Saved by Twitter

After reading about a man who was practically saved from Egyptian detention thanks to Twitter, I think I may have been too harsh on this online service. According to the story, James Karl Buck, a graduate student of journalism in University of California at Berkeley, was arrested in Egypt. The charge: none, but he was picked up while photographing a public demonstration.

Thank goodness for Twitter’s mobile phone service! Come to think of it, I used to twit from my cellphone before… but it’s just too darned expensive (P10 per text message, I believe). The important thing is, it’s an available option!

Buck immediately sent the message "Arrested" to Twitter, which was promptly received by his followers, some of whom contacted the University, the US Embassy, and the press. Thanks to his friends’ actions, he was freed the next day.

Unfortunately, his Egyptian companion, Mohammad Salah Ahmed Maree, was not released with him, and is reportedly still languishing in jail. Buck says that he is on hunger strike until his friend is free.

[Source: TechCrunch]

Now I have this warm and fuzzy feeling for Twitter. But not enough to make me go back using Twitterfox.

There must be something archaic and reverse-developmental about totalitarian regimes. Don’t they know that, with all their firepower, they’re powerless to stop the flow of information? (Well, maybe if they were China, who was able to strong-arm Google into acceding to Internet censorship…)

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