Thu, 02 Jul 2009
Irony: using FOSS to suppress freedom
Just out of curiosity, I used Twitter search to see how Net::Twitter is being used.
I was dismayed to find warnings to ignore posts from Perl Net::Twitter with the #iranelection hashtag. Iranian government agents, they claim, are creating spambots with it.
CarlN: Govt agents here: Check signature of tweeters: posters from “Perl Net::Twitter” are most certainly government spambots. RT RT #iranelection 11:24 PM Jun 19th from web
jimmy_45: STOP supporting US backed coup in Iran. #IranElection #IranElection #tehran Tehran RT RT RT 3:28 PM Jun 20th from Perl Net::Twitter
iransource: 99% of tweets are from US backing a BLOODY revolution. People are dying. STOP destabilizing the Iranian state! #IranElection 5:25 PM Jun 20th from Perl Net::Twitter
When you donate your time and effort to produce free, open source software, you can’t control who uses it or how it’s used. The good guys and the bad guys have equal access.
Here’s hoping the good guys win!
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