September 24, 2005 – 12:17 pm
RSF (Reporters Without Borders) Handbook for bloggers and “cyber-dissidents”
Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they’re tremendous tools of freedom of expression.
Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.
Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicize it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.
This is a pretty good resource; it contains a collection of good articles on blogging by various authors, many aimed at those who are overcoming censorship via the self-publishing model that blogging brings to the world.
August 1, 2005 – 12:04 pm
A great interview from The World’s Tech Podcast (which is a great tech news podcast from the BBC world service) with Reporters Without Borders, regarding an issue I previously mentioned here, specifically American corporations who are enabling (and therefore supporting) China’s oppressive policies of censorship.
Julien Pain makes an excellent point in rebuttal to the common argument made by the corporations that “we are just complying with the local laws”, and points out that if the local laws dictate that you must allow child labor, or other immoral practices, it is your moral obligation to not abide by those laws, even if it means loosing business.
Podcast description excerpt for the show:
We start with some news from London on the latest round of bombings. We look at two questions: what role does the internet play in spreading jihadist propaganda? How can transportation systems be safer and more resilient? Then, we talk with Reporters without Borders about bloggers the world over. And finally, some Danish university students brew up what they say is the world’s first open-source beer recipe…mmm…open-source beeeer…Check out show notes and more at www.worldstechpodcast.blogspot.com
Episode 35 MP3 Download