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A plan: the Internet, weblogs, Iraq, and freedom

11 comments on A plan: the Internet, weblogs, Iraq, and freedom

A plan: the Internet, weblogs, Iraq, and freedom
: I’ve been harping on the opportunity weblogs can bring to a newly free Iraq.

Today, Paul Boutin weighs in, suggesting: “There’s a great opportunity: American computer makers should be seen over there setting up a few dozen free public PCs with high-speed access. Or just leapfrog into the new decade by handing out wireless laptops.” And a commenter below adds: “Miscosoft and Dell need to get on this and start donating some free computers.”

This will not take much. The plan is this simple. It needs:

1. Bandwidth. MCI is over there installing mobile phones. It would take nothing — nothing — for them to bring Inernet POPs to a handful of locations in the major cities at the same time. If I were running MCI, I’d do it as a mitzvah, considering the hell my company had caused the world. But a foundation could underwrite this as well.

2. Computers. My commenter is right: Lots of companies — Dell, HP, IBM, Apple, Gateway, Microsoft, Intel — can afford to donate machines. It won’t take many, just a few hundred.

3. Tutor. Iranian webloggers needed Hoder to explain how to blog. Salam Pax could do likewise.

4. Space. The U.S. and British military should find space for temporary Internet cafes that could be used by servicemen for X hours a day to email home and by Iraqis most of the day to exercise their newfound free speech.

5. Guru. Somebody needs to bring this together, getting companies and foundations to donate bandwidth and machines and getting the government to facilitate this (and see that it is in America’s interest to encourage such free speech). I’ll volunteer. So will many others, I’m sure.

What comes out of this: A hundred Salam Paxes. A thousand Salam Paxes. The intelligent, caring, involved future of Iraq will come online to share their experiences and opinions and hopes and fears and Iraq will be better for it; so will the world, for we will build bridges to Iraqis online.

History has never had a better, cheaper, easier, faster means of publishing content and distributing it worldwide. Now is the time to take advantage of this for sake of democracy and freedom and nothing less than that.

11 responses to “A plan: the Internet, weblogs, Iraq, and freedom”

  1. Bill W. Avatar
    Bill W.

    Back in the sixties or seventies I read a science fiction short story about a race of warriors that were conquering every planet they could find. They were cruel, uncaring, and very rigid in there class distinctions, having a sort of caste system that related to everyone’s position in the military hierarchy. They encountered one planet that gave no resistance whatsoever, and let the conquerors take over without a fight.
    It turned out that the conquered people had a kind of “ESP” which allowed them to pass skills to another person by a kind of “mind-meld”. As the conquerors learned various facts about the new planet (i.e., its geography, its resources, its government’s bureaucratic structure, etc.) it became apparent that they were also acquiring this “ESP” ability, and a kind of “group-consciousness” began to form. Everyone shared a common knowledge, both the conquered and the conquerors.
    At one point, one of the newcomers asked about something called “freedom” which the conquered people often discussed. So the native spread the concept before him, and he became an instant expert in freedom. At the same time, the entire population became “infected” with the concept, and the rigid, slavish structure of the conqueror’s society disintegrated, and they all lived together in peace and freedom.
    I was in my teens when I read the story, and it may be that the writing was about as good as mine is here (not great). The idea seemed rather simplistic to me at the time, but I never forgot it.
    We now appear to be poised on a kind of reverse version of this story. We have liberated a group of people who were trapped in a sort of captivity to a brutal and capricious regime. The question now is, how do we “infect” this newly freed people with the concept of “freedom?” The blogosphere is certainly one very efficient tool that can be set to this task.
    I hope those individuals and organizations who have the wherewithal to bring this tool to Iraq will step up to the plate.

  2. mike lawson Avatar
    mike lawson

    The Economic term for that is dissimilation of asymmetrical information. Normaly it is in reference to information in the market place, however, it could just as easily be applied to beliefs; specifically “freedom”.

  3. Smiling Dave Avatar
    Smiling Dave

    OK. You’ve convinced me. You’ve told the folks
    in the Kingdom of Bloggery. No arguments. Now,
    using your contacts, why not get this message to
    the folks who make these things happen?

  4. melk Avatar
    melk

    Great idea. But the word is MITZVAH
    [Thanks. Congregational typo. -jeff].

  5. Kathy K Avatar
    Kathy K

    Iraqi webloggers may need Hoder too, to explain how to blog in Arabic (I’ve noticed the Persian bloggers sometimes use Arabic instead of Farsi, so they do know how to do it.)
    Any rate, I’ll help guru. Heck, I’d go over there and help. If I just knew where to apply for a job teaching the internet to Iraqis…

  6. Richard Riley Avatar
    Richard Riley

    For machines, talk to LARGE companies about the boxes they’re thowing away as obsolete. I know Boeing’s surplus store in Seattle has had hundreds of P4 1ghz, with 20 g hard drives, sound, video and network for $100.

  7. Dr. Weevil Avatar
    Dr. Weevil

    Holy cow! P4s for $100? I was about to suggest that P2s and P3s might be an efficient way to support blogging in Iraq, since they’re more than adequate for blogging (I’m still using a 5-year-old P1) and (I assume) very cheap. P4s would be even better. (How about saving one for me?) Actually, at $100/PC, getting them to Iraq would probably be more than half the cost. That could easily be done by the DOD: at this point, there’s probably more stuff coming back than going out, so there should be plenty of space available on outgoing transports. Pitching this as a way to get servicemen e-mail access as well as Iraqis would surely make military transportation legitimate and cut out the need to pay whatever ridiculous rates a civilian airline would charge to ship stuff to Iraq.

  8. seathree Avatar
    seathree

    I’m with Kathy K!
    “Heck, I’d go over there and help. If I just knew where to apply for a job teaching the internet to Iraqis…”
    where do I sign up?

  9. henrycopeland Avatar
    henrycopeland

    I really liked the use of the term “common knowledge” by Bill W.
    It is a term that economist Michael Chwe uses to describe the kind of information that we share with each other… and are explicitly aware we are sharing. This common knowledge is far more powerful than unshared information — even when everyone has that same piece of information but isn’t sure that it is pervasive — just like a note that is CCed has far more impact that a note that is BCCed.
    In political and economic systems, common knowledge is important because it gives individuals the courage to adopt some new scheme that won’t work unless lots of people try the new scheme. Common knowledge helps people make the leap to adopt a new technology or political philosophy. (Remember Apple Mac’s “1984” Super Bowl ad?)
    Blogs create a public space where we can watch each other think and watch other people watch us think. Blogs let knowledge become public/common and not just private/solitary. Until a blogosphere exists in Iraq, the mullahs will control the only public space, and the only “common knowledge” will be theirs.

  10. Doug Kenline Avatar
    Doug Kenline

    right on jeff jarvis…
    right on.

  11. rav nachman Avatar
    rav nachman

    The word “mitzvah” means “COMMAND”.. I don’t know what this statement means:
    “If I were running MCI, I’d do it as a mitzvah, considering….”
    Paraphrasing:
    “…I would do it as a COMMAND…”???
    Come on!! Get real!