While I don't doubt that blocking competition is a happy incidental, the timing of when facebook and twitter were initially blocked makes it clear what the prim

While I don't doubt that blocking competition is a happy incidental, the timing of when facebook and twitter were initially blocked makes it clear what the primary purpose was. July 2009, just after the big Iranian election demonstrations that were fueled at least in part by social networks, and immediately following domestic upheaval at the Ürümqi riots. And while I realize this isn't a popular idea among western tech populations, one should realize how much of an opportunity there is for foreign intelligence services [1] to play agent provacateur on these networks when they're controlled by "the home team". [1] Solicitation for Persona Management Software by USAF (also solicited by SOCOM, etc.): http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/personamanagementcontract.pdf http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/person...