Venezuela's Chavez To Limit Internet Freedom

terets1 writes "Reuters reports that Venezuela's leader, Hugo Chavez, issued a call on Saturday for 'internet controls' to prevent rumors and inaccurate reporting from spreading. He specifically cited a case in which a website incorrectly reported that a senior minister had been assassinated and kept the story up for two days. Many of Venezuela's opposition movements use social networking sites to communicate. It is not apparent at this time exactly what kind of controls Chavez has in mind or whether those controls will be similar to the controls in Iran that have been used to silence opposition movements. Chavez said, 'The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms.'"

Comments

The government doesn't have to censor...

[copponex]

We already have a government that can monitor everything you say, including non-public correspondence where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy. You think outright censorship is very far away?

The government does not need to censor the media. The media censors itself. This news item is a perfect example of the hysterical bias of corporate outlets. When Paul Bremer shut down the radical Iraqi newspaper Al Hawza for publishing false stories in Iraq, for the safety and security of Iraqis, there was no public outcry of dictatorship or communist ideals. They just said it was a bad decision.

Chavez came out with a statement saying, "The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms." He's basically pushing for public support of laws that require journalistic integrity. In effect, he's arguing for libel laws that already exist in much of the Western world to be applied to media outlets on the internet.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy that has active internet censorship. Where are the news articles about that? How about Pakistan? How about Egypt?

The Press Law, Publications Law, and the penal code regulate and govern the press. According to these, criticism of the president can be punished by fines or imprisonment. Freedom House deems Egypt to have an unfree press, although mentions they have a diversity of sources. Reporters Without Borders 2006 report indicates continued harassment and, in three cases, imprisonment, of journalists. They place Egypt 143rd out of 167 nations on press freedoms. The two sources agree that promised reforms on the subject have been disappointingly slow or uneven in implementation. Freedomhouse had a slightly more positive assessment indicating that an increased freedom to discuss controversial issues has occurred. -WikiPedia

Chavez is a current propaganda tool for the West. He's no saint, but I get tired of news media who are either unwilling or unable to report balanced information.

Re:Not insightful

[sycodon]

One thing we all have to count on is law-enforcement and the military taking their oaths to the Constitution seriously. Which means if something like this every does come down from D.C., they will be the one's passing out the firearms to the citizens and telling D.C. to shove it.

And a shout out to all those Slashdotters out there who though Chavez was the best thing since sliced bread and constantly heaped abuse on those of us who saw him for what is was/is.

Bite Me.