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Blogging as Press Freedom in Repressive Places
museumpeace writes "CNN is carrying an AP story from France on the release of guidelines to help bloggers working under threat of suppressive governments to get out their stories without getting caught. "Reporters Without Borders' 'Handbook for Blogger and Cyber-Dissidents" is partly financed by the French government and includes technical advice on how to remain anonymous online.' Makes me proud to be a developer of communication software."
I am truly, before anything else, a proponent of personal freedoms. I know that this is definitely something that is common in technology communities. I am really heartened by an article like this.
The only question is how much impact will a blog have on a repressive government like China (or worse N. Korea... if blogging is even possible there). Will the next Thomas Paine be a blogger?
"We can write freely in blogs," writes Arash Sigarchi, an Iranian journalist who was nonetheless sentenced to 14 years in prison for posting several messages online that criticized the Iranian regime. I guess freedom has a different definition over there ...
The problem may be more keeping the content accessible, once you've sufficiently annonymized yourself so you can keep publishing. Because for every One blogger in an oppressive country, there will be 3 government workers with the task of silencing that person, and making sure anyone who reads the subversive material will be afraid to pass on the information to others.
... has a maximum online life of about half an hour," Pain writes of censorship in China."
""A call for free elections
We don't know how lucky we are to be in areas that still have an essentially free [although lackluster] press.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
"Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure"
I am not sure U.S is that much better with our journalists. We should rename TV to the propaganda box.
From TFA:
That's routine in countries such as Iran and China; here the worst you can state is that you don't like the liberal slant of CNN.
Really, things here could be much worse; wake me up when we've got our own Falun Gong problem here.
Nay, the blog is supposed to draw attention to the publisher's opinion (if he has any, that is, otherwise he's just one more attention whore in the intarweb), to allow him to express said opinion and have it noticed instead of just being a lost voice in the background noise.
"The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
How about freedom of press and free speech for bloggers right here in the US??
o m+election+laws/2100-1028_3-5767156.html/
WASHINGTON--Political bloggers on Tuesday urged federal regulators to keep the Internet as free as possible from campaign finance laws.
At a public hearing convened by the Federal Election Commission, both liberal and conservative political commentators lauded the brand of freewheeling online politicking that has characterized recent elections. The FEC is under a court order to extend campaign finance rules to the Internet, and the Democratic commissioners voted not to appeal.
Online politicking should not be subject to onerous federal rules, Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said. "We're all agreed about that." But, Weintraub added, "What is the best way for us to regulate bloggers?"
Radio and TV stations generally are immune from campaign finance laws unless their "facilities" are controlled by a political party or candidate.
One option, suggested by Republican Commissioner Michael Toner, would be to extend the same logic to say the "facilities" of Web servers should immunize political speech online.
http://news.com.com/Bloggers+plead+for+freedom+fr
I figured I'd just point these links out... I immediately went and looked for them, so I figured others might want be curious too...
r dissidents-GB.pdf
Handbook (PDF): http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/handbook_bloggers_cybe
Reporters without Borders (English): http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20
Right, because the Gestapo is going to kick down my door if I say something mean about Bush.
...waits for his door to be broken down...
BUSH IS A CUM GUZZLING FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT. HIS IS A FUCKING TERRORIST SHIT FUCKER. BUSH, AND BY BUSH I MEAN THAT BIG FUCKING RANK ASS VAGINA THAT WE CALL MR FUCK-HEAD-PRESIDENT, IS RUINING THE GOVERNMENT AND THIS ENTIRE GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCING NATION. JESUS FUCKING THE SWEET VIRGIN MERRY IN HER TIGHT LITTLE VIRGIN ASS DO I FUCKING HATE BUSH! FOR THE REVOLUTION!
Oh wait, it didn't come. For fucks sake people, I hate Bush, I hate the PATRIOT Act, I don't really like our foreign policies or our domestic policies. That said, chill. The world is not over yet. I was down in DC during the height of the anti-war protests where people were wandering around with signs that make the above look down right pleasant. I was in Boston for the big protest in the commons. Free speech is alive and well. No one is going to throw you in jail for talking shit about Jesus. Hell, I fucking hate Jesus and no police have ever given me shit about it. I mean, I have a fucking bumper sticker that says "Jesus hates you, but everyone else thinks you're an asshole" on my car, yet the only time I have been pulled over is when I was doing 20+ over the speed limit.
Get out of your narrow little American world view and realize that there are places in the world that make "Jesusland" look like a fucking utopia. Hell, the US has even more liberal free speech laws compared to even Europe, and Europe is pretty damn liberal. Try wearing a swastika in Germany or France and see how long it takes for the police to drag you off the streets.
Nothing is more irritating then stupid Americans whose world view doesn't go any farther then 48 states. There is a lot to complain about when it comes to the US. I could make a laundry list of domestic and foreign policy issues I have with out incompetent leaders. Free speech oppression doesn't fall on that list. You think you live in Gestapo land? Try traveling a little bit and see what REAL poverty and oppression looks like. You have never seen poverty and you sure as shit have never seen oppression.
That the French government would fund this.. they're one of the many countries that will prosecute you for holocaust denial or supporting nazis. Freedom of speech is for all.
Would that freedom include crying 'fire' in a crowded theater too?
Freedom of speech is a basic human right to express one's opinions, not a blanket license to incite terror, hatred and bigotry. That is NOT what the freedom is meant for.
So now with this available to us all, what's to stop someone from anonymously posting something that's believable yet fake? Isn't it posible that someone could make something up that's so horrible it would make the "news" and then the "news" would carry the story and people would demand an investigation into it? Almost a Wag the Dog type thing? The only things someone would need is a hatred, an imagination (which is getting harder to come by, granted), and these methods. Am I way off with this? P.S. I think it's a great thing, I'm just paranoid about another stupid "Pre-emptive" strike just to find that those weapons of mass destruction we were looking for were actually oil refineries.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Wiki says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_expression / "The right to freedom of expression is not considered unlimited"
Every notice that most people bitching about the the lack of freedom for the press are doing it via a blog or a comment in a blog? It's sort of like all the people standing on soapboxes on street corners bitching about not having any freedom of speech. Or like protests demanding the right to protest.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
These guys at Reporters Without Borders got guts -- on their website, they put the names and photos of the heads of states where there is no press freedom and call them "Predators of Press Freedom". Check it out at: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=1087
Sun and Fun
the only problem being that the US govt is funding a massive regime change in Iran, using many Iranian immigrants as enemy agents to stir up "dissent" over there.
;-).
they send propoganda based programs through satellite (since that's what most tv viewers in Iran have) from the US, funded by taxpayer dollars.
the neocons on one end, keep pushing the US govt to start a "regime-change", then there's Israel who keeps saying Iran is developing nuclear weapons (never mind that they kept saying the same thing about Iraq before 2003). all the inspecters and IAEA reps that have been there all found only plans for a nuclear energy station.
there's an enormous campaign being waged against Iran, seeing as they're one of the few states in the middle east not under the control of the US and UK. they used to be though... if you remember, even just recently they tried to install the brutal and totalitarian regime of the shah (not ironically after the British empire got tired of them). they wanted the oil and natural resources of a soverign nation, so with the help of the CIA, they pulled off a coup d'etat.
frankly, every time i hear a story about "Iran suppressing and jailing journalists" i don't see a story about freedom of speech, i see them jailing enemy agents and spies. oh, how the US would benefit from doing the same to all those spies in America. and i mean the US people, the govt just overlooks it, cause most of the spies are from "favored" nations... you can probably guess which.
it must take a real braindead Iranian immigrant to want the US to take over to help propogandize their own people. it's like those colloborators in V... selling out the human race to the reptiles so they can be a little richer or have more power. (that sci fi reference thrown in cause we're geeks). there are plenty of real world examples of being a backstabbing judas but that's what history class is for
Science : Proprietary , Knowledge : Open Source
Tell me, which America do you miss? Do you miss the America of the 17th century? The America of the 18th century? 19th century? 20th century? Or the America that existed for the brief period of time when Carter and Clinton were in office? Tell me which America you miss, I truly am interested.
The America described in that little document called the Constitution of the United States, the one that doesn't mention the words 'God', 'Creator' or 'Jesus' even once.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
guidelines to help bloggers working under threat of suppressive governments
#1 Do not use a yahoo email account
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Blog on Freenet.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Then you don't have to worry about anyone actually reading your blog.
Why ... did governments-- those people in *charge* of protecting rights-- never do this?
Laughing out loud at this, quite literally. Governments aren't in charge of protecting rights. That's a lie you've been sold. Governments are purchased and propped up by those with wealth for the purpose of protecting the privileges of same wealthy people.
(feeling very cynical today. my post is myopic but only half-sarcastic, i understand your post was also sarcastic)
Free yourself. Everything else will follow.
Things could be worse in the States, and the GP is a troll, but don't forget that if the President of the US declares you an enemy combatant, you can be imprisoned indefinitely without trial (pending Supreme Court review). So, the worst isn't that you don't like the liberal slant of CNN, but rather that you go to prison for life and never get to defend yourself.
Reuters article quote:
"PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris-based media watchdog released a handbook on Thursday to help cyber-dissidents and bloggers avoid political censorship in countries as far apart as China, Iran, Vietnam and Cuba."
Xinhua article quote:
"BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A Paris-based media watchdog released a free guide Thursday to help bloggers and cyber-dissidents avoid political censorship in countries as far apart as Iran, Vietnam and Cuba."
A great many americans consider Fox to be neutral, and CNN to be quite liberal
And to all other westerners that claim is utterly hilarious. First of all, there is no such thing as neutral. Secondly: by the standards of media in other democracies (which I'm sure you'll agree is a relevant one, at least more so than the alternatives), FOX is a ridiculously extreme far-right/nationalist freakshow, and CNN is pretty damn conservative (though the european broadcasts is mildened down a bit so us furreners might not notice and think it's objective).
sudo ergo sum
This is ridiculous. That the US is once again trying to meddle in its affairs does not make the Iranian regime benign, or remotely popular with the masses. I have spoken with several exiled iranians; they hate the the ruling priests, and in equal measure they hate the US (for their previous disatrous interference which has screwed them over several times before), and have no faith whatsoever in American intentions or competence to fix anything at all (come to think of it, who does?). It's not a question of wanting the americans or the priests, but wanting a proper, peaceful, democratic iranian rule.
sudo ergo sum
You guys are ones to talk. Your media is well over to the left in what they choose to report, and how they report it. Even more so than most American reporting. Comes from living in socialist nanny states I suppose.
But American press isn't immune to this garbage either. There used to be journalistic standards (at least here)....simply report on the facts and leave opinions to the editorial column. That's well out the window now. Now everyone pushes their agenda, newspapers hold stories to release until it's politically useful, TV news exaggerates and is quick to point fingers at those not even responsable...provided it's useful politically. Or reporters simply let personal, political bias leak into their stories at every turn. "Good journalism" today means anything that is so sensational, so capable of grabbing ratings, that it doesn't even matter if it's true or not...or if anything beyond the barest of facts is true.
Perhaps you should look at some prison numbers. We're the most incarcerated nation in the world at this point.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .