Word: phone
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...last week, I was cut off from most forms of communication altogether: mobile-phone text-messaging had already been blocked on the day of the election, and as the week went on, the entire mobile network was cut off from about late afternoon until midnight, the time when most demonstrations were being staged, making information-gathering from would-be participants impossible. Later, Internet connections were reduced to snail speed, and satellite television was almost entirely jammed. It was becoming impossible to report on events. The only "news" left unblocked was that propagated by state television. (See pictures of the turbulent...
Everyone began turning to regular phone calls and e-mail, then the only means of communication among the majority of Iranians, apart from word of mouth at rallies. I started to obtain information about events from family, friends and people on the streets and in shops and taxis. But at least once I found myself caught up in street demonstrations and clashes when trying to cross town. On June 18, when about 200,000 Iranians held a mourning march for those killed in clashes, I walked past three chador-clad girls who were holding posters in front of their faces...
...Beijing in his armored, fully wired train car, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il got an unnerving, firsthand demonstration of the potential downside of technology. A huge explosion ripped through the Ryongchon border station, and some officials initially thought it was an assassination attempt triggered by a cell phone. As it turned out, the fireball was more likely the result of two trains' colliding nearby, possibly as a result of miscommunication about changed schedules stemming from Kim's clandestine travels. But regardless of the actual cause, that still mysterious incident, which killed or injured 1,300, persuaded Kim to temporarily...
...heated standoff with the West over both its nuclear-weapons program and its jailing of two U.S. reporters. But even amid those tensions, the Hermit Kingdom is trying to stimulate its dire economic fortunes by slowly opening its economy to foreign business - and the lack of convenient cell-phone service has emerged as a major irritant, especially for the hundreds of Chinese firms active there, which make up the largest group of foreign investors. Those investors now actually have an ally in Kim Jong Il, who has quietly reversed his earlier decision and started upgrading the country's dilapidated communications...
...Even more problematic are the regime's overriding security preoccupations. Key power and telecom transmissions are buried underground, which complicates much needed maintenance and upgrades. More communications also means eroded state control, which is a vital regime concern. There are currently only a little more than 1 million domestic phone lines - about 5 per 100 inhabitants - although just 10% belong to individuals or households. Unauthorized international calls abroad can lead to fines and arrest and in one case reportedly led to the public execution of a plant manager in October 2007, according to Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid organization...