Student 'Twitters' his way out of Egyptian jail

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James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.


James Karl Buck sent a message using Twitter which helped get him out of an Egyptian jail.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. "Arrested."

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted that he was being held.

Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or "tweets," from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.

Amazing. Sometimes I think of all the new capabilities of cell phones as "novelty" but this was definitely a case of it being more than that.

Technology to the rescue!