Stop Whining About Blogging; At Least You Haven’t Been Arrested
06/16/2008, 2 months ago
The BBC has an interesting article today based on a report out of the University of Washington. The report notes that 64 people have been arrested since 2003 due to blogging activities, which doesn't sound like a very large number, does it? However, three times as many people were arrested last year than were in 2006, which may imply that blogger arrests are on the rise.
The report indicates that the majority of blogger arrests take place in Egypt, China, and Iran, but they certainly don't have a monopoly on official repecrussions for using blogs and other forms of social media as a form of expression and protest; just a week and a half ago, the Moldovan government seized the computers of 12 "young people" who posted criticism of the ruling party of the Republic of Moldova online. The 12 individuals may face charges for making "calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order" and affecting the "statality and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova."
Myanmar is also making news recently for the arrest of editor and blogger Zaw Thet Htwe on Friday. Previously arrested in 2003 when editor of a sport magazine, he was pardoned in 2005, and has been helping to get emergency relief directly to the Bumese citizens after Cyclone Nargis.
And in the countries cited in the University of Washington report, there are harrowing stories as well. Egyptian blogger Karim el-Beheiri was released from jail after nearly two months. He was charged with "inciting unrest, damage to property and demonstrating" during protests at an Egyptian textile plant, and after his release, described punishments including electric shock, beatings, and deprivation of food and water.
Every time we hear about a "bloggers union" or complaints about negative comments on blogs, I'm reminded of bloggers like these, who don't enjoy the same freedoms that most of us do. They lack the ability to even verbally protest their government's actions online, something which most Americans take for granted. The University of Washington report gives the average jail time for these bloggers as 15 months, and admit their estimates may be low based on unconfirmed reports. It makes that whole "we need a union" mantra look just a little less relevant, doesn't it?
This is a more interesting article than the one you referenced. I like questions along with stories, which explains why the other version didn’t cut it for me. Props to your global acknowledgement -”I’m reminded of bloggers like these, who don’t enjoy the same freedoms that most of us do”- and the things we take for granted. We’re privileged beyond belief, yet sometimes bloggers fight about Twitter and disregard the fact we live in an unbalanced world. Great post.
Julian, thank you. I think that there are a LOT of global issues related to technology that get lost in the constant echo chamber. It helps me to highlight those every once in a while, and I hope that it does for others as well.
I am a blogger from Moldova and it is true that the 12 computers were seized by police. Moreover, on Saturday, a protest was organized against the actions of the authorities and the sad thing is that none of the twelve people whose computers were seized showed up. People fear to protest againts this decision, so basically the Moldovan authorities achieved their goal - people have fear to comment critically now.
Thanks for the article. I agree with Julian. How does technology make peoples lives better? I remember Wired writing about the quake in China. People were charging their cellphones at the emergency generators. Obvously mobile devices are a great help in a situation like that. If technology is only for the privileged it increases the inbalance. Like free speach. If it isn’t for everyone it’s not. I’m glad I tore myself away from Twitter to read this
Whats wrong with the world, the internet is a free-thinking living entity, because of bloggers and web 2.0 people create their own opinions and place them in blogs, they cause no harm to anyone or anything. I understand that their governments actions can be good or bad, but as humans we all have the right to speak up without fear of jail or backlash. Technology makes this more readily available than before but its only a limited amount of time before these governments can’t fight bloggers anymore. What are they going to do? Ban all technology? Ha.
quote from last comment
“Technology makes this more readily available than before but its only a limited amount of time before these governments can’t fight bloggers anymore. What are they going to do? Ban all technology? Ha.”
wow. how naive are you? yes, they ban all technology. they ban internet traffic. They ban your phone connection. They siege your camera, recorder, any mean of capturing what’s reality. they put you in prison.. like LITERALLY, not some virtual imaginary prison of hypothetical nature. What technology do you think a guy who had nothing but his body to communicate with the outside world? You want to send the blogger some chip he can put in his brain that will transmit all his thoughts to his blog? Read the linked article on the Burmese blogger who got arrested.
Let me point out one more thing. In Burma, any communication channel is owned and operated by the government. you want a cell phone? you can’t just go to the mall and sign up with Verizon and put down a credit card. You go and apply to the Ministry of Telecommunications for a cell phone permit. You want a land line.. The same deal. Internet connection.. pretty much the same. All the servers, cell phone towers and telephone connections are owned and operated by the government, every single packet of bits goes through their filter, their ever-watching eyes. So really what technology you suggest is remotely affordable for the bloggers in Burma in the near future? Satellite phone you say? oh yea, if they find you in possession of an unapproved satellite phone, you go to jail as well.
If anyone is interested what is like to be in a country like Burma or how it’s like to live with fear , read ‘1984′ and then read ‘Finding George Orwell in Burma’ and you will get a remotely close picture of the life of Burmese citizens. Before you understand how much effort this kind of government put into controlling what people see, write or report, don’t hand wave and say “what are they going to do? Ban all technology?”
I do applaud Cyndy Aleo-Carreira for bringing attention to issues like this and reminding people who take freedom for expression for granted that not everyone has it.
Cyndy,
I have “felt” this post many times over even thought I did not write it! I recently met with some great bloggers in China and sensed that they were part of a huge and painful transformation with bloggers sharing information in an environment where your blog can get blocked because of sensitive keywords in your comments, you can get your servers unplugged, or you can get a friendly call from your local Information Police representative. All because you shared information about what was really going on and not because you were being particularly seditious or negative.
I came back and kinda lost my appetite for many of the topics that are typically in my FriendFeed….when our blogging brothers and sisters abroad are fighting for much bigger issues…
Thanks again for writing this…
@Ion Thank you so much for your account of what’s happening in Moldova. Nearly every time I write a post regarding global issues, I get at least one comment that drives home exactly how small the world really is.
@Jonas I think that tech CAN improve quality of life in a lot of cases, and it makes the world so much smaller than it was when my parents were growing up. At the same time, it serves as a magnifying glass for many of the injustices of the world that we may not be as aware of as we should be.
@Search I lean more toward the side of @Stick on this issue. Yes, they certainly can ban all technology, and often do. Many countries have very limited access to the Internet, and many, MANY sites we take for granted are blocked. The Internet is nothing but a huge agreement of servers in many countries to work together. As we saw with the YouTube outage, it doesn’t take much to completely cut a country off from all online contact.
@Elliott I always assume that you do, since I know you have such close ties with China.
And I know exactly what you mean. Before the fall of communism in Poland, a friend defected here. Her sister, who had lived here for years, took her to a local grocery store, gave her a cart, and said “buy whatever you want.” Her sister stood in the middle of the store and just sobbed, overwhelmed by how much we have. I was little at the time, but in the 30 years since, I have never been able to walk into a grocery store and take it for granted. I may not always remember when I’m online like I do when I’m in the grocery store, but most days, I think of it at least once, and am grateful for the freedom to the insane amount of information and discourse that I can access.