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Blogs and free speech: Report paints sorry picture
One would think that with advances in technology and its
increasing users, freedom of expression would get a boost. But the
World Information Access (WIA) Report 2008 paints a sorry picture
and brings to the fore the harsh reality since 2003.
THE INTERNET has opened up many
possibilities by allowing people to connect to various causes and
mobilise public opinion. Nonetheless, the so-called liberation it
had come to represent through blogs and online networking sites has
brought into light the controversy revolving around freedom of
speech and expression.
The growing reach of the Internet, as a platform for those whose
voices had been suppressed for whatever reasons, be it their
authoritarian regimes or their own introverted nature, was lauded.
Since the early 2000s, net users got a chance to let the whole
Internet-savvy crowd be privy to their views and feelings with web
logs or ‘blogs’ as popularly referred to.
Blogging became a global phenomenon, connecting strangers from
diverse cultures and nationalities and acquainting them with what
is happening at the other side of the world.
Everything seemed all hunky dory. From personal experiences,
recipes, films to life under dictatorship, blogs chronicled them
all. But as their popularity ballooned to unimaginable proportions
and dissident voices increased on online portals, those ‘in power’
took notice.
Authorities, threatened by the power of a nascent technological
medium, resorted to arresting bloggers, even some bloggers who were
difficult to trace.
One would think that with advances in technology and its
increasing users, freedom of expression would get a boost. But the
World Information Access (WIA) Report 2008 paints a sorry picture
and brings to the fore the harsh reality, since 2003, in which
bloggers faced several arrests. Several bloggers were arrested from
countries as diverse as Iran, Nigeria, China and Saudi Arabia in
2009 alone.
The blogs that are targetted the most and see their owners get
arrested, according to the WIA Report, are
those that expose bureaucratic corruption, human rights abuses,
criticise public policies or politicians and report social protests
through articles or photographs.
Violation of cultural norms are the other grounds that are
considered shaky for a blogger if she/he intends to stay out of
trouble with the police. A blogger was arrested in India in 2007
for violating cultural norms. Other countries that have arrested
bloggers using this reason are Singapore, Egypt, Greece,
USA, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Philippines and
UK.
China, Singapore, Tunisia and Myanmar are the countries where
bloggers have been arrested for exposing corruption or abuse of
human rights.
China, Myanmar, Egypt and Iran are the countries in which blogs
that intended to organize or cover social protests had bloggers in
trouble.
According to the list of blogger arrests in the WIA Report 2008, In 2003, five bloggers had been
arrested. But thirty-five were arrested in 2007.
China, Egypt and Iran may account for more than half of all the
arrests since 2003 but statistics falsify the perception that only
the totalitarian regimes and developing countries are plagued by
the problem of stifling of freedom of expression.
Bloggers need to be wary on posting opinion about public
policies and politicians in France, Iran, Tunisia, Singapore,
Egypt, Syria, Fiji, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand,
Kuwait and Russia.
It seems that freedom will always be out of reach.
Instead of targeting those who have rights to their opinions, it
would be more fruitful to take measures to control the rampant
piracy and unrestricted child pornography on the Internet.
The irony is that there are other more pressing Internet related
issues for governments to care of.
Some believe that the Internet has to be strongly regulated as
numerous cyber criminals take advantage of legal and technical
loopholes in their countries to commit crime. Apart from cyber
scams, criminals have even taken to bragging about their exploits
on their profiles.
Recently, a boy from Kerala was summoned to court in Maharashtra
for creating an ‘I hate Shiv Sena’ community on Orkut. He was
summoned even though the IT Act 2005 exempts the owner of the
website from the repercussions of the content posted by its user.
The boy, who feared for his life, petitioned to have his case heard
elsewhere but it was rejected.
For an online user, setting up communities to express his
thoughts should have been a natural action and not one with such
dire consequences.
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