Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez takes to Twitter →

BBC News:

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president well known for his marathon TV addresses to the nation, has taken to Twitter to share his thoughts.

I really hope he uses twitter constantly. It will disprove my theories about eventual internet censorship in Venezuela, something I’m happy to be proven wrong on.

Also on the same article:

With growth of more than 1,000% in 2009, Venezuela now has one of the highest rates per capita of users of Twitter in Latin America

I was astonished last week with how big twitter is in Caracas. Every radio and TV show, in addition to many advertisers and brands, have some sort of tie-in.

Destroying my previous wishful thinking post, Cantv’s President has stated:

The upcoming installation of a single access point for all internet traffic has nothing to do with controlling or censoring network information.

It’s true that Venezuela is one of the few countries in Latin America¹ that doesn’t have its own NAP (Network Access Point). This means that when visiting most web sites - even local ones - traffic goes through either La Guaira or Pto. Cabello², to a NAP in Florida and then returns.

While there certainly is a speed and cost penalty, its magnitude is debatable. However, given Chavez recents threats against news websites and twitter, it’s no surprise that a technical discussion quickly leads to censorships concerns³.

If/when the Government makes private operators route their traffic through this new NAP, the technical elements for web censorship in Venezuela will be in place.

Initially, my main concern is not censorship, but repression. As far as I can tell, most political activities organized by university students use some sort of social network tool.

Without safe access to these tools, a non-violent movement will be difficult to organize and support.

Chavez takes another shot at #FreeWebVe →

On speech on Saturday, Chavez called for Internet regulation, from AP:

The Internet can’t be something free where anything can be done and said. No, every country has to impose its rules and regulations.

Chavez called on the Public Works & Housing Minister and, the Attorney General office, to investigate NoticieroDigital’s publication of unconfirmed news.

The comments where made in an event with his party (PSUV) national assembly primaries candidates. This forum adds some seriousness to the threat, since many are up for reelection and Chavez support is strictly necessary.

Distributed or centralized censorship?

If politics in Venezuela had any rationale, one could argue that it seems like Chavez is looking for a similar framework as the Law on Social Responsibility of Radio and TV. One of the main consequences of this law has been the self-censorship of most stations, because of concerns of being closed.

While this can’t considered good news, it does open the possibility of any Web site or services operating outside Venezuela to continue to work.

However, it could also mean that Internet providers will be liable for whatever content goes thru their servers. For wired broadband and dialup accounts, this wouldn’t cause much oposition, since the state-owned CANTV already controls most of market.

On the other had, mobile internet is a bit different, since the two main private operators combined (Movistar and Digitel) still have more market share than Movilnet, the mobile arm of CANTV.

From the technical aspect, all of this is still non-news, but the wheels are starting to be set in motion.

Liza López, from El Nacional (in Spanish), writes:

The reform to the Telecommunications Law, left in a drawer since 2008, establishes a single, state-controlled access point, as in Cuba, China and Iran. The presence of cuban vice-president Ramiro Valdés, known as the censor in the island, and congressmen statements over the terrorist character of social networks, have unleashed suspicions.

Six months ago, I wrote:

The government can, and probably will, establish some sort of online censorship. It will not work as expected for the reasons already mentioned. Nevertheless, they will be able to monitor a lot of traffic. And if things someday really heat up, they can disrupt most important Web sites for a considerable period of time.

I’ll revisit my notes and post some useful links when the technical aspects become clearer. However, this is not good.

We are about to see if a generation that grew up under internet freedom, is going to tolerate Government meddling of Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger.

On recent weeks, three related items have caught my attention:

1. My girlfriend asked me about the best Blackberry Twitter client
2. Hugo Chavéz called Twitter a terrorist tool
3. Twitter Co-founder said they are looking at ways to bypass country blocks

I know what you’re thinking, a Blackberry? Still, two of the above items are no big surprise.

The fact that a President, obsessed with controlling media, calls the easiest publishing/communication tool terrorist, was bound to happen as adoption grew.

On the same lines, after last year’s events in Iran, it makes sense that Twitter establishes the idea of global freedom of its service, over regional censorship. If they plan to be the pulse of the internet, they need to make it clear that real and uncensored tweets are all getting through.

However, my girlfriend installing Twitter on her Blackberry? Just amazing. I mean, this is the same person who uses Facebook as a photo sharing site, and still untags herself if the photos are public. She deletes - deletes! - email in Gmail. Even after a long conversation regarding the whole concept of an infinite expanding disk space.

So why would a person, whose default status in all chat services is invisible, be asking about Twitter?

Simple; uncensored news.

Many venezuelans don’t trust what they hear, or more importantly, what they don’t hear in the news.

Visit Twitter on a weekday and you can usually see a flurry of #FreeMediaVE, #FreeVenezuela and #TASPONCHAO tweets going by. Reporting protests and clashes with police and the national guards. With no mention whatsoever about it on local radio or TV.

All of this has lots of interesting internet usage implications. Sadly, the only one I keep thinking about, is that in Venezuela the internet will the next expropriation.