Kivuva,

On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 2:30 PM, Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote:
> That is a very detailed and philosophical approach by Walu.
>
> Speaking for the mwananchi at the grassroots, if switching of the
> Internet and broadcast media can foster unity by preventing
> transmission of hate and unhealthy debates, then they should be
> switched off

Perhaps you should ask the mwananchi how they feel about having their
right to communicate taken away from them in the name of "security".

As Benjamin Franklin once said: “They that can give up essential
liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty
nor safety.”

On the one hand I agree with that quotation with all my heart, yet at the same I think it is true that if someone had managed to shut down the radio transmitters in 1994 in Rwanda millions of lives might have been saved. The Internet is an extremely powerful tool and as more and more people have affordable access to it, it becomes even more so. Ben Franklin's good friend Voltaire said "Avec le grand pouvoir vient le grand devoir" (With great power comes great responsibility). Figuring this out is going to be a long and complex discussion and I think it is unlikely that absolutes are the answer. To me it feels like we need some kind of damping mechanisms for the Internet that slow down a technological decision whether it be censorship or otherwise so that humans can catch up with the implications, so that they can be dealt with in a process, democratic, negotiated, or otherwise. It does feel like technology has run ahead of nation states and that more than anything we need more effective social and political systems that can cope with our multiple allegiances and identities these days.

-Steve

--
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

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