POWER OF THE INTERNET
POWER OF THE INTERNET
Many times, me who write
this physically have heard that elected leaders of nations fear the use
of the Internet when people are protesting or there is civil unrest.
The
popular opinion from what me who write this physically have heard
sometimes is that an incumbent government is at risk from the Internet
in a time of social unrest.
Me who write this physically have the
exact opposite opinion. Hopefully, this should make legal governments
appreciate the value of the Internet and or Telecommunications services and not
undermine them.
In any location where there is any form of social
unrest, the expectation of people within and outside that location is
that the legal and incumbent government will legally solve the situation
to enable people to live in peace and go about their legal and
legitimate duties freely.
This requirement means that, from the
view of every other stakeholder except the legal government, the
responsibility to make peace and secure lives and property lies with the
legal and incumbent government in that location. Because of this, the legal and
incumbent government needs all the legal information it can legally get
to legally and completely understand that situation which may not always
be what it appears to be.
What happens when a legal and or
incumbent government shuts down the Internet and or telecommunications
networks is that it starves itself of important information from
citizens and people which may be instrumental in resolving the
situation.
It's like trying to find a needle in some hay and
switching off the lights while trying to find it. It actually makes it
harder to achieve.
However, what happens when a legal government, legally allows continuous information flow and Internet access?
The
legal government will be legally provided with an abundance of information from
all sorts of people within and outside that location. This means the
real requirement of the legal government is to be able to legally sieve
through the information and categorise the information.
It will
become very clear to the legal government exactly what is happening.
This is very important. Sometimes in such situations, some crimes are
committed by those trying to appear as protesters. Without a legal, open
and free Internet, such information may not be known or may be arduous
to corroborate if known.
As a result of this, a legal government helps
protect itself if it allows freedom of information even during social
unrest and or crisis.
This does not delve into hate, racist,
ethnic or any type of speech. The focus is that a legal government would
be seen as responsible for situations of unrest and needs as much legal
information as feasible. There are always people who want to be honest.
In addition, the Internet also self-corrects. If something is false, it
will eventually be proven to be false and if something is veracious it
will eventually be proven to be veracious. A legal government should
always be able to confirm if information is accurate or inaccurate
legally and this builds the confidence of the people. This confirmation of the accuracy of information is the most important aspect and with that keeping on the Internet would be an asset to any legal government.
Written by Abiodun Mohammed Adeyemi Ajijola

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