Social Ch@nge

When violence exploded in Georgia this week, the Estonians helped out the Georgians in an unusual way - by keeping the Georgian news website ‘Civil.ge‘ up and running despite attempts from the Russians to hack it. Wired broke this weird story of the Estonians and Google getting political - you can read it here.

What Wired doesn’t mention is that the Estonians are the most advanced nation in Europe when it comes to the internet. After they achieved independence from the Russians in the 90’s, they embarked on Project Tiger Leap, which ensured that there was internet access everywhere in Estonia.

Like on the beach. In the woods. Everywhere.

And don’t get me started describing their e-government. All in all, it’s not surprising that IT jobs drive the Estonian economy - giving us a glimpse of what the future is like when it comes to society and the internet.

Cell phones also played a big role in Georgia when it came to keeping people safe and aware. Poland evacuated its citizens from Georgia in one day by tracking who had Polish cellphones, and then text-messaging those people the information about the evacuation. Of course, cell phone towers became a bombing target right afterwards.

Using technology creatively to inform and protect people - even in the middle of a war - illustrates how important access to information has become to us. It makes sense that Estonia is ranked as one of the top countries in the world for press freedom: the nation is wired, and cyber-dissidence keeps you honest.

China’s been in the news for blocking websites and journalists all through the Olympics this week, but people are now protesting in e-versions of places you can’t protest in real life (Tienanmen Square for a start), let alone protesting in e-places that don’t exist - check out this account of a protest turned violent on Second Life. Could the next frontier of social justice be hacking for change?