The Power of Communications

I see that the Chinese authorities are worried about the proliferation of text messages.

As well they might be.

Totalitarian regimes surely cannot persist if too many people have mobile phones and access to the Internet. Any attempt to censor messages, like stopping Internet copying (see Wednesday's blog) will prove fruitless.

The Telecommunications industry could do more to alleviate global warming and climate change than the oil, gas, and automobile industries combined by facilitating e-business and reducing the need to travel. It would require governments to subsidise the industry, but I guess they don't because they're worried about the text messages.