Dictators try as much as they can to restrict the free flow of information. Ethiopia’s beggar dictator pays China tens of millions of dollars to block web sites, radio programs, and satellite TVs. By some estimate, the Woyanne ruling junta has spent over $250 million for such technology while millions of children in Ethiopia go hungry.
Unfortunately for dictators, technology is out pacing them. One of the reasons Egypt’s revolution succeeded with minimal bloodshed (unlike the uprising in Ethiopia following the 2005 elections where Meles Zenawi’s troops gunned down hundreds of civilians, and China’s Tiananmen Squre protests in 1989 where the Chinese government slaughtered over 3,000 civilians) is that satellite TVs and the internet have helped draw international attention to the legitimate demands of the protesters and the criminal acts of the Mubarak regime. Egyptian army would have been an international pariah and the generals would have been hunted down as criminals had they attacked the peaceful civilians.
To overcome blockade of the internet and restriction of information by dictators, a group named A Human Right is attempting to provide free internet access to every one in the world. It is an exciting project that can expedite the elimination of dictatorships from the face of the earth. The following is a report by Eric W. Dolan at RawStory.com:
Group plans to beam free Internet across the globe from space
The charity group A Human Right said it was planning to purchase a satellite that would provide free basic Internet access to developing countries around the world.
The group, which was founded by 25-year-old Kosta Grammatis, is currently raising money to buy the TerreStar-1, the largest commercial communications satellite ever built. TerreStar, the company that owns the satellite, filed for chapter-11 bankruptcy protection in October 2010, opening the possibility that the satellite may be up for sale.
The group hopes to raise $150,000 to finalize a business plan, investigate the legal and business aspects of submitting a bid for the satellite, and hire engineers to turn the plan into a reality. After this initial phase, the group plans to develop an open source low cost modem that could be used to connect to the satellite and finalize plans with partner governments.
“We believe that Internet access is a tool that allows people to help themselves – a tool so vital that it should be considered a universal human right,” the website for Buy This Satellite stated. “Imagine your digital life disconnected. Without access to the 100 million man-hours that have been put into Wikipedia, how much do you actually know?”
Nearly 5 billion out of the world’s 6.9 billion people don’t have access to the Internet.
A Human Right plans to finance their satellite by allowing telecommunication companies to purchase bandwidth, while providing basic service for free to everyone. “Our goal is to not only get everyone online, but also facilitate the growth of an industry,” their website said.
The group has already managed to raise $44,781.
“The idea for global connectivity was born in Berlin, Germany in an innovation ‘Do-Tank’ called Palomar 5,” according to the group. “Thirty people under the age of thirty came together to innovate on what the future might look like, and how to address some of the worlds problems.”
“In Egypt we’ve watched as the government, in an unprecedented way, shutoff Internet access for the entire country,” Grammatis told TIME. “We’re building a system that can’t be shutoff–it’s as decentralized as possible. You could jam the signal somewhat, but to do that at the scale of a country is a very very difficult task.”
“Big ideas, that can improve our society as a whole, are worth doing, and this one will be done,” he added. “It’s the logical next step in communications: a network available to anyone everywhere for minimal cost.”
Similarly, President Obama announced Thursday his plan to get 98 percent of the United States connected to the Internet in five years.
5 thoughts on “Free internet access! More bad news for dictators”
good idea to be the dictators like Meles Zenawi. Imagine people in Ethiopia got the chance to log into internet without the blackout exercised by the regime against the whole Ethiopia, the Chinese and other mercenaries would have less opportunities to work in Ethiopia. Let us finance this satellite and make an end to the misery of the Ethiopia people. I do not think this is too much money.
Freedom of expression and access to independent sources of information constitute deadly poison to dictators like tyrant Meles Zenawi
Diplomatic row
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/02/2011214133653175984.html
But Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said “not everyone who does not want to be in Tunisia can come to Europe”.
“Rather, we need to talk to each other how we can strengthen the rule of law in Tunisia again and whether Europe can be of help,” she said.
The crisis sparked a brief row between Tunis and Rome, after an Italian minister suggested sending police to the north African country in an attempt to stem the tide of migrants.
Roberto Maroni, the interior minister and a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League, said the turmoil in Tunisia had triggered a “biblical exodus” to the island.
“I will ask the Tunisian foreign minister for authorisation so an Italian contingent can intervene to block the influx. The Tunisian system is collapsing,” he said on Sunday.
The Tunisian foreign ministry said it was prepared to work with Italy and other partners to find an appropriate solution, but said it “categorically rejects any interference in its internal affairs or any infringement of its sovereignty”.
Italy’s foreign minister has since said that the two countries share a “common interest” in curbing the traffic, and offered “logistical help in terms of police and equipment”.
“Until now the system of patrolling the coasts of Northern African has worked and we want to re-establish the technique, which had reduced illegal immigration to zero until a month ago,” Franco Frattini said.
Tunisia said later on Monday its troops were patrolling southern fishing ports in a bid to halt the exodus, and several checkpoints have been erected in coastal towns.
“The port is well guarded, we are doing everything to block the smugglers,” an army officer told the AFP news agency.
The International Organisation for Migration said on Monday that no new boats carrying Tunisians had been sighted.
‘Grinding poverty’
Since Tunisia’s January uprising the caretaker government has been making faltering steps towards stability. But the economic situation in the country remains dire.
Laurence Lee, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Lampedusa, said the refugees he spoke to have endured abysmal conditions in their home country
“We spoke to about 10 young men and they all had exactly the same story. There was no work in Tunisia, they were living in grinding poverty. Some of them said they had to sell their mothers’ jewellery to pay up to 1,500 euros for the voyage over here.
“They were prepared to work anywhere in Europe. Anything will do, just to get some money to send back to their families.
He added that economically the migrants had little hope for Tunisia, despite the political change.
“It is a sobering thought that despite all the euphoria over the political reforms in Tunisia the legacy there is grinding poverty.”
However the problem now facing the refugees is that as they qualify as economic migrants, and none of them have a specific job offer, Italy has the right to send them home.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
Keeping an entire society dumbed down and in dark about the world around them and just so they become submissive and easy to control must be a crime against humanity. Ethiopians are in a perpetual captivity under the hands of the sadistic, brutal and genetically malformed Woyannes…
It is very difficult for Ethiopians to own the hardware such as the PC and laptops. Recently a good computer with 2GB memory and a good hard drive with a good CPU is very expensive. The new loptops feature dual core processors. That makes it more expensive than usual. I read
a little bit of information that Ethiopia has the least numbers people who had access to the Internet. I am not sure how mnay PCs and Laptops are currently being used in the country. Who owns them? Therefore it will be just a dream to think about it without any purchasing power of the people in Ethiopia. I am not sure how much an individual makes annually in the courntry. Most people may not make more than one dollar a day. Even that one is higher than a government employee salary.
So how can our people use the sattelite even if it beams the data and connection for free? It beats me. Are we going to provide the computers for free? Then it is possible to do what we are wishing.