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Twitter Nation

Posted on Jun 22, 2009 in Opinion

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It’s too soon to know if what’s going on in Iran is the world’s first cyber-revolution. But the power of social networking, and the refuge provided by cyberspace, are on vivid display as protests roil Iran in the aftermath of its disputed presidential election.

Not only are protests apparently being organized by people communicating via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like, but those sites also have become the conduit by which images of what’s happening — many captured on cell-phone cameras — are reaching the outside world. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stripped foreign reporters in Iran of their credentials and banned street reporting by local journalists in a crackdown on electronic media. Secrecy and a heavy police presence would ordinarily allow a government to put down protests. But regimes can’t totally control cyberspace.

In an extraordinary nod to the role of these technologies, the White House Monday asked Twitter to delay routine system maintenance that would have temporarily cut off service. Twitter complied, the demonstrations continued, and the flow of images went uninterrupted.

President Barack Obama has taken some heat for not voicing strong support for Iranians protesting a suspect election. But a more prominent role would risk making the United States the issue. Letting aggrieved Iranians harness digital technology to make their voices heard may finally bring the change from within that the United States has long wanted.