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Twitter working to thwart censorship



27 January 2010 @ 12:05 pm ET

Micro-blogging site Twitter is developing technology that will prevent government censorship after Iran and China moved to censor its users.



Evan Williams, Co-Founder and CEO of Twitter attends a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos January 27, 2010. (Reuters Photo)
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Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams said the company was working on "hacks" to stop any blocking by foreign governments.

"We are partially blocked in China and other places and we were in Iran as well," he said. "The most productive way to fight that is not by trying to engage China and other governments whose very being is against what we are about."

Williams said Twitter had an advantage in evading government censors over a singular website as its streams are distributed through a number of outlets, including syndicating sites and mobile applications.

Twitter was among a number of social networking sites who were asked to make a statement about censorship at the Davos conference.

The debates comes on the heels of a declaration from Google that it would discontinue to censor search results in China, following allegations of cyber-attacks origination from the country.

Technology is increasingly playing a more important role in free speech.

Last year Twitter was used heavily in reporting first-hand post-election oppression in Iran, and subsequently used to organize rebellion.

Williams said he did not want to give details of the changes, but said he was hopeful for "technological ways" to thwart censorship.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times.

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Comments
1.
Jan 27, 2010 12:29pm

When you looked at what Iran did shortly after their "elections", we see that they simply turned off the whole Internet in that country. It doesnt matter what Twitter does if the Internet is down completely... Even cell phones need to connect to their operators, which in turn connect to the Internet. It's definately a step in the right direction -- its better than doing nothing, but in the end I think its futile
2.
Jan 27, 2010 8:55pm

An "all or nothing" ultimatum for speech suppressing governments is the best we can do. Governments who elect to take nothing of the internet by disconnecting their countries from it shoot themselves in the feet. I wonder how important control of ideas and information is to these governments compared to the vast benefits they gain by keeping up with the rest of the world.
3.
Jan 28, 2010 2:30am

@truth of the matter: China did the same thing when the riots broke out in Xinjiang province last year; they simply cut the entire province off from the Internet (and cell networks, for that matter). twitter won't be able to do much to "thwart censorship". This is just for PR.
4.
Jan 28, 2010 6:55am

It is impossible to force a nation or region to provide an internet connection to its citizens, particularly in poor or authoritarian countries where citizens cannot independently build up the infrastructure. Nations that participate in the global economy, however, are dependent on private internet access for economic growth and wealth. It is (in theory) possible to create a structure that entwines uncensorable communication so deeply with business communication that nations cannot allow the latter without allowing the former. This is the "all or nothing" that Ken explained. It may be possible to create a system where the relevance, wealth and power of a nation is dependent on (equivalent with, even) the liberties it grants its citizens. This would be the civil-rights analogue to the Mutually Assured Destruction of nuclear weapons. Nobody can force a nation to behave in a certain way, but it is possible to ensure that the only beneficial behavior for them is the right one. It requires national leaders to be rational rather than fanatical, but there's no way around that.
5.
Jan 29, 2010 2:05pm

Okay maybe google and twitter can't end censorship on their own......but what if we are seeing the beginning of a domino effect where the corporations of the world one by one stand and tell the corrupt and tyrannical that they do not have to, and refuse to deal with them? How many more corporations have had enough, just as people have, and will fall in line and stand?
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Apr 20, 2010 7:11pm

I live in Dubai and I use www.vpnmaster.com for unblocking sites. It is very cheap and fast.
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