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Theory: The Streisand Effect

Written by Mary on April 22, 2008 – 2:16 pm -

The Streisand Effect refers to instances when Internet censorship has the opposite effect, actually increasing distribution and awareness of the censored material.

Origin of the Term: In 2003 singer Barbra Streisand sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for $50 million dollars to force them to remove a picture of her home (see above) from a series of 12,000 pictures of the California coast taken to study the effects of beach erosion. As a result of this peculiar law suit, the picture of her home was disseminated on the Internet and many more people saw it than would have if she had not tried to censor the image.

Application for Activists: How can activists apply the Streisand Effect as a means of countering Internet censorship? The key to the Streisand Effect is distributing the censored material and publicizing the instance of censorship. Without these two elements - distribution and publicity - censored material will not be viewed by a wide enough audience to counteract the original effect of the censorship. The end goal is to show your government that censoring content has the reverse effect, and thus discourage your government from censoring

From a technical perspective, the best way to distribute censored content is by e-mail, though feeds can also be used, as in the case of Amnesty International’s Irrepressible campaign, which allows bloggers to publish a feed of censored blog content on their own blog.

Tags: amnesty, censorship, facebook, USA
Posted in Americas, Blogs, Digital Images, Listservs, Social Networks, Theory | No Comments »

Campaign: “What would you like a free Zimbabwe to look like?”

Written by Mary on April 7, 2008 – 3:17 pm -

Description of Campaign: The outcome of the recent presidential election has still not been announced and while President Robert Mugabe is campaigning in expectation of a run-off election, opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai is asking for international assistance in pressuring Mugabe to step down (source: AP). In this time of political uncertainty, civil society community site Kubatana.net is running a e-mail and SMS campaign to engage ordinary Zimbabweans in their country’s political future.

Digital Activism Tools: e-mail, blog, FrontlineSMS, mobile phones

How These Tools Are Being Used: Kubatana sent out a text message to their mobile contact list:

Kubatana! No senate results as at 5.20 pm. What changes do YOU want in a free Zim? Lets inspire each other. Want to know what others say? SMS us your email addr

They then collected responses via e-mail and FrontlineSMS, a text-messaging hub for grassroots NGOs. The collected responses which were then distributed via an electronic newsletter and on the Kubatana Community Blog. After the election, Kubatana hopes to produce a booklet with a page on some of these ideas and some editorial commentary on the campaign, as well as a cartoon or even a set of postcards carrying the most “unique, original and practical ideas”.

examples of the campaign’s SMS responses after the jump…

Tags: frontlinesms, kubatana, SMS, zimbabwe
Posted in Blogs, Campaigns, Listservs, Mobile Phones, Sub-Saharan Africa | 1 Comment »

Digitally Active Org: The Sex Workers Project

Written by Mary on January 15, 2008 – 1:14 am -

Web site: www.sexworkersproject.org
What was it?: The Sex Workers Project, based in New York, has used technology in its mission to defend the rights of sex workers around the world. One of their goals is to remove a rule prohibiting organizations that work with prostitutes from receiving money from the PEPFAR AIDS prevention fund and the federal development agency USAID.
Where is it?: New York, USA
Tools: podcasts, digital video, blog, listservs, SMS