Wednesday 28 February 2007

Internet Freedom

The petition is entitled let the internet be a forum of a new kind of a freedom of speech and the explanatory notes say
"With alot of forums on the internet, blogs,yahoo answers, and others we wish that these forums and websites be freed from political correctness and people who think information is offensive etc...People should the freedom to say what they wish..after all what is all the freedom talk worth? getting Blocked from websites and having your blog or message or question deleted! Dangerous websites inciting hatred, fundamentalism etc should be monitored at all times. There should be a new bill of rights for the public to access any information about the government?"

The petitioner seems to be labouring under the delusion that the government has any control at all over the internet.

Freedom to speak does not equate to freedom to be heard; if a website doesn't want to include your comments, why should they? They are paying for the space and for the domain and so on and so forth. You are free, instead, to go away and create your own website, pay for your own domain and space and say what you like.

Of course, if what you say is libellous, ISPs may be reluctant to host your site. But I daresay there are ways of getting around that - expensive ones, possibly, but ways, none-the-less.

It's amusing that on the one hand you ask for complete freedom and on the other you say "Dangerous websites inciting hatred, fundamentalism etc should be monitored at all times." A little bit contradictory, no?

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