Social media shaping political events

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By Access

Wow! After 18 days of protests, the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has finally resigned! The scenes on the streets are euphoric! Congratulations to all who have helped (in large and small ways) to make the Egyptian people’s dreams of an end to tyranny a reality. As another longtime Middle Eastern dictator falls from power in the wake of popular street protests, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to deny the power of social media in shaping political events.

But with the military now running the country, it is uncertain what level of digital freedom or online surveillance lies ahead. Thanks to hundreds of you, we set up three servers last week to help the Tor network enable the Egyptian people to communicate anonymously online. As we ramp those servers up to maximum capacity, we realize it's time to add a few more. Greater server capacity will help ensure that the Egyptian protest movement stays secure until a true democratic government is put in place. If you would like to donate to this effort, please do so here: https://www.accessnow.org/page/contribute/Help-Egypt-with-tor

Finally, if you haven't signed our global petition to stop the internet kill switch, please use the link below to sign -- it's the next big battle, and we need an internet uprising to stop it.

https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/stop-the-switch

With purpose,
The Access Team

P.S. The live stream vision from Al Jazeera is historic, and, of course, the Facebook page We are all Khalid Said is electric! View them both!