Born On A Cusp

In the Philippines where I was born and raised, the Internet and mobile-telecommunications technologies have helped spur an uprising against a President.

In many other places across the globe, SMS, web sites, web logs, and networking sites are making sure nobody gets away with anything — from the most mundane celebrity goof-ups to the terribly insane decisions state leaders are making, you will surely get a heads up on every thing. (We are not talking here, of course, of the millions and millions who do not have access to these technologies — much less have food to eat — and thus fall through the cracks of the ‘communication revolution’.)

No doubt, these so-called ‘new technologies’ are creating such an impact in people’s lives that there is a huge swath of today’s population that will not even be able to imagine life before their dawning.

Three things I read today from the wires, which again show you just what it is people can do with all of these tools in their hands.

1. Two profiles very recently appeared on networking site, Facebook, claiming to be those of Bilawal Bhutto, son of slain Pakistan politician Benazir. Facebook has quickly taken down the pages after Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, which the 19-year-old Bilawal took over after his mother’s assassination, said the profiles were a hoax and Facebook itself determined that they were, indeed.

2. An Egyptian woman missed a call from her husband on her mobile phone. Shortly after, she received a text message from him saying, “I divorce you because you didn’t answer your husband.” A unilateral declaration of divorce by a man seals the deed, according to Islamic law. But the woman is now seeking the court’s opinion on whether her husband’s declaration of divorce by text message is legally valid.

3. A Saudi blogger was arrested reportedly after writing against religious extremism and demanding political reforms in the kingdom. The man’s family still do not know where he is being held and what he is being charged with, almost a month since he was taken. His fellow bloggers are now campaigning for his release through their own sites.