Internet is not broken

EDITORIAL

Published: 15 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

A conference sponsored by the United Nations in Dubai this week bears careful watching. The good news is that Thai representatives at the ITU Telecom World 2012 are well aware of the hidden agenda of the conference. The bad news is that some influential governments and self-interested groups want to use the meeting to undermine the freedom of the internet.

Russia and China will try to ram through changes that will reduce the freedom of the internet to the censorship of the lowest common denominator of the most repressive United Nations members.

We have been here before. In the 1980s, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) was hijacked by zealots who were determined to break the back of a free press. Their soothing, seductive line was that the pre-internet media was controlled by big western interests and must be reined in to provide an opportunity for "third world" media to get their message across. Journalists should be licensed by government, to ensure approved messages were heard. What they meant, of course, was that a free press threatened dictators and tyrants by making information freely available.

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watchdog
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Discussion 3 : 15 Oct 2012 at 14.283
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What is wrong with a billion hack journalists? More people in the world have access to more information than at any other time in humand history. The best way to counter bad information or misguideded opinions is by opening up and allowing more information and more debate. Sunshine is the best disentectant.
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Ian
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Discussion 2 : 15 Oct 2012 at 10.222
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It is an old aphorism that with freedom of speech must come responsible usage. Many regular Internet users are familiar with "trolls", "flaming" and all the scam, misinformation and propaganda that abounds on the Internet. We learn how to sort the "wheat from the chaff", we learn how to "police" our blogs and ISPs have their filters.
I think the Internet is like an electronic equivalent of "Speakers' corner" and should be treated with the same caution.
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whatajoke
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Discussion 1 : 15 Oct 2012 at 07.141
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the internet is not broken but it does need fixing, it has created a billion hack journalists who are free to say what they like about someone else, true or false, slanderous or damaging, sometimes with quite effective consequences, and face very little liability because they are anonymous or hiding across borders. There is still a Wild West element to the internet at this stage and regulations will have to be tightened up. I say this from the point of view of a recent drawn out threats of litigation to get slander removed from a well read blog. I'm not talking about Ministry's of Culture willy nilly blocking sites they don't like, but accountability of those responsible for the site on which things get written.
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Internet is not broken | Bangkok Post: opinion