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Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter continue to function as weapons of mass organization for popular uprisings in Egypt and other countries. Despite government attempts to control the flow of information on the Internet, many users have successfully bypassed blockages through the use of proxy servers and third-party applications. These alternate routes allow users to update their status without visiting the actual site. Facebook pages like ‘We are all Khalid Said,’ which was originally launched to condemn the torture and resulting death of the 28-year-old Egyptian, have acted as touchstones for a country attempting to free itself from the 30-year reign of the Mubarak regime. Meanwhile, pro-democracy Egyptian bloggers like ‘Sandmonkey’ have issued calls to action, including this post from yesterday: “We are bringing everybody out, and we will refuse to be anything else than peaceful. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn’t over and done with.” And with the advent of the whistle-blowing conduit that is WikiLeaks, the international community of independent media has placed a decisive check on the distorting filters of corporate and mainstream media. This struggle between censorship and news source scrutiny is also evident in the popular live video feed of the Egyptian rebellion provided by Al Jazeera, which has yet to find an outlet in the U.S. But as the communications revolution soldiers on, government intervention has evolved with it. In the United States, recent rulings by the FCC on net neutrality and the reintroduction of the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PCNAA), otherwise known as “Kill Switch,” have sparked resistance from the online community. Initially introduced in 2010 by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), the PCNAA would provide the president with the power to effectively turn off designated areas of the Internet—including power plants—if the administration deemed it necessary.

PajamasMedia.com contributor Roger Simon spoke with Egypt’s most internationally well known blogger SandMonkey on Feb 2nd. Just eight hours later, Sandmonkey was arrested. Apparently he was later freed by high-ranking officers but his cell phone was confiscated and his website suspended.

GUESTS: Eva Galperin, activist with Electronic Frontier Foundation, Tim Karr, Campaign Director with Free Press