Service lets Egyptians “speak2tweet”
Internet service in Egypt is now totally shut down and there are reports that cell phone service has again been cut, but that won’t stop people from finding ways to reach out and express themselves.
One creative solution is from engineers at Google, Twitter and SayNow, a company that Google recently acquired, who have created a way for people from Egypt to Tweet via landline.
According to the Google blog, “Anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required.”
In addition to leaving Tweets, you can call that number and listen, though unlike accessing Twitter on a computer or phone, there isn’t a way to selectively hear only from people you follow. You can listen and read tweets here but many are in Arabic and not properly transcribed. Click here for an audio sample of a couple of tweets that are in English.
This is, of course, only one of several creative ways that people can use to get around the Egyptian government’s attempt to shut down communciations. Some people are connecting by using old fashioned dial-up modems to dial into other countries, others are using satellite equipment and some are accessing the Internet via ham radio equipment.
Larry Magid is a technology journalist and an Internet safety advocate. He serves as on-air technology analyst for CBS News, is co-director of ConnectSafely.org and founder of SafeKids.com and SafeTeens.com. He also writes columns that appear on CNET News, CBSNews.com, Huffington Post and the San Jose Mercury News.
His technology reports can be heard daily on CBS News and CBS affiliates throughout the U.S. and he has a daily tech segment on KCBS radio in San Francisco. He’s a regular contributor to BBC World Service and an occasional guest on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation. He is often called upon for commentary by CBS television news, CNN and Fox News and has appeared on the CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, the Today Show and CBS Early Show. He has also been a frequent contributor to the New York Times and was, for 18 years, a syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
He has written several books including the best-selling Little PC Book and is co-author (with Anne Collier) of MySpace Unraveled.
Larry served on the Obama Administration’s Online Technology Working Group and the Berkman Center’s Internet Safety Technology Task Force.
