God bless dictatorships. Particularly authoritative states, and communist ‘republics’. In fact, let allah bless all nations that have an absence of any form of true or suppressed democracy. Where there’s a lack of democracy, there’s a fantastically large intranet in the making.
In fact, if it weren’t for dictators, communist strongmen and military fuhrers, the intranet industry might be in decline. Instead, the intranet is a growth industry. Note the latest stories and headlines from those great countries that are particularly skilled at violating human rights, but have a fantastic intranet: Iran, China, North Korea, just to name a few.
It’s all about balance: in these countries, people do go missing; freedom of press or web is managed with a big stick and violent crackdowns; and torture and blackmail are effective tools for sustaining effective government. But man, they have tremendous intranets.
Look what Iran is working on!
Iran squeezes Web surfers, prepares censored national intranet (CBS)
Iranians have lost the right to surf the Web anonymously at Internet cafes as the government reportedly moves closer to its ultimate goal of replacing the global network with a censored national intranet.
The Iranian Cyber Police published new rules on Wednesday designed to allow officials to know exactly who is visiting what Web sites. Before they can log on, Iranians are required to provide their name, father’s name, address, telephone number and national ID, according to an Iranian media report cited by Radio Free Europe. Cafe owners will be required to install security cameras and to keep all data on Web surfers, including browsing history, for six months.
The rules, which come as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in March, are a deterrent to activists who might want to use the Internet cafes to organize protests. Calls to boycott elections distributed via social networks or e-mail will be treated as national security crimes, the Iranian judiciary announced last week, according to a report today in the Wall Street Journal. Government officials claim they need to control access to the Internet to counter what they say is a “soft” cultural war being waged by Western countries to influence the morals of Iranians.
Monitoring Web surfers is an interim measure until the government is done building out its own domestic intranet that is “halal,” or pure. Initially, the Iran intranet will run in tandem with the Internet before the global Web is shut off to the 23 million Internet users in Iran, according to reports. Payam Karbasi, spokesman for Iran professional union Corporate Computer Systems, told Iranian media that the domestic network, which was announced last March, would be launched in coming weeks, the WSJ reported.
I love those halal kebobs… and now there’s a halal intranet! Brilliant line extension!
Not to be outdone, China is building a dozy of an intranet, too. It may not be halal, but rumor says it will have no MSG!
China: Father of GFW on Internet Sovereignty
Fang Binxing, known as the “father of China’s Great Firewall,” recently recently made a speech on “The future of Internet security” which justifies the development of national network or national intranet by stressing the rights to Internet Sovereignty. Since Fang Binxing has great influence on the development of Internet infrastructure and censorship system in China, his speech may imply the future plan of the China Intranet.
When discussed the objectives of Information security Fang compared the imagined targets of security maintenance to beast, pet, livestock and children.
The first objective is security defense, the target is like a beast. It is like the management of a prison house, and invasive and preventive measure is needed. The second objective is trust, the imagined target is like pet. The management style is similar to an office where there is incentive and punishment. The third objective is reliability, the imagined target is livestock. It is like management a farm, the pigs are surrounded in bars and well fed. The fourth objective is control, the imagined target is children. It is like managing one’s home, everything is under monitored and parental guidance.
You know, I never thought to liken intranet use and its users as livestock and beasts… but come to think of it, this is a brilliant employee engagement tactic! Heck, if your users don’t use the intranet, break out the whip! If employees don’t use the intranet at all… 3 years in the gulag! I bet engagement rates soar!
Anti-democracy and intranet growth go hand in hand; the more democratic your organization, the less effective your intranet might be. In fact, if your intranet is suffering, one such strategy for improving intranet effectiveness is clearly to violate human rights.
Now I’m ready to open up the new Prescient office in Pyongyang.
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Speaking of intranet growth, I’ll be speaking at one of the best intranet conferences in Europe this May, IntraLife in Oso, Norway. Well worth the trip to see some great speakers and case studies. See: IntraLife
Flere og flere intranett får sosiale funksjoner. Få med deg workshop om sosialt intranett med. IntraLife
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The founder and CEO of Prescient Digital Media, Toby is a senior Internet and intranet consultant with particular expertise in the area of Internet and intranet planning and communications. He is a big fan of all the Kim Jung ____ (fill in the blank for whatever family member is seizes power).