The Toronto Star has published a nice overview of how mobile phones are facilitating information access and improving peoples' lives in undeveloped regions with poor infrastructure. Read More

Mobile phones and Internet access are now common in developing nations, but aid agencies have been slow to use that technology in order to implement effective two-way communication in disaster zones. A BBC media action policy briefing presents several case studies that illustrate how community organizations are effectively using simple available technology to create communication hubs and facilitate disaster relief. Read More

In response to the government's poor response in delivering aid to earthquake survivors in northeast Iran, young middle class people from Tehran are mobilizing grassroots relief efforts to collect and deliver supplies via social media platforms, circumventing the government's block on Facebook via VPNs. Read More

In an attempt to stop a panicked mass migration due to rumors spread via text messages and social media, the Indian government blocked websites and ordered mobile service providers to cap subscribers' emails at five per day. But Internet savvy phone users easily circumvented the cap on text messages and Indians jeered on Twitter, using the hashtag #5SMS to criticize the government's ham fisted attempts at censorship Read More