Slashdot Mirror
Bloggers Versus Billionaire
Roger Whittaker writes "An interesting case in England is pitting the combined power of multiple bloggers against an Uzbek billionaire. The bloggers are supporting the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who has written a book about what happened there after the fall of Communism. The book is apparently unflattering in the extreme to oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who has engaged the law firm Schillings (which seems to specialize in getting unfavorable Web content removed for rich clients). Their threats have led to the removal of Murray's blog site by his hosting company Fasthosts. But a large number of bloggers have taken up Murray's cause, and the content that caused the original complaint, and links to it, have now sprung up in a very large number of places. The Internet still seems to regard censorship as damage and route around it."
This will without a doubt be entertaining and possibly educational. There are plenty of people with power/money who would like to censor others' public opinions of them. It is easier in some countries (China) than others (EU, US?, etc.). There may certainly be lessons to learn for both sides. I know who I'm rooting for but of course I'm not an oligarch.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
"It looks harmless enough, but if you try to take information away from it, it explodes in your face."
:)
It's a shame you posted this as Anonymous Coward. You deserve the good karma. However, I would rate your post as Insightful, not Funny. Time and time again we see idiots trying to force removal of information/data from the net and shooting themselves in the foot. There might be a profit type scheme buried there...
1) Buy stock.
2) Post information (maybe stock tip or supposed insider information).
3) Declare information as escaped/illegitimate.
4) Promise to sue (and maybe file a couple) everyone repeating said information.
5) Profit!!!
Or, maybe not, as I posted earlier, I'm not an oligarch.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
You know a frequently exploited theme in science fiction, which actually comes fromt he real world: all together we're worth more than just the sum of us.
Just like none of the nerve cells in our brain knows exactly what effect it has on the big picture, they all together create complicated intelligence machine.
Then I read this:
"The Internet still seems to regard censorship as damage and route around it."
I know it's not the context they used it in, but ponder this: Internet has enabled million of people worldwide to communicate instantly.
In this case people came together to show some rich loser he can't mess with their blogger buddy. The result is an information network that quickly provides redundant copies of information under attack and makes the information virtually impossible to erase ever.
The resulting intelligence, behavior and outcome probably escapes the mind of each one of the participators that form it.
Does the Internet have a mind on its own already?
In Uzbekistan during communist times, a leader emerged, Sharaf Rashidov, who defrauded the Soviet system by falsifying the production statistics that were used to calculate payments. Communisms central planning would move products directly from producer to user but pay from a central fund so it was ripe for fraud by falsification of statistics. Eventually, the Soviet government found out and many of the government were imprisoned or dismissed.
When communism died, so did all semblance of control over the government there who reverted to a kleptocracy. The power to export (Uzbekistan is a major cotton producer) or to convert currency was given to a select few. When the blackmarket rate was something like four times the official currency rate you can imagine what happened - yes, a massive black-market in currency. Privatisation became a rip-off. Although shares were passed out to all, those in remote places became vulnerable to raiders who swept them up in return for nothing.
Given the nature of the controls on the Uzbek economy, I cannot understand how Usmanov made his money legally. He cannot be permitted to become the beneficial owner of a western company as the anti-money laundering rules would force the company to become increased-risk or worse which would cause problems for western banks to do business with him. Lawyers are now also constrained by anti-money laundering rules, so they too could have problems working with him.