How Ugandans Overturned An Election Day Social Media Blackout

Motherboard online site ^ | February 24, 2016 // 07:00 AM EST | Written by G.S. Phillips and Grace Atuhaire

[Utilizer]

When Ugandans went to the polls last Thursday in presidential and parliamentary elections, they participated in the most heavily-contested political battle since multiparty democracy began in 2005.

But they also discovered that their access to social media and mobile payment services had been cut off, part of a three-day ban by the government that limited political discussion and temporarily halted financial transactions across the country.

When the dust had cleared, incumbent, 30-year president Gen. Y.K. Museveni had been re-elected for another five-year term along with his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, the leader of the largest opposition party was under arrest, and reports swirled of vote buying and excessive use of force by the police on opposition protesters.

...

But it was the attempt to silence conversations taking place on Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp that produced the loudest reactions. In a country with the youngest population in the world, where 77 percent of the population is under 30 years of age, mobile apps have become vital to communication and commerce. During the three-day ban, nearly 1.5 million citizens, or 15 percent of the internet-using populace, downloaded VPN software to reroute their internet connections and return to social media, where discussion over the election continued to rage.

"When there is an unjust law or directive, it's the duty of all right thinking humans to reject it in all manner," Akiteng Isabella, an activist with Uganda Youth Network, said. "This is a lesson to the government that its population is young and creative and very unwilling to be held at ransom."

[Utilizer]

Much interesting information at the site. Not the least of which is not only using VPNs and TOR to bypass government-imposted restrictions, but information as to the effectiveness of "chat" programs to bypass censored sources to continue to pass on information that a corrupt and/or despotic government would not wish any citizenry to have access to.

[BenLurkin]

For when the INTERNET goes down PING

[gaijin]

what are the chances OUR “betters” have something like this planned for US..?

***100%***

[gaijin]

Are you a twitter-using Conservative?

Then you have a little touch of UGANDA in YOUR life, too..!

And there is NO happy ending, either.

[Utilizer]

The main reason why I thought many of us would be interested in this article, no doubt!

[tbw2]

Referring to Twitter de-verifying conservatives like Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos while leaving the Kill Trump account up?
Or the ability to flag posts because they disagree with your opinion, mostly used by liberals to flag / censor conservatives?

Then again, Facebook has done the same for years.

[Lorianne]

cached

[gaijin]

Sorry, yeah, I was a little unclear:

I understand Twitter has screwed both with Drudge and Milo.

In fact, their treatment is worse than banning them:

With some types of digital hushing via Twitter, the victims can sometimes remain totally unaware that their posts have been put into the dark and are unfindable to their followers.

There are censorship victims, yet there is not even any outward sign there are victims, which means the hushing can continue, undiminished, ad infinitum.

[Lorianne]

Thanks for posting this.

[Utilizer]

Actually, I’ve never twitted. Or whatever they call it.

I just think this article is important because it illustrates ways in which some individuals have already attempted to circumvent restrictions imposed upon them by governmental forces who are not keen on allowing the average citizen to express their honest opinions -which might be to the detriment of the government involved.

A situation I can see all too easily upon many of us in the future as our country continues to struggle to maintain its greatness in spite of all the malcontents, haters, liberals, socialists and just plain gibsmedats voters as time goes by.

We need to have a basic outline of how to bypass governmental restrictions upon our liberties in case that indeed manages to come about, and here is an interesting article outlining how some have already dealt with it and the results they obtained from their efforts thereby.

[Cedar]

And don’t forget shortwave!

[Mad Dawgg]

"For when the INTERNET goes down PING"

The "LIST" protocol has been invoked:

For when the INTERNET goes down and quits working completely (Sorta like Congress only funner)

I've created a FRee Republic Emergency Ping list (as suggested by mitch5501 ) called:

The "The INTERNET isn't working" ping list:

IF you would like "ON' or "OFF the list FReep Mail me OR ping me in a thread with your request. This will not be a High Volume Ping list (Well at least we hope the INTERNET doesn't quit working frequently)

"So let it be written. So let it be done."

The List: mitch5501; Rocky; Pajamajan; Mad Dawgg; hoosiermama; SE Mom; null and void; BenLurkin; bigheadfred; redhead; berdie; Old Sarge; wyokostur; GeronL; TheOldLady; ducttape45; Gefn; IYellAtMyTV; Redcitizen; LonePalm; garandgal; Fiddlstix; bt_dooftlook; liberalh8ter; Mercier; Truth29; PA Engineer; citizen; bleach; Greetings_Puny_Humans; TangoLimaSierra; Chickensoup; rexiesmom; FourtySeven; RinaseaofDs; RikaStrom; ozarkgirl; Grimmy; Jet Jaguar; silverleaf; tcrlaf; Red Badger; mumblypeg; LadyBuck; Bookwoman

And for those of you asking how the ping list works when the internet goes dark:

[Pajamajan]

BUMP

[Red Badger]

Add me!.............

[Mad Dawgg]

ewe r awl red e awn their... ;)

[mumblypeg]

Ping to preppers?