Cyberwar - Behind the Firewall

We have heard about how the Internet has helped activists in the Arab world to orchestrate their fight against corruption, censorship and for democracy and free speech. Evidence of abuse has been uploaded to YouTube, or spread rapidly and effectively through micro-blogs like Twitter. And Facebook pages have played a key role in maintaining the rebellion against the dictatorship states several times.

Social media have evolved from a free exchange of private thoughts and small talk into a powerful tool for activists who want to spread a political message across the world. They include young people in the Arab world, who live in an extremely repressive regime and have no prospect of either education or jobs, the young educated middle-class in China struggling against corruption and censorship and for free speech, and young human rights activists in Cambodia who are trying to exploit digital media to document the atrocities of land theft. Worldwide the social media have given a whole generation of young people a new way to communicate which breaks with the one-way communication of the traditional media.