The Power of Free as a Catalyst for Political Revolution

The Arab Spring of 2011 was a series of recent events that are still fresh in many people's recollection. Unlike previous political revolutions, the events which started in Tunisia in late 2010 and continuing to other Arab states in 2011, and other subsequent similar events in Hong Kong and Taiwan made heavy use of the Internet, social media websites and mobile apps as a means of communications and mass dissemination of message.This paper makes the case that the free and open source software (FOSS) together with free online communication platforms played an important catalytic role in the rise of this modern form of political revolution. The two aspects of 'free', both in terms of freedom to reuse computer codes and downward pricing pressure towards zero marginal costs, expanded consumers' demand and suppliers' competitiveness in the Internet and mobile marketplace. Coupled with this in is the positive network effect which increases the marginal value to each consumer as the number of users or subscribers to a particular network increases. The culmination of these forces is a set of evolving information technology tools to support the expansion of the voice of the citizenry and the growth of political revolutions