Twitter helped escape from captivity

A Japanese journalist, released from Afghan captivity in early September, was able to send two messages to Twitter, in the process of explaining to the kidnappers how to access the Internet from a new cell phone.

An independent journalist, Kosuke Tsuneoka, was released after a five-month captivity the day after the appearance of the first post since his disappearance on Twitter. “I'm still alive, but in prison,” was written in this message. A few minutes later in the second message, he indicated his location and the name of the captain of the kidnappers.

There was no news from Tsuneoki since his disappearance on April 1, and these messages gave hope to his family and friends. But there were skeptics who noticed strange aspects in these messages. Why were the posts in English when the journalist used only Japanese in his Twitter account? Why did he use the web interface, and how could he send messages from prison?

In his speech after the release, Tsuneoka answered these questions and told how he managed to convince the kidnappers to give him access to the Internet.
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The idea came to him at that moment when one of his captors, whom he identified as a low-ranking soldier, showed his new mobile journalist Nokia N70. This phone is quite advanced compared to the devices that most people use in Afghanistan, and the soldier did not know how to use it. He asked Tsuneok if he knew how to use it. The prisoner had to help the soldier and show the capabilities of the device.
The soldier had heard about the Internet, but had no idea what it was. When Tsuneoka told him about the worldwide network, the soldier really wanted to see her, but it turned out that the phone did not have the ability to use GPRS and data transfer.
Tsuneoka was able to call the subscriber service, connect the necessary services and set up Internet access in the phone of his captor.

He said he was able to access the network. The soldiers asked what can be done with its help, whether it is possible to watch the Al-Jazeera channel. Tsuneoka explained that you need to type "Al Jazeera" in Google to go to the website of the Qatar television news service. But added that if they want to do something, you need to use Twitter. They asked what it is. Tsuneoka said that if they tweet something, they could get to other Japanese journalists. The soldiers offered him a try. The journalist immediately took the opportunity and believes that the soldiers did not even understand that he had deceived them.