Wired

This week CNN reported that the United States government was setting aside millions of dollars to develop “portable Internet connectivity” for people fighting for freedom in repressive societies.

Watching “The Arab Spring” and the power of the Internet to bring images of uprising and repression to the world, the United States government rightly concluded the Internet matters.  What’s the first thing the Libyan and Syrian regimes did when protest broke out?  Shut down access to the web.

So American engineers are now designing briefcase servers capable of being snuck into a country and giving access to the Internet.  As the spokesman for the U.S. agency in charge of the project said, “Freedom is directly tied to the internet”.

Good quote.  Here’s another to consider: 

“Freedom’s just another word for

nothin left to lose
nothin’s worth nothin if it ain’t free.”    ~ Janis Joplin

How ironic that we applaud people protesting in the streets demanding the overthrow of their governments, “breaking the laws” of their societies and we recognize “these people need to be connected to the outside world” yet in almost every prison in this country, inmates are denied access to the “wired” world.  Everyday prisoners in this country are subjected to deplorable conditions, inhumane treatment, poor medical and mental health care.  They are jammed into spaces most people wouldn’t consider adequate for their family pet.  Those are not my words, that’s the word from the United States Supreme Court.

And connection to the outside world?  Forget it.  Inmates are denied basic contact with family and friends, let alone access to the web.  Try teaching a class on computer components when you, as the instructor, are prohibited from bringing components in.  “See that picture of the hard drive fellas?  They look almost like that.”

I love that people are transfixed by ordinary citizens taking to the streets throughout the Arab world demanding basic human rights.  Somehow, that message doesn’t carry through to our own country where one of every four inmates is serving a sentence for drug possession or minor distribution.

“Nothin’s worth nothin if it ain’t free.”  A friend asked me recently if I ever worried about repercussions from this blog.  I told him, “I’d lost the love of my life, my kids have no contact with me, I was sent to hell known as receiving where I saw unspeakable evil being tolerated by incompetent staff.  They took my physical freedom but they can’t take my mind and my faith.”  So no, I don’t worry.  They can’t do anymore to me than has been already done.

Here’s the bottom line.  If we’re going to care about freedom in Damascus and Tripoli, it’s high time we care about freedom in Lewisburg and Attica and Lunenburg.  “Freedom’s just another word for nothin left to lose.”  Sing it Janice.