The world's most democratic Twitter experiment in Sweden?
BBC relays this amazing initiative launched by Visit Sweden with the Swedish Institute [governmental agency for the promotion of Sweden]. They have ceded control of the Twitter account @Sweden to a panel of Swedish since mid-December. What is undoubtedly a clever publicity stunt does also appear to be the "democratic experiment" it claims to be. Tweets are not censored and are by no means all positive. So, democracy or publicity?
London defend its reuse of electronic vote counting
The Greater London Authority has defended its reuse of electronic vote counting for the 2012 mayoral and assembly member elections following the renewal of allegations from one analyst that such systems are less secure and not worth their cost. The vote will be complex: on 3 May, Londoners will cast four votes on three ballot papers, each using a different electoral system. They will elect the Mayor of London and 25 members of the London Assembly for 14 constituency contests and a proportional representation system for 11 London-wide members. If turnout is similar to 2008, a total of almost 8 million ballots will be counted. “We think this marginal price difference in 2012 is a price worth paying for a quicker and more accurate count”, Euan Holloway, spokesperson for London Elects, told E-Government Bulletin this month. A traditional manual count would take four days, but an electronic count can produce a result within 12 hours, he said.
Anonymous' reaction raises many questions
Retaliation launched by the anonymous, which blocked many websites of government agencies, media or cultural industries in the world, after the close of the Megaupload platform by the American justice, raises many question about the powers and the might of anonymous. Despite the charges against Megaupload (the indictment is available online), accused of organizing a "Mega Conspiracy, criminal organization with global ramifications," why the anonymous set themselves as judges? In democracy, these attacks should not it concern us?
# Jan25, like a digital Bastille day?
According to LSE scholar Charlie Beckett, quoted by France 24, January 25 provided the Bastille moment of the Egyptian revolution, meaning it created a symbol that was simple and potent enough for everyone to rally behind it – much as the fall of the Bastille prison had done for the French Revolution in 1789. One year after the beginning of the egyptian revolution, the hashtag #Jan25 became the symbol of an entire movement and perhaps the most famous hashtag ever on micro-blogging site Twitter.
India Prime Minister joins Twitter
Or rather, his press service, which has just opened an account @PMOIndia (Prime Minister Office of India), showing its determination to approach the people. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is indeed often criticized for its inaccessibility. Journalists are clearly the target, in a country with less than 10% of Internet users, according to the Canadian Sherbrooke University. To read in India Today.
