{"id":258917,"date":"2014-02-14T11:31:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T16:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=258917"},"modified":"2024-01-28T11:32:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T16:32:07","slug":"social-media-helps-governments-monitor-their-citizens-but-it-also-helps-those-citizens-rise-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2014\/02\/14\/social-media-helps-governments-monitor-their-citizens-but-it-also-helps-those-citizens-rise-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Social media helps governments monitor their citizens \u2014 but it also helps those citizens rise up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The vast quantities of information we reveal about ourselves as we move around the internet and interact through social networks \u2014 what some have called<\/a> the \u201cdata exhaust\u201d of our lives, from GPS co-ordinates to the emotional signals sent by our Facebook (s fb) likes \u2014 is a treasure trove of information for anyone engaged in surveillance, whether it\u2019s governments or the companies whose services we use to post all that information. But that same kind of behavior is also a powerful tool for allowing dissident movements to rise up against their oppressors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the lesson I took away from an excellent piece published<\/a> on Medium by sociologist Zeynep Tufekci, a professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who specializes in researching the effects of social media. Her work helped show just how crucial<\/a> social media was in helping to foment what became the \u201cArab Spring\u201d movements in countries like Tunisia and Egypt in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social tools empower dissidents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tufekci, who is Turkish by birth, talks about visiting her homeland during the increasingly violent demonstrations there against the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan \u2014 and in particular, she talks about how Twitter (s twtr) in particular became a crucial source of information<\/a> for protesters and would-be protesters, since the traditional media in Turkey refused to cover the demonstrations, out of fear that the government might retaliate against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAfter each volley of tear gas, protesters would pull out their phones and turn to social media to find out what was happening, or to report events themselves. Twitter had become the capillary structure of a movement without visible leaders, without institutional structure. Without even a name.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Citizen<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Tufekci has noted in her research and publishing<\/a> about social-media use during the Arab Spring uprisings, tools like Twitter and Facebook don\u2019t create dissent, but they can definitely help connect dissidents with each other \u2014 and they can reassure those who are thinking about dissent that others share their feelings and are also willing to act. This can cause what she calls an \u201cinformation cascade,\u201d which can help movements tip over into open rebellion more easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One big double-edged sword<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, all of that activity can also be seen \u2014 and blocked, or used as evidence \u2014 much more easily as well. Oppressive regimes use Facebook pages against those they wish to target, and try to block information (as Venezuela appeared to be<\/a> blocking violent images of demonstrations in that country from Twitter\u2019s website recently). And they can even send text messages like the rather Orwellian one sent to Ukrainian dissidents recently<\/a>, stating simply: \u201cDear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass riot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these tools are the quintessential double-edged sword, as Tufekci notes in her piece (which is entitled \u201cIs the Internet good or bad? Yes\u201d). They provide plenty of information to governments, but they also empower those who use them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cYet the more we connect to each other online, the more our actions become visible to governments and corporations. It feels like a loss of independence. But as I stood in Gezi Park, I saw how digital communication had become a form of organization. I saw it enable dissent, discord, and protest. Resistance and surveillance: The design of today\u2019s digital tools makes the two inseparable. And how to think about this is a real challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Big<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not 1984 or Bentham\u2019s Panopticon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tufekci also makes what I think is an important point: everyone likes to think of today\u2019s political and digital environment as Orwellian, because it enables ubiquitous surveillance of a kind that seems similar to 1984<\/em> \u2014 the NSA and other agencies spying on everyone, recording phone calls, etc. Others choose to see it as a version of philosopher Jeremy Bentham\u2019s \u201cPanopticon,\u201d in which everyone is surveilled without knowing by whom or when, and therefore no one misbehaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in reality, the sociologist says, what we have is unlike either of these fictional inventions (Bentham actually tried to build<\/a> a prison using the panopticon model but it never opened). Surveillance tools aren\u2019t just being used by an oppressive government like Oceania, but by companies as well \u2014 and in many cases users are volunteering for that surveillance because it brings them benefits of some kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the same time, Tufekci argues it is undeniable that the very same tools that can be used to keep tabs on our every movement allow dissidents to organize<\/a> and find like-minded citizens. Does that make all the surveillance and other negative aspects worth it? Perhaps not \u2014 but at least it helps to level the playing field. As one Turkish parent put it in talking about her children and the web:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThey were right and we were wrong. We didn\u2019t understand our kids. None of this would be possible without the Internet. The Internet brings freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Richard Engel, NBC<\/a> and Flickr users Petteri Sulonen<\/a> and Thomas Leuthard<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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The vast quantities of information we reveal about ourselves as we move around the internet and interact through social networks \u2014 what some have called the \u201cdata exhaust\u201d of our lives, from GPS co-ordinates to the emotional signals sent by our Facebook (s fb) likes \u2014 is a treasure trove of information for anyone engaged in surveillance, … <\/p>\n

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