racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Freedom of speech. Censorship. Human rights. These are now issues bloggers have to face, especially in the light of restrictive regimes, such as those in the Middle East and in China.

Charles Cooper, Executive Editor at CNet News writes on the dangers of blogging, especially if one’s blog content involves “sensitive” matters.

So far, I’m thankful that I have yet to experience having a government agent knock on my door, “inviting” me for an interrogation. =)

An excerpt:

When blogging can get you locked up | Perspectives | CNET News.com
January 21, 2005, 12:00 AM PT
By Charles Cooper

…
Increasingly, it seems, blogging can get you in big trouble. And as the number of Web logs and Internet news sites grows, journalists and bloggers regularly find themselves at odds with governments that are unenthusiastic about freedom of expression.

What’s more, many governments now routinely filter the Internet, even though that’s a clear violation of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which promotes access to information as an entitlement. Truth be told, the litany of examples of Internet repression around the globe makes for dreary reading.
…
Internet infrastructure providers can’t plead willful ignorance anymore. In China, for example, Cisco Systems routers do the heavy lifting for the country’s surveillance infrastructure. Internet traffic passes through only five hubs, making it oh so easy to snoop on Web surfers and read private e-mails.
…
Bad precedents like these won’t make things any easier for the people who literally risk their lives to reveal the truth. Keeping the flow of information free and unfettered is going to become a struggle in the new century. It is an issue begging for Silicon Valley’s attention—all the way from a jail cell in Iran. So far, the response has been studied indifference.

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