The ongoing situations in Iran, China, and elsewhere demonstrate the potential for social networking communications to confront corrupt totalitarian impulses run amok. The problem has been that conventional internet architecture continues to include network access "choke points", which allow national governments the power to shut down global communications to and from their constituents.
As long as dynamic, realtime services such as Twitter must operate through telephone central office switchgear and their IP traffic flows through telecom carrier network access points, individual liberty will remain hostage to the power of tyrants. Fortunately, technology enables us to construct an alternative, beyond the reach of bureaucratic censors, in any jurisdiction in the world.
A global civil liberties movement, in cooperation with high technology industry (and some greedy multinational media conglomerate with deep pockets) could rapidly design, build, and deploy a new constellation of dozens of small satellites which would forever end the government's control over the thoughtstream of their peoples... (more)