Remember the story of the Russian police officers who went on YouTube and recorded videos condemning rampant corruption throughout the police force? The most prominent among them, Major Alexey Dymovsky, has not only been fired from his job, this morning he had fraud charges filed against him for allegedly embezzling $800 while working as a narcotics officer. Dymovsky’s public cry for help has been viewed almost one million times on YouTube.
Mark this down as an example of YouTube proving an effective way for whistle-blowers around the world to get the word out – but not necessarily to stay safe in doing so. It’s long been hoped that easy online publishing would enable more people to challenge authoritarian governments – but it’s not clear yet whether those governments care.
Of course it’s possible that Dymovsky really did embezzle $800 during his time as a cop and perhaps he should be thankful just for being alive for so long after challenging corrupt police. None the less, it’s hard not to suspect that these charges were filed as more retribution for the YouTube videos. Being sent to prison after being so visibly critical of Russian police is presumably not something that would be good for Dymovsky.
Two years ago Egyptian police watch-dog blogger Wael Abbas had his videos pulled from YouTube because the company said they violated terms of service against showing violence on the site, though they were reposted after international criticism.
Will the Russian police officer Dymovsky receive the same type of international support now that he faces charges, perhaps effectively for speaking to the world? These early cases will likely help determine how useful these new, democratizing social media technologies really are in improving everyday peoples’ circumstances around the world.
If people in trouble can use social media to speak to the world at large, but the world doesn’t care, then perhaps we’ll all have to stick to playing Farmville instead of using this Internet thing for more important matters.
