

Google Executive Emerges as Key Figure in Revolt - HardyLeung
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989504576127621712695188.html

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uscfan1781
Mr. Ghonim actions are both brave and impressive. His connection to Google
seems mostly coincidental though.

The fact that Mr. Ghonim and eight of his friends were arrested for their
online statements should scare us all.

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maeon3
Wael Ghonim Scheduled Release Monday:

[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870398950457612...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703989504576127621712695188.html?mod=e2tw)

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badwetter
A Feather in Google's Hat! Maybe Google should honour him in some way.

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u48998
Imagine when the next time around Google couldn't find a hero. Perhaps
Microsoft will? There will be an endless race to finding a hero for the
revolutions.

Bad idea all around, a slippery-slope no less.

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u48998
Down vote with qualification. I spent time writing my thoughts, you spent your
time downvoting with a click?

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danielharan
Exactly the kind of person you want running a tech company.

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JoeAltmaier
How does 'do no evil' reconcile with 'do tremendous good'?

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maeon3
Wael Ghonim just became notable enough for Wikipedia:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wael_Ghonim>

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svlla
about as 'key' as twitter I'm guessing...

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redthrowaway
Yeah, I wonder how much the online element of these revolutions is overblown
by the western media. Tunisia is credited to WikiLeaks, Iran was "the Twitter
revolution", and this is being credited to facebook. I'd love to know how
central a role they're actually playing, or if it's just something for the
media to latch on to.

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gruseom
I keep seeing conflicting information about this, but my impression is that
the rise of independent television (Al Jazeera) has had the deeper impact so
far.

Edit: does anyone here know whether Al Jazeera has typically been censored by
states in the region? I mean, of course, before the recent revolts. If not,
why not? It seems obvious that a population with random access to independent
news media is highly undesirable if you're their dictator.

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jarek
"Yes, we may have helped Tunisia, Egypt. But let us not forget the elephant in
the room: Al Jazeera + sat dishes" -
<http://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/31448923629420544>

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gruseom
I can't help but note the underhanded self-praise in this statement. It's
quite typical, unfortunately.

