been protesting since January 25th. Anyone following coverage of the events will know that social media has played an integral role in the protests, praised by demonstrators and persecuted by government, but many may question its true impact on events. The fact of the matter is that this is a true Facebook revolution.
What else can we call an uprising (that looks increasingly likely to topple a regime) that originated on Facebook? It’s true that “the internet doesn’t make the dissident” and resentment of Mubarak has been bubbling away for some time, but how else should a revolution organise itself and circumvent increasingly sophisticated methods of censorship in the 21st century? Nancy Scola argues against the idea of a Facebook revolution claiming that this is “just what revolution looks like these days,” and she’s right – social media and popular uprisings in this day and age often cannot be separated in the same way that Facebook and people cannot be separated - so in what way does this revolution offend Gladwell’s theory of slacktivism?
That’s simple; this current wave of unrest began on Facebook. The central rallying point for the uprising has been a Facebook Group called We Are All Khaled Said, administrated by a mysterious figure who goes only by the name ‘El Shaheed’ (the Arabic term for martyr). Their mission statement reads:
“Khaled Said, 28 years old, was tortured to death by 2 Egyptian policemen in the street. The incident has woken up Egyptians to work against the systematic torture in Egypt and the 30 years running emergency law. We need international supporters to help us stand against Police brutality in Egypt. We invite you to support our cause. Join our facebook page to see how you can help.”
Taking a dead man’s name and originating as a protest group against torture and police brutality, it has since become much more. On January 15th 2011, El Shaheed posted the date the protests would begin on the page’s wall; “Activists from all over Egypt have now agreed to make the 25th January the day to start Egyptians’ peaceful uprising against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment in Egypt.” The rest is (unfolding) history.
It could be argued that the movement was only sparked by social media. Once the protests were already underway the government saw fit to block Facebook and Twitter. While this made the websites accessible only by proxy, Twitter’s open API allowed many users to continue updating through third-party applications such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite.
This censorship failed to stop the flow of digital information leaking from Egypt’s borders and so at 6am on 28th January, internet access in Egypt was significantly cut, dropping to negligible levels. By this time, the mainstream media had become firmly entrenched in proceedings, with rolling coverage of the protests across the uncensored world, yet the Egyptian protestors were not satisfied with simple coverage; they wanted their individual voices to be heard. The government had effectively declared the internet as an enemy of the state yet still the protestors found novel ways to update the world about their struggle through social media.
Some turned back to dialup internet, calling upon foreign internet providers to help them claw back the freedom that their government denied them. On the 31st January Google unleashed a tool to help Egyptians continue to tweet, teaming up with engineers from Twitter and new acquisition SpeakNow to create a new service to help the voices of the Egyptian people bypass the censorship and tweet once more.
The use of social media has played a substantial part in this popular uprising; it has both been the rallying point of a dissatisfied people and representative of the freedom that they are fighting for. The events in Egypt have been undeniable proof that Facebook activism does not merely amount to weak-ties and inconsequential status updates. In the end there is only one conclusion to reach; social media gives a focus point and a voice to dissatisfied people, and those people will have their voices heard.
Quick Hits
Is Twitter keeping #Jan25 trending?
The power and limitations of the hashtag (#) were shown again on Twitter as #Jan25 became the go-to search term for immediate news, analysis and opinion from the protests. However, it lost some of its integrity when jumped on by a worldwide audience. It seemed to change from a breaking news feed into a guest book, filled with messages of support coming from a worldwide audience.
Notably, #Jan25 has been trending worldwide since January 25th, 2011. In May 2010 Twitter changed the Trending Topic algorithm to “focus on topics that are experiencing sudden spikes in popularity, rather than consistently talked-about subjects,” leading to most trending topics lasting a day or two before dropping off in popularity. So either #Jan25 is experiencing increasing popularity every day or Twitter have tinkered with the algorithm to keep it trending as a show of support.
Worldwide Ramifications
Learning a lesson from Mubarak’s “mistakes,” China has seen fit to block mentions of Egypt or Cairo on all microblogging services within their “Great Firewall.” The terms had already been blocked on search engines. It’s likely that other totalitarian regimes will look at Mubarak and see an ever increasing danger in allowing unfiltered access to social networking sites. Will the “Facebook revolution” lead to even stricter Internet censorship in these countries?
Anonymous
The recently politicised “hacktivist” group Anonymous showed their support of free speech in their own inimitable way on the 26th January; releasing a press release directed at the Egyptian government stating “Anonymous wants you to offer free access to uncensored media in your entire country,” then promptly DDOS attacking the websites of the Egyptian Ministry of Information and National Democratic Party.
Kenneth Cole
The obligatory social media faux pas that we have come to expect from brands jumping on Twitter Trending Topics came courtesy of fashion designer Kenneth Cole, who tweeted “Millions are in an uproar in Cairo. Rumour is they heard our new spring collection is now available …,” to much ridicule. The gaffe provoked the inception of a parody account in the vein of @BPGlobalPR; @KennethColePR.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship-by-any-other-name is under siege by grassroots activists buoyed by the recent events in Tunisia that saw their despotic leader forced to flee the country. The Egyptian people have taken to the streets in their millions and have been protesting since January 25th. Anyone following coverage of the events will know that social media has played an integral role in the protests, praised by demonstrators and persecuted by government, but many may question its true impact on events. The fact of the matter is that this is a true Facebook revolution.
What else can we call an uprising (that looks increasingly likely to topple a regime) that originated on Facebook? It’s true that “the internet doesn’t make the dissident” and resentment of Mubarak has been bubbling away for some time, but how else should a revolution organise itself and circumvent increasingly sophisticated methods of censorship in the 21st century? Nancy Scola argues against the idea of a Facebook revolution claiming that this is “just what revolution looks like these days,” and she’s right – social media and popular uprisings in this day and age often cannot be separated in the same way that Facebook and people cannot be separated - so in what way does this revolution offend Gladwell’s theory of slacktivism?
That’s simple; this current wave of unrest began on Facebook. The central rallying point for the uprising has been a Facebook Group called We Are All Khaled Said, administrated by a mysterious figure who goes only by the name ‘El Shaheed’ (the Arabic term for martyr). Their mission statement reads:
“Khaled Said, 28 years old, was tortured to death by 2 Egyptian policemen in the street. The incident has woken up Egyptians to work against the systematic torture in Egypt and the 30 years running emergency law. We need international supporters to help us stand against Police brutality in Egypt. We invite you to support our cause. Join our facebook page to see how you can help.”
Taking a dead man’s name and originating as a protest group against torture and police brutality, it has since become much more. On January 15th 2011, El Shaheed posted the date the protests would begin on the page’s wall; “Activists from all over Egypt have now agreed to make the 25th January the day to start Egyptians’ peaceful uprising against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment in Egypt.” The rest is (unfolding) history.
It could be argued that the movement was only sparked by social media. Once the protests were already underway the government saw fit to block Facebook and Twitter. While this made the websites accessible only by proxy, Twitter’s open API allowed many users to continue updating through third-party applications such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite.
This censorship failed to stop the flow of digital information leaking from Egypt’s borders and so at 6am on 28th January, internet access in Egypt was significantly cut, dropping to negligible levels. By this time, the mainstream media had become firmly entrenched in proceedings, with rolling coverage of the protests across the uncensored world, yet the Egyptian protestors were not satisfied with simple coverage; they wanted their individual voices to be heard. The government had effectively declared the internet as an enemy of the state yet still the protestors found novel ways to update the world about their struggle through social media.
Some turned back to dialup internet, calling upon foreign internet providers to help them claw back the freedom that their government denied them. On the 31st January Google unleashed a tool to help Egyptians continue to tweet, teaming up with engineers from Twitter and new acquisition SpeakNow to create a new service to help the voices of the Egyptian people bypass the censorship and tweet once more.
The use of social media has played a substantial part in this popular uprising; it has both been the rallying point of a dissatisfied people and representative of the freedom that they are fighting for. The events in Egypt have been undeniable proof that Facebook activism does not merely amount to weak-ties and inconsequential status updates. In the end there is only one conclusion to reach; social media gives a focus point and a voice to dissatisfied people, and those people will have their voices heard.
Quick Hits
Is Twitter keeping #Jan25 trending?
The power and limitations of the hashtag (#) were shown again on Twitter as #Jan25 became the go-to search term for immediate news, analysis and opinion from the protests. However, it lost some of its integrity when jumped on by a worldwide audience. It seemed to change from a breaking news feed into a guest book, filled with messages of support coming from a worldwide audience.
Notably, #Jan25 has been trending worldwide since January 25th, 2011. In May 2010 Twitter changed the Trending Topic algorithm to “focus on topics that are experiencing sudden spikes in popularity, rather than consistently talked-about subjects,” leading to most trending topics lasting a day or two before dropping off in popularity. So either #Jan25 is experiencing increasing popularity every day or Twitter have tinkered with the algorithm to keep it trending as a show of support.
Worldwide Ramifications
Learning a lesson from Mubarak’s “mistakes,” China has seen fit to block mentions of Egypt or Cairo on all microblogging services within their “Great Firewall.” The terms had already been blocked on search engines. It’s likely that other totalitarian regimes will look at Mubarak and see an ever increasing danger in allowing unfiltered access to social networking sites. Will the “Facebook revolution” lead to even stricter Internet censorship in these countries?
Anonymous
The recently politicised “hacktivist” group Anonymous showed their support of free speech in their own inimitable way on the 26th January; releasing a press release directed at the Egyptian government stating “Anonymous wants you to offer free access to uncensored media in your entire country,” then promptly DDOS attacking the websites of the Egyptian Ministry of Information and National Democratic Party.
Kenneth Cole
The obligatory social media faux pas that we have come to expect from brands jumping on Twitter Trending Topics came courtesy of fashion designer Kenneth Cole, who tweeted “Millions are in an uproar in Cairo. Rumour is they heard our new spring collection is now available …,” to much ridicule. The gaffe provoked the inception of a parody account in the vein of @BPGlobalPR; @KennethColePR.
Inside Egypt's Facebook Revolt
(sources: Newsweek )
After hundreds of arrests in Cairo Wednesday, some protest organizers have gone missing and are presumed jailed. Now activists are using Egypt’s oldest social medium to keep up the fight.
by Mike GiglioJanuary 27, 2011
In the days leading up to this week’s street protests in Egypt, the largest the country has seen since the 1970s, Ahmed Salah was busy spreading the word around Cairo—“in every possible way,” as he put it. A veteran activist who said agitation is his genes, Salah, 45, tapped into his usual network, called family and friends, hit the streets, and posted updates on the Web. “On the 25th, we are trying to give people a bit of hope, and a chance to express themselves,” he said in a phone interview last week. But he said the regime would fight back.
Salah had been pulled from demonstrations and arrested in the past. He’d been blindfolded and beaten by police, he said, and staged a hunger strike in jail. He calmly predicted that, this time around, an even worse fate might be in store. “I’m already a burned card. No matter what I do, it’s all the same now,” he said. “We’re all in danger. If I get arrested again, I’m sure I will not come out alive.”
Salah kept organizing until the night before the protest, a friend said. On Tuesday morning, he joined the crowds with his fiancée. The two were separated, and Salah hasn’t been seen since. His cell-phone number is no longer in service. Friends and family say they believe he’s been arrested. “We don’t know where he is,” the friend says.
The Front to Defend Egypt’s Protesters, an alliance of lawyers and human-rights groups in Cairo, lists a man with a similar name among the more than 400 arrestees it had assembled so far, a list that continued to grow Wednesday as protests continued into a second day. “The estimates are much larger,” says Sally Sami, a volunteer with the group. “This is not the final number.”
In the interview last week, Salah said online activism, such as the push coming from popular Facebook groups, was an integral part of the overall effort. Now, with street organizers like Salah disappearing or under threat, and the police state moving to smother dissent, protesters have come up with a new way to combine online and street activism by issuing a very traditional protest call—to make use of the nation’s oldest social network.
After this week’s Friday prayers, which are always heavily attended, people will be asked to take to the streets anew. On one of the protest’s main Facebook pages, more than 43,000 people have already signed up for the event, which was posted Wednesday. “A lot of organizers are arrested,” says “ElShaheeed,” the page’s anonymous administrator. “We are hoping it will virally spread, and people will assume responsibility [by spreading the word] in their mosques and churches.”
Post-prayer protests have been effective in Egypt for years. “It’s incredibly smart, because they can’t close off the mosques,” says Joshua Stacher, a Middle East specialist at Kent State who lived in Cairo for almost a decade. “They don’t know who’s showing up to pray and who’s showing up to protest.”
ElShaheeed says that though the arrests could hurt the effort, the protests, which sprouted simultaneously in cities across the country, have lacked traditional leadership from the start—which could make them difficult to stop. “Nobody can think what will happen next, including Mubarak,” he said.
This story originally ran on The Daily Beast.
After hundreds of arrests in Cairo Wednesday, some protest organizers have gone missing and are presumed jailed. Now activists are using Egypt’s oldest social medium to keep up the fight.
by Mike GiglioJanuary 27, 2011
In the days leading up to this week’s street protests in Egypt, the largest the country has seen since the 1970s, Ahmed Salah was busy spreading the word around Cairo—“in every possible way,” as he put it. A veteran activist who said agitation is his genes, Salah, 45, tapped into his usual network, called family and friends, hit the streets, and posted updates on the Web. “On the 25th, we are trying to give people a bit of hope, and a chance to express themselves,” he said in a phone interview last week. But he said the regime would fight back.
Salah had been pulled from demonstrations and arrested in the past. He’d been blindfolded and beaten by police, he said, and staged a hunger strike in jail. He calmly predicted that, this time around, an even worse fate might be in store. “I’m already a burned card. No matter what I do, it’s all the same now,” he said. “We’re all in danger. If I get arrested again, I’m sure I will not come out alive.”
Salah kept organizing until the night before the protest, a friend said. On Tuesday morning, he joined the crowds with his fiancée. The two were separated, and Salah hasn’t been seen since. His cell-phone number is no longer in service. Friends and family say they believe he’s been arrested. “We don’t know where he is,” the friend says.
The Front to Defend Egypt’s Protesters, an alliance of lawyers and human-rights groups in Cairo, lists a man with a similar name among the more than 400 arrestees it had assembled so far, a list that continued to grow Wednesday as protests continued into a second day. “The estimates are much larger,” says Sally Sami, a volunteer with the group. “This is not the final number.”
In the interview last week, Salah said online activism, such as the push coming from popular Facebook groups, was an integral part of the overall effort. Now, with street organizers like Salah disappearing or under threat, and the police state moving to smother dissent, protesters have come up with a new way to combine online and street activism by issuing a very traditional protest call—to make use of the nation’s oldest social network.
After this week’s Friday prayers, which are always heavily attended, people will be asked to take to the streets anew. On one of the protest’s main Facebook pages, more than 43,000 people have already signed up for the event, which was posted Wednesday. “A lot of organizers are arrested,” says “ElShaheeed,” the page’s anonymous administrator. “We are hoping it will virally spread, and people will assume responsibility [by spreading the word] in their mosques and churches.”
Post-prayer protests have been effective in Egypt for years. “It’s incredibly smart, because they can’t close off the mosques,” says Joshua Stacher, a Middle East specialist at Kent State who lived in Cairo for almost a decade. “They don’t know who’s showing up to pray and who’s showing up to protest.”
ElShaheeed says that though the arrests could hurt the effort, the protests, which sprouted simultaneously in cities across the country, have lacked traditional leadership from the start—which could make them difficult to stop. “Nobody can think what will happen next, including Mubarak,” he said.
This story originally ran on The Daily Beast.
Egypt Protester Holds Facebook 'Thank You' Sign
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/egypt-protester-holds-facebook-thank-you-sign-photo-2754500.html
Many of the protest signs being displayed on the streets of Cairo in Tahrir Square urge Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to step down now. There are few that are a different, case in point: an Egyptian protester holding a sign that appears to thank the social media site Facebook.
Unless some extremely clever photoshop was done the Facebook Egypt Protest Sign appears to be legitimate. Further, I don't read or Arabic so I am relying on the Twitter user, Richard Engel, an NBC reporter in Cairo, who originally posted the photo. He says indeed it is a Facebook thank you sign that he shot in Cairo.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are being credited with acting as vehicle to mobilize protesters in Egypt against the Mubarak regime.
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: Anti-government protestors break paving stones for the defence of Tahrir Square in front of a shop spray painted with the word Facebook on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: A shop in Tahrir Square is spray painted with the word Twitter after the government shut off internet access on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: A fence is spray painted with the word Facebook in Tahrir Square on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Many of the protest signs being displayed on the streets of Cairo in Tahrir Square urge Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to step down now. There are few that are a different, case in point: an Egyptian protester holding a sign that appears to thank the social media site Facebook.
Unless some extremely clever photoshop was done the Facebook Egypt Protest Sign appears to be legitimate. Further, I don't read or Arabic so I am relying on the Twitter user, Richard Engel, an NBC reporter in Cairo, who originally posted the photo. He says indeed it is a Facebook thank you sign that he shot in Cairo.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are being credited with acting as vehicle to mobilize protesters in Egypt against the Mubarak regime.
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: Anti-government protestors break paving stones for the defence of Tahrir Square in front of a shop spray painted with the word Facebook on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: A shop in Tahrir Square is spray painted with the word Twitter after the government shut off internet access on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
CAIRO, EGYPT - FEBRUARY 04: A fence is spray painted with the word Facebook in Tahrir Square on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Anti-government protesters have called today 'The day of departure'. Thousands have again gathered in Tahrir Square calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
Google Executive Rejoins Egypt Protests Following Release
A Google executive, and mystery man behind the powerful “We're All Khaled Said” Facebook page — one of the key catalysts that sparked the Egypt protests — was released by authorities today after going missing 10 days ago.
Wael Ghoneim, Google’s head of marketing for Middle East and North Africa, disappeared the evening of Thursday Jan. 27, the night before the “day of rage” mass protests in Egypt.
Ghoneim was known to be a political activist, but his connection to the Facebook page was not known—until he was picked up on Jan. 27. Before that, the person behind the page was on Egyptian security’s most wanted list.
For anti-government protesters, the “We're All Khaled Said” Facebook page represents their rage against the police brutality that has been increasing in Egypt over the last few years. Khaled Said was a 28-year-old businessman who was beaten to death while in police custody last June. Shortly afterward, the page went up. His then name became a rallying cry for the mostly young Egyptians who first took to the streets on Jan. 25 and have vowed to stay until President Hosni Mubarak leaves.
The “day of rage” was chosen to coincide with Egyptian Police Day.
Upon his release, Ghoneim rejoined the protesters now in their 14th day in Tahrir Square in Cairo.
According to Al Arabiya, before his arrest Ghoneim appeared to be circumventing the government shutdown of the Internet, as a Twitter account in his name posted a tweet saying, "Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."
On Jan. 31, Google launched a special speak-to-tweet service to help Egyptians without Internet communicate with each other. Egyptians could use it to send Twitter messages by leaving a voicemail at one of three international phone numbers.
The curfew in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez was eased somewhat on Monday and will now begin one hour later than the day prior. The new curfew starts at 8 p.m. and runs through to 6 a.m. While protesters have consistently ignored the curfew, it has been observed by many shops and transportation providers.
With tensions easing on the square, stand-up comedians kept protesters entertained on the main stage on Monday. One protester in the crowd joined in the fun holding up a sign telling Mubarak to "Go away, my hand is starting to hurt."
Protest organizers are calling for large-scale protests again on Tuesday and Thursday.
With reporting by Laila Hassan in Cairo.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/50757/
Wael Ghoneim, Google’s head of marketing for Middle East and North Africa, disappeared the evening of Thursday Jan. 27, the night before the “day of rage” mass protests in Egypt.
Ghoneim was known to be a political activist, but his connection to the Facebook page was not known—until he was picked up on Jan. 27. Before that, the person behind the page was on Egyptian security’s most wanted list.
For anti-government protesters, the “We're All Khaled Said” Facebook page represents their rage against the police brutality that has been increasing in Egypt over the last few years. Khaled Said was a 28-year-old businessman who was beaten to death while in police custody last June. Shortly afterward, the page went up. His then name became a rallying cry for the mostly young Egyptians who first took to the streets on Jan. 25 and have vowed to stay until President Hosni Mubarak leaves.
The “day of rage” was chosen to coincide with Egyptian Police Day.
Upon his release, Ghoneim rejoined the protesters now in their 14th day in Tahrir Square in Cairo.
According to Al Arabiya, before his arrest Ghoneim appeared to be circumventing the government shutdown of the Internet, as a Twitter account in his name posted a tweet saying, "Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."
On Jan. 31, Google launched a special speak-to-tweet service to help Egyptians without Internet communicate with each other. Egyptians could use it to send Twitter messages by leaving a voicemail at one of three international phone numbers.
The curfew in Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez was eased somewhat on Monday and will now begin one hour later than the day prior. The new curfew starts at 8 p.m. and runs through to 6 a.m. While protesters have consistently ignored the curfew, it has been observed by many shops and transportation providers.
With tensions easing on the square, stand-up comedians kept protesters entertained on the main stage on Monday. One protester in the crowd joined in the fun holding up a sign telling Mubarak to "Go away, my hand is starting to hurt."
Protest organizers are calling for large-scale protests again on Tuesday and Thursday.
With reporting by Laila Hassan in Cairo.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/50757/
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