Thanks Meshack. I think the article glosses over some of the real issues...and democracy and freedom of speech are not the MAIN issues. Also I find sentences like "to return their citizens to the digital dark ages" rather hilarious. The internet in itself, given people's increasing dependence on it, has heralded its own dark age (cyber terrorism, fraud, identify theft, etc etc)- but that is a story for another day when we discuss the merits and demerits of the net. And it does not hurt to visit people instead of poking them or IMing them. It does not hurt to put pen to paper and indulge in the old art of writing. It certainly does not hurt to pick up a paper back and do some reading. Not sure how that becomes a dark age. I think the real issue is money. When you shut off the internet Egypt/Kenya/RSA/etc - someone is losing money on online adverts, someone is losing money on data revenues, etc. Its a multi billion dollar industry. But somehow we gloss over that fact and quickly latch onto discussions when people talk about about human rights etc etc... On 4 December 2012 21:29, meshack emakunat <memakunat@yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear list this could be of interest to the discussion.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/12/03/these-are-the-61-countr...

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------------------------------ * From: * McTim <dogwallah@gmail.com>; * To: * <memakunat@yahoo.com>; * Cc: * KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; * Subject: * Re: [kictanet] Syria shuts down Internet? How can we stop this from happening again?-application to Kenya? * Sent: * Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:11:26 PM

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.”

-- 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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