Learning from Tehran and Urumqi

Political protests overseas demonstrate the enormous power of the most mundane Internet technologies. Social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are being used to organize protests after Iran's contested election and have allowed Iranians to speak anonymously to one another and the world. In China, access to reports and photos on the Internet fueled protests in Urumqi after a violent confrontation ended with more than 150 dead.

Yet even as modern technology helps protesters organize and publish, repressive governments use it to track, harass and undermine. Iranian authorities spied on protesters' cell phone calls using equipment purchased from Nokia-Siemens. The Chinese government's "Golden Shield" project monitors the unencrypted, unprotected online communications of dissidents.