Greetings. As the world watches the unfolding of dramatic human events in the aftermath of disputed Iranian elections, it's impossible to ignore the spectacle of global news organizations reduced to being, in many respects, mere conduits for dramatic and timely YouTube videos and Twitter messages.

The Iranian government's crackdown on traditional news sources has all but silenced direct reporting from major media, so CNN, FOX News, and other outlets are embracing the direct reporting of "citizen journalists" -- along with disclaimers that many of their new sources cannot be independently authenticated. The discomfort being felt in these newsrooms is plain to see in the faces and words of anchors on every mainstream news channel.

But it's not just the news biz that finds this situation so uncomfortable. In significant ways, governments around the world -- already suspicious of the Internet's egalitarian aspects -- are likely viewing the outpouring of images and messages from Iran with considerable alarm. And such fears may not be limited only to what we would typically categorize as authoritarian regimes.

It's fashionable for governments to profess a love for the Internet and related technologies -- often expressed in terms of "broadband connectivity" -- so long as the Net is being used in ways acceptable to the powers-that-be.

But when ordinary citizens turn these technologies into tools to fight oppression, suddenly the Internet loses its "official government Web sites" glow, and threatens -- horrors! -- that ordinary people may actually have a meaningful say in events.

Of course, at that stage we tend to see government attempts at Internet censorship and data communications blockages, which almost always are fruitless in the end. To really prevent the people's use of such communications systems in "offending" manners generally requires total and absolute cutoffs of telephone and Internet communications.

As Clay Shirky succinctly notes in these brief excerpts from his interview aired on CNN today, any government that attempts such draconian measures risks a very upset, radicalized citizenry -- and vast economic damage.

Nobody knows at this point how the current furor in Iran will turn out. My personal best wishes and hopes are with those brave Iranians fighting to make sure that their votes really count, rather than just brushed aside by the government with humiliating comparisons to upset sports fans and traffic violators.

We don't know today whether or not the Iranian people will triumph in their battle. But we can pretty confidently be sure that history will record these events as pivotal in the evolution of the Internet and global communications. We are seeing a dramatic demonstration that the confluence of technologies such as Internet-connected cell phones with mass-distribution social-networking environments like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, brings tremendous communications leverage to ordinary people. It's a force unlike any the world has seen before, and one that governments can only attempt to muzzle at their own peril.

Interesting times, indeed.

--Lauren--