Fear is the dictator\u2019s traditional tool for keeping the people in check. But by cutting off Egypt\u2019s Internet and wireless service late last week in the face of huge street protests, President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his own fear \u201d\u201d that Facebook, Twitter, laptops and smartphones could empower his opponents, expose his weakness to the world and topple his regime.<\/p>\n
There was reason for Mr. Mubarak to be shaken. By many accounts, the new arsenal of social networking helped accelerate Tunisia\u2019s revolution, driving the country\u2019s ruler of 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, into ignominious exile and igniting a conflagration that has spread across the Arab world at breathtaking speed. It was an apt symbol that a dissident blogger with thousands of followers on Twitter, Slim Amamou, was catapulted in a matter of days from the interrogation chambers of Mr. Ben Ali\u2019s regime to a new government post as minister for youth and sports. It was a marker of the uncertainty in Tunis that he had stepped down from the government by Thursday.<\/p>\n
Tunisia\u2019s uprising offers the latest encouragement for a comforting notion: that the same Web tools that so many Americans use to keep up with college pals and post passing thoughts have a more noble role as well, as a scourge of despotism. It was just 18 months ago, after all, that the same technologies were hailed as a factor in Iran\u2019s Green Revolution, the stirring street protests that followed the disputed presidential election.<\/p>\n