After social networking played a role in the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, we found it interesting that Syria lifted a ban on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube that had been in place for many years. The government claimed that it wanted to show that it encouraged openness and expression, though some found that hard to believe. Indeed, as things have gotten worse in that country, there were reports a few weeks ago of a massive attempt by the government to swipe passwords on Facebook. Further reports are now claiming that either with swiped passwords or by forcing arrested dissidents to cough up their own passwords, the Syrian government has started posting fake pro-government messages on the pages of those dissidents.

I'm curious as to why the government is doing this. Do they really think that anyone is convinced by this or that it's effective? If you have been friends with or following a well-known dissident, who suddenly disappears, and then his page starts posting pro-government messages, it seems like most people would quickly realize that something was wrong. Meanwhile, the various dissidents and activists have found that the best way to avoid this is to just create fake personas on Facebook, despite that going against the company's policies. One hopes that Facebook is willing to let things slide under the circumstances...