We have been covering the Egyptian unrest against President Hosni Mubarak 30 year regime that has taken a near-totalitarian turn in the last few weeks. Aware of the journalistic role of social networking websites like Twitter played to bypass the media blackout imposed by the Iranian regime, Egyptian government pre-emptively blocked access to Internet throughout the country. Although this couldn't daunt the technologically savvy Egyptians, the vast majority found their voices quelled by the Internet blackout.
Google has collaborated with Twitter engineers to introduce a service that allows people leave voicemail using a telephone, which is machine translated into an audio file and posted to the hashtag #egypt. This way, even those without Internet connection can report latest developments and have their say in the Egypt stream on Twitter. The service can be accessed by leaving a voicemail on the following international phone numbers: +16504194196, +390662207294, +97316199855. The same numbers can also be used to listen to the voice messages, while those with Internet connections can check the #egypt stream or visit twitter.com/speak2tweet.
After being criticised for its privacy violations, big brotherly approach, and many-a-conspiracy theories of world domination, it's great to see Google reaching out and employ one of its recent acquisitions for the good of humanity. Looks like this service will go a long way in letting a majority of Egyptian citizens express their voices and report fresh developments from the veil of censorship imposed by the government. Let's hope President Mubarak doesn't kill the phone lines.
via techtree
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