What I found most interesting during Ali’s discussion last night was the idea that technology has shifted the news cycle away from local towards global, and the pros and cons of that massive change. Last month, the world watched in horror as Iranian’s protested and were murdered in the street. Supporters across the globe worked to help young citizens spread the word and keep lines of communication open. Two weeks later, the world watched the announcement of Michael Jackson’s death, and the circus that followed, in a different kind of horror. All talk of Iran, from traditional media but also to digital and social, basically stopped (I’m in ur glass haus, throwing ur stonz). We talk about the changing face of media and entertainment, from an economy of scarcity to an economy of plenty. Sure there are more channels to choose from, but I think the average person only has so much bandwidth and attention span to take it all in. I’m not sure that’s a problem the Internet can fix. josephweisenthal: I really don’t buy this “pressure companies to stop doing business over ‘there’” stuff. I’m curious who supplied the telecom infrastructure that people used to Twitter and all that to organize the counter-government activities. I mean, really, how can one talk about the wiretapping, without acknowledging the benefits of the wires themselves. Certainly, on net, big tech’s involvement in Iran and China will have a pro-freedom effect, right? innonate: soupsoup: Tonight’s New York Tech Meetup was one of the best I’ve attended. Ali Emami, an Iranian musician, was a guest speaker and gave us all some insight into where Iran has been, where it is going, and what we can do to help. An important point made was that corporations like Nokia have aided the Iranian government by providing wiretapping capabilities to make communication between members of the revolution difficult to keep confidential. Another important point was that companies like Yahoo! have aided governments like China to help locate citizens who dare to speak out against their government. We all need to put pressure on these corporations to support human rights over government tyranny. Ali pointed us to WhereIsMyVote.org to mobilize and support the cause.

What I found most interesting during Ali’s discussion last night was the idea that technology has shifted the news cycle away from local towards global, and the pros and cons of that massive change. Last month, the world watched in horror as Iranian’s protested and were murdered in the street. Supporters across the globe worked to help young citizens spread the word and keep lines of communication open.

Two weeks later, the world watched the announcement of Michael Jackson’s death, and the circus that followed, in a different kind of horror. All talk of Iran, from traditional media but also to digital and social, basically stopped (I’m in ur glass haus, throwing ur stonz).

We talk about the changing face of media and entertainment, from an economy of scarcity to an economy of plenty. Sure there are more channels to choose from, but I think the average person only has so much bandwidth and attention span to take it all in. I’m not sure that’s a problem the Internet can fix.

josephweisenthal:

I really don’t buy this “pressure companies to stop doing business over ‘there’” stuff. I’m curious who supplied the telecom infrastructure that people used to Twitter and all that to organize the counter-government activities. I mean, really, how can one talk about the wiretapping, without acknowledging the benefits of the wires themselves. Certainly, on net, big tech’s involvement in Iran and China will have a pro-freedom effect, right?

innonate:

soupsoup:

Tonight’s New York Tech Meetup was one of the best I’ve attended. Ali Emami, an Iranian musician, was a guest speaker and gave us all some insight into where Iran has been, where it is going, and what we can do to help.

An important point made was that corporations like Nokia have aided the Iranian government by providing wiretapping capabilities to make communication between members of the revolution difficult to keep confidential.

Another important point was that companies like Yahoo! have aided governments like China to help locate citizens who dare to speak out against their government. We all need to put pressure on these corporations to support human rights over government tyranny. Ali pointed us to WhereIsMyVote.org to mobilize and support the cause.