All Atwitter Over Egypt's Totalitarianism

James Karl Buck is a bad, bad blogger. After all, he took photos of anti-government protests in Egypt. For his sins, he was tossed in jail.

He was released after putting up a one-word post via the Twitter network: Arrested! That rallied friends to his rescue, and now that the totalitarian government of Egypt has released him, he's using Twitter to try to free his translator, Mohammed Maree, who's lost somewhere in the Egyptian gulag.

His crime? Standing next to a guy who was taking pictures of a demonstration against the government. CNN picks up the story:

Buck was released, and his translator was moved to another police station. Now, attorneys say Maree still hasn't been charged and remains in prison.

Back in the United States, Buck has taken it upon himself to further capitalize on the power of his Twitter network, which is now more than 570 followers strong, to help free his translator and friend.

Fueled by the gnawing guilt of leaving Maree behind, Buck set out to enlist all of the help he could in hopes of sparking a movement for his release.

He began setting up a virtual online command post to demand Maree's release. He used everything from Twitter updates, blog posts on his own Web site to an electronic petition signed by more than 900 people.

It's working, maybe. As a result of his Twittering, Buck got CNN engaged, and CNN has grilled the Egyptian consul in San Francisco, who's made inquiries back home. Buck has also gotten human rights groups and attorneys interested -- all through his Twitter network. Do a Google search on his name name, and you'll find that Twitter has launched Buck into the www's upper atmosphere, with 240,000 hits.

That sort of stuff separates Maree from the other political prisoners Egypt (one of the good Islamic nation, mind you), a country that holds legions of citizens without trial in prisons that make Guantanamo look like Club Med.

Buck just might succeed in his efforts to free Maree. After all, he's bringing a Marine-like intensity to his effort. CNN quotes him on what motivates his efforts to free a guy he barely knew:

"It's absolutely an unconditional moral imperative. You just don't leave your men behind."

Maree is still in jail, and human rights advocates who have seen him say he's been tortured and moved from prison to prison. That could be human rights propaganda, or it could very likely be true.

What's true for sure is that totalitarian despots are facing a new world, one that exposes their crimes and excesses faster and more broadly than ever before. Unlike the Bladerunner and Matrix futures, where technology chains us, we live in a present where it's being used as a powerful force for freedom.

So Are Its Aficionados Called Twits?

It's the next big thing from the dot-com realm -- blogging via mobile phone, brought to you by a company called Twitter:

Silicon Valley is abuzz over a new mini-blogging service for mobile phones that some predict will be a mass-market hit with the reach of a YouTube or MySpace.

Over the past two weeks, Twitter has attracted the sort of hyperbole the Valley reserves for its next internet darling – though such self-reinforcing adulationalso led to dotcom mania. ...

"This is the first application that people have got excited about since Flickr came out," said Ross Mayfield, a Valley entrepreneur, comparing it to a popular photo-sharing site bought by Yahoo in 2005. "I don't think it will be the next YouTube – but I do think it will gain wide adoption," he said.

Users of Twitter post short messages – up to 140 characters – that can be viewed either on a website or on mobile phones. "Twitter probably wouldn't have existed before blogging, when people learned to be more transparent," Mr Mayfield added.

Though launched publicly last summer, use of Twitter started to take off in the middle of March after it was adopted by tech­nology bloggers attending the South by Southwest conference in Texas. (MSNBC)

Twitter's a great name for the product, despite the risky nickname alluded to in my headline. The 140-word limit would be a challenge even for short attention span posters like me -- but in this new "share all" world we live in, teenage twits may be Twittering about their lives even more than they are today with MySpace and YouTube.

I'm not sure that means civilization and humankind will advance.