The Twitter Revolution : Is It All That ?

In the wake of its ubiquitous presence in the past week for
people following the recent Iran elections and the bloody
aftermath that we are now daily witnessing,
has been seen as a symbol of the
Revolution of the young and the restless :

text-messaging addiction has been given the go-ahead as
the lifeline for the world's communication needs. And more
than the 1,000 words that are repeated by the second, there
are the Twitpics,

garnering more 'followers' for the Tweeter who posts pics
faster than the speed of texting. The urgency of such digital
instant relays are indeed amazing to those of us who are
not participants, but is it all that ?

Apparently not, judging by the way those in power in Iran are
showing that they not only can they stand toe-to-toe with the
Revolutionary Tweeting, but they can also micro-control
the generation of what's being sent out to the Twitter world.
Thanks to its earlier investments in technology provided by a
Siemens/Nokia partnership, Iran's ability to monitor,
dissemble and re-assemble user transmissions in milliseconds
is truly phenomenal as is now being revealed in the news.
Tweaking and using this technology during the elections has
made Iran's control of its people more public and fearsome.
The world may be watching, but Iran is able to watch and
increasingly control what is being watched, where and by whom.
How ?

To put it simply, it's legal hacking, something that is a major
selling point for Communications Technology providers. Offering
unlimited data control to their clients is like Spam control
for your email : you have the choice to block or mark messages
as Spam, but it's still limited control. The ingenious Hacker
who gains access to all your Inbox and Outbox info can use your
name and picture to create a whole new profile on say, MySpace
and then ask to be 'added' to a whole slew of that Social
network's users. I myself have to deal with such trickery frequently,
so I can say with conviction that the tricksters may not 'get' me but
they certainly have been successful in enticing hordes of lonely
internet addicts in search of online companionship. The rush of
finding someone who seems to share the same interests, likes
and dislikes often blinds the unsuspecting user, and so it is now
with Twitter.

It's too late to turn back the control that has been provided by the
Technology consortiums. Asked about selling such equipment to
a government like Iran's, Mr. Roome of Nokia Siemens Networks
said the company "does have a choice about whether to do
business in any country. We believe providing people, wherever
they are, with the ability to communicate is preferable to leaving
them without the choice to be heard."

See how caution is the keyword for Twitter users :
at The Wall Street Journal and at The BBC.co.uk

Related :
http://tehranlive.org/
Your ISP Can and WILL Tell All

Ohhh....if you're on Twitter, could you spread this link,
please ? I'd like to see just how many tweets this gets ;-)