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Rachel Maddow’s excellent coverage of the Egyptian situation includes explaining Mubarak’s strategy of silencing the press, to give the official version of the story longer legs. We mentioned her coverage in today’s edition but left out the link. Here it is.
You have to laugh at Gaddafi’s looming fear over the use of the internet:
“This Internet, which any demented person, any drunk can get drunk and write in, do you believe it? The Internet is like a vacuum cleaner, it can suck anything. Any useless person; any liar; any drunkard; anyone under the influence; anyone high on drugs; can talk on the Internet, and you read what he writes and you believe it. This is talk which is for free. Shall we become the victims of “Facebook” and “Kleenex”* and “YouTube”! Shall we become victims to tools they created so that they can laugh at our moods?”
http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Libyas-Gaddafi-Wages-War-on-the-Internet-as-Troubl/2932942
On an odder note, you know that video clip from 1994 that got posted here a few days ago, NBC talking beings, puzzled about what is the interwebs anyway?
the person who leaked that got fired.
http://gizmodo.com/5752028/nbc-employee-fired-for-leaking-today-shows-embarrassing-internet-cluelessness
*shakes her head*
I’ve been watching Al Jazeera online the past week and appreciate the coverage. Don’t have cable tv so will have to check out Rachel on my computer.
According to several news articles Al Jazeera’s offices were burned by pro Mubarak forces:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124181043669422.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
DOHA, Qatar—Pan-Arab satellite news channel al-Jazeera said Friday its office in Cairo has been destroyed and its website was hacked.
The broadcaster, which has been the target of repeated attempts by the Egyptian authorities to interfere with its coverage of the country’s political protests, said its Cairo office was attacked by “a gang of thugs” and equipment was destroyed.
“The office has been burned along with the equipment inside it,” al-Jazeera said in a statement. “It appears to be the latest attempt by the Egyptian regime or its supporters to hinder al-Jazeera’s coverage of events in the country.”
Al-Jazeera also complained Friday that its website had been hacked by “opponents of the pro-democracy movement in Egypt”.