Bloggers, stand up!

In a society which values the freedom of expression more than anything else, it is the sole responsibility of everyone, particularly the bloggers, living in North America, Europe and the selective countries in Middle East and Asia, to stand up against the ever-increasing threat to freedom of expression on the Internet. Amnesty International recently issued a 'Call to Bloggers', asking them to stand up for freedom of expression online ahead of a worldwide forum aims to discuss "the future of the Internet". Here's an excerpt from Amnesty:

The call comes as the online world prepares to meet at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF, Athens 30/10 – 2/11) to discuss the future of the internet. Amnesty released a statement to the IGF today and is sending a delegation to ensure that human rights are not sidelined and remain at the heart of the forum’s discussions.

Amnesty’s International's statement also coincides with an urgent appeal on behalf of a blogger in Iran who was detained this month. Kianoosh Sanjari was arrested earlier this month while reporting on clashes between security forces and supporters of Shi'a cleric Ayatollah Boroujerdi. He is being held incommunicado and Amnesty International fears that he may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Sanjari had allegedly gone to the home of Ayatollah Boroujerdi in the capital, Tehran, to prepare a report on the clashes that were taking place there.

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.

Yahoo! via its Chinese partner company, Alibaba, has provided the Chinese authorities with private and confidential information about its users that has been used to convict and imprison journalists. It has also agreed to censor and deny access to information. Microsoft shut down the blog of New York Times researcher Zhao Jing on the basis of a Chinese government request. The company has also admitted that it responds to directions from the Chinese government in restricting users of MSN Spaces from using certain terms. Google has launched a censored version of its international search engine in China.

Amnesty International is also highlighting the cases of prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for the expression of their peaceful views online.

Chinese journalist Shi Tao used his Yahoo! account to email a US-based website about an internal government directive instructing journalists how to handle media coverage of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities." Yahoo! provided information to the government that was used in his prosecution.

So bloggers, let's stand up for the survival of a free Internet! Google, the provider of Blogger, is also not doing much better as I've noted here.

Freedom of press under attack

No, I am not talking about press freedom in a totalitarian state such as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. I'm talking about our neighbor down south, the United State of America. Reporters Without Borders recently released the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. This year the U.S. ranks 53rd, 9 places behind its rank last year, which is significantly behind other industrialized, First-World countries, such as Canada which ranks 16. The Christian Science Monitor, citing the index, reports:

Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of "national security" to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his "war on terrorism." The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognize the media's right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.

The world's worst violators of press freedoms remains unchanged from last year: North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China. Iraq isn't much better, ranking 153rd out of 168 countries.

So what exactly is press freedom? Press freedom is not only to report what's happening in the world today which may impact you and me, but also to report unequivocally the unbiased truth in a responsible manner and be faithful to its audiences. Although the major presses in U.S. have supreme worldwide coverages, they failed miserably in reporting quality news and adhering to an unbiased coverage. Take a look, for example, over the recent controversial speech the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, gave in front of United Nations Generally Assembly. After the speech major U.S. news sources, including Fox News, not only fiercely criticizes Hugo Chavez's ultra-left wing politics, but also denounce the U.N. as an incompetent group of nations, co-conspired with Third-World and totalitarian states to intentionally and ultimately topple the U.S. government and undermine the national security. One of their "journalist", Mr. Eric Shawn, even went as far as written a book, titled "The U.N. Exposed", to further denounce the U.N. as a hopelessly flawed concept, in need of major overhaul and possible disbandment, and suggested how the White House should be more autonomous in its own decisions. Now, how can a major news network be this ignorant and dismissal of true facts when it is the U.S. government whom undermines the security of its own people. It's inconceivable that one can be so ignorant when it is the fact that U.S. had repeatedly exercised its veto power in the past in favor of its allies to undermine U.N.'s goal of international peace and security. Other prominent examples of the twist of truth in U.S. media include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Iraq invasion, and this summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So, are the American press truly "free"? Could we rely on them to bring us true perspectives? It's hard to say, but eventually we should all read news from other resources and countries for an unbiased view. If the American press can't faithfully report their news, they're no better than any other government censored news agency in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or North Korea.

The Canadian presses are not doing much better. The local press, such as CTV, are always one-sided and leaning slightly towards the right. They're also written and reported in a tabloid format to entice and attract mindless viewers. At the national level, CBC is doing a bit better by providing meaningful documentaries and programs for a more educated audience, but then its news is once again biased toward the right.

Other attacks on the freedom of press include last year's cartoon controversy.

Google's ultimate nightmare scenario

We have all heard the recent buyout of Youtube by Google. How Google bought Youtube for $1.65 billion and how it turned the fortunate founders into instant multi-millionaires. But what we don't realize is the gigantic leap-of-faith Google has taken toward this acquisition.

Youtube has grown immensely in recent years largely thanks to its specialized video sharing technology. Any registered user can easily upload a video online to share with peers, family members or strangers. Not only is its video upload is easily, it's channel customization is also one of a kind. With all these fancy decorations readily available to entice one's appetite and its clear stance against massive consumer advertisement, there is no surprise that Youtube is able to captivate, attract and retain potential users, particularly within young adolescence and teenager populations. However, Youtube also has its own set of problems. With the amount of freedom Youtube has given to its users, the number of unauthorized and copyrighted materials being posted is on a steady increase. It is now up to Google to decide what to do. It can either keep its list of audiences and attract other potential members, or be more stringent as to what are posting materials and unleash its advertising technology. Eventually, Google will have to juggle between "ethic" business practices and friendly user environment because for a Nasdaq-listed corporation bottom line is everything.

Same thing is happening right now on our own community, the blogosphere. Google's very own Blogger (a.k.a. Blog*spot), which Google acquired back in early 2003 is now rampant with information (i.e. file) sharing. Take a look for example the illegal posting and download links of popular MP3's originated, surprisingly, not from North America and Europe but from Latin America, where the governing laws on music piracy is weak. With just a few clever searches, one could easily download illegal mp3's from sites as far as Brazil. The downloads are usually redirected to popular file-sharing sites such as Rapidshare, Up-file, and Megaupload, where the web hosting is free, fast and readily available for North American users. Can we blame Google? No, since it is in our own blood to be greedy and, especially for the music lovers, an insatiable appetite to want more. With the rapid criminalization of file-sharing software such as Napster and low-bandwidth services such as Bit-Torrent, going Google is the only way. With blogging becoming ever popular and the tremendous growth of blogosphere, it is only a matter of time before this community becomes the favorite place amongst file-sharing enthusiasts.

What happens then would truly be THE ultimate nightmare scenario for Google. Both Blogger and Youtube would become THE favorite for legal teams of major record companies, movie producers and software developers worldwide. Ultimately, a brilliant and visionary company like Google would be immersed in a pool of lawsuits. It's only way out is to have a deterrent in places like Youtube and Blogger to administer, identify, prevent and take down any potential illegal materials before and soon after they're posted. BBC summarizes the best:

Should Google lose a major YouTube court case and its share price suffers as a result, the company will have to brace itself not just for a deluge of lawsuits from copyright owners but disappointed shareholders as well.

No doubt Google will have to work hard to steer YouTube into safe waters.

Solid content identification, video watermarking, royalty reporting and clearer upload guidelines for YouTube members are a must.

There is just one drawback: For some members that could take all the fun out of YouTube.

Without fun, they might go elsewhere.

And then Google's deal would look much less like a bargain.

For now, Blogger and Youtube are like time-bombs ticking away. Will Google be ready when they explode? Or, will Google be smart and prevent such a traumatic event from happening and at the same time retaining its users? Maybe this is why it's hesitating on releasing Blogger Beta?

Wal-Mart got served

The retail giant Wal-Mart got a rude awakening call this week after been ordered to pay at least $78 million in compensation for imposing unpaid work upon its employees. The retail giant, famous for its "everyday low prices" slogan, is renowned for the mistreatment of its employees, the practice of selling at below-cost, and the outsourcing of its suppliers to many Third-world countries, such as China and India, where they're prime sources of child and cheap labour. Through its marketing practices, Wal-Mart is also implicitly responsible for the growing U.S. trade-deficit, the increase in job loss, and the many closure of local manufacturing companies.

For the impulsive shoppers of Wal-Mart who's reading, please think about and keep in mind all these issues the next time you go to Wal-Mart to buy a bargain. The bargain may be short-term and enticing but the consequences of which would always come back to haunt you. Some consequences of trade-deficit include a loss of international competitiveness, or unsustainable 'booms' in domestic demand. In layman's term they represent currency inflation (i.e. the value of the money you hold dearly in pockets and bank accounts is worth less) and unstable economic trend (i.e. a bubble which bursts without warning).

For a more comprehensive look at the reality of a Wal-Mart economy, see here.

Saudi woman speaks out!

In a society heavily influenced by religion, it is rare to hear people speaking out their concerns. This is especially true in a male dominated society such as Saudi Arabia where a strict adherence to Islamic teachings and Sharia Laws are reinforced everyday amongst its inhabitants. In this part of the world, women are heavily segregated against their will and are often treated differently than their male counterparts on common issues such as marriage, divorce, division of inheritance, education, dress code and occupation, which the women of Western societies often taken for granted. Because of the segregation, woman's rights are constantly under attack and those who sought justice were often turned down, dismissed, threatened, jailed and even murdered.

Meet Ms. Rajaa Al-Sanea, a twenty-four year old author of the controversial book "Banat Al-Riyadh" or "The Girls of Riyadh", which provides fictitious (but understandably true) accounts of four women living in a gender segregated society. The novel depicts the livelihood of these women, particular their relationship between their male companions (i.e. boyfriends and husbands), and how they're often being manipulated, discarded and isolated when they're no longer deemed "attractive" and "useful". This novel has aroused controversy in a predominantly conservative Muslim society. It has been criticised and downtroddened as a book which sales because of the beauty of the author's look. But it has also received warm support and a revived criticism of women's role in the Saudi society. One journalist observed:

It is our tradition not to talk about the ills of our society. We know there are problems in our society, but the general reaction is to keep quiet. We have been taught from an early age that if we talk about the ills of our society, people will laugh at us. We are seen as role models in the Muslim world. And even when we are not entirely perfect, we should pretend that we are. 'Banat Al-Riyadh' deals with four characters. They may or may not represent all of Saudi society. But yes, we do come across the four fictional characters in our daily lives.

There are many other women whom has also spoken out for women's equality in predominantly male society. One prominent figure is Mukhtar Mai. She was gang raped, allegedly on the orders of a village council to punish an offence blamed on her brother. Because of her persisting courage and the willingness to fight against the centry-old practice of discrimination against women, the Western society are more aware of what's going on in Pakistan than a decade ago. And through her and her supporters' relentless protests, women's status and livelihood have become dramatically better than what they're a decade ago, this is especially true in the rural provinces.

So, will we be seeing the same pattern emerging in Saudi Arabia? There could only be an equality between the sexes through persistent and loud protests. This has been repeatedly proven under both the feminist movement and the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's. So, hear me, the Saudi sisters, there is hope and the dream of gender equality is near!

Note: This also applies to sisters living in Indonesia and Iran. Or, any other country which voluntarily imposes the Sharia Laws or any law which suppresses women's rights.