Amnesty Gets it Right
It's easy to forget sometimes just how good the BBC is, but tonight's Newsnight was a timely reminder for me. Three feature stories headed the bill: the first on the dangers of blogging; next on the right of the BBC and others to interview Taliban spokesmen; the last on the church in China. Each of them was linked by a common thread - the right to free expression.
I was critical of Amnesty's initial attempt to tackle the online issue: it didn't seem to understand the issues at stake. However, now it seems they have got it right. The problem is not so much censorship - which we frankly can do nothing about - but the collusion of companies such as Yahoo in providing evidence which leads to the arrest of bloggers and other critical voices.
Steve Ballinger, part of Amnesty International’s delegation to the IGF, said:
“Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege – but it’s a right that needs defending. We’re asking bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with web users in countries where they can face jail just for criticising the government.
“The Internet Governance Forum needs to know that the online community is bothered about free expression online and willing to stand up for it.”
Amnesty International is calling on governments and companies to ensure that human rights – particularly the rights to freedom of expression, association and the right to privacy – are respected and protected.
Help is, however, at hand via what seems to be an ingenious peer-to-peer solution to disguising your net ID: Freenet. Of course eventually the Great Firewall will cut it off, but the growth of sophistication since the good old days when I and others were desperately trying to use the currently-ruined Anonymouse to get past the CCP is amazing.
