Is texting via mobiles the new shortwave?
“Texting has become a medium of free political expression in nations where governments seek to control such expression. Broadcasting was the 20th Century’s route around oppression. Throughout the Cold War the Voice of America and other broadcast outlets circumvented governments to deliver information directly to the people. Then the Internet opened the promise of user-generated free expression. Now, with more mobile phones than PCs by a factor of around 3-to-1, the texting capability of the mobile device has become the voice of the people. Mobile devices and networks turn each individual into a broadcaster capable of creating and disseminating their own information. The story of how the text message, ‘go 2 edsa wr blk’ mobilized the people of the Philippines in 2001 to overthrow the government is well known. It was a simple model of activists creating a message that became viral as each recipient acted as their own broadcaster by sending the message onward to friends.” Tom Wheeler, RCR
