For Neda

By Amit Singh | Sunday, July 4th, 2010 | Policy

While Americans enjoy cookouts and fireworks every Fourth of July in honor of the great sacrifices and achievements of our forefathers, others around the world are not so fortunate. I recently watched the HBO documentary “For Neda” about the symbolic face of last year’s freedom movement in Iran. It was intriguing to observe the important role of social media and technology in the freedom movement. I wonder how the recent Tea Party movements would sustain without the same tools.

While we are still worlds apart from Iran, legislation such as the “Internet Kill Switch” bill set the wrong precedent for new federal powers. Cyber security is a serious issue and needs to be addressed as part of national security, but the broad language of the bill and lack of details is disconcerting. I hope we don’t forget the lessons of Neda and Iran and relinquish our rights, freedoms and protection solely to a centralized govt power.

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