A little thing called ‘freedom’

As this is my final blog, it seems only appropriate to wrap up with a note on the proposed national media laws. For those not in the know, government is planning on passing the following two laws through parliament:

• The proposal of a government-run media appeals tribunal (MAT) in place of the current Press Ombudsman and Appeals Panel
• The Protection of Information Bill which will allow for information to be easily classified, and, under initial drafts, warrants a 25-year prison sentence to any journalist who exposes such information

In Noob terms, freedom of expression is under threat and the so-called transparency of our democracy is about to become that much murkier. See The Media Institute of Southern Africa for more info: http://www.misa.org/

Regulating Freedom of Expression Online

The right to freedom of expression is not absolute, and can be limited in some respects. The internet has revolutionised our ability to exercise this right, as well as the ability to interact with others and shares our views and thoughts.

However, the restrictions and responsibilities that come with the right to freedom of expression can often be ignored when our expressions are online- the ease at which we can publish online, and the extent of coverage available on any given topic or issue makes it significantly harder to monitor these restrictions and responsibilities than is possible in print and broadcast.

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LonelyBoy_16, SexyBitch21, eMoPrInCeSs, Cut3yPi3, Baby_Spice, and Oprah28475849 all have one thing in common- they are paedophiles. Okay, well maybe not paedophiles, perhaps they are all lonely, desk job individuals looking for conversation. Or maybe they are all high school kids looking to chat about the latest Twilight movie. Point is, with user IDs that allow you to keep your real identity anonymous, or allow you to reinvent your identity, you can never be certain who people are online.

Deborah Johnson, in her paper Ethics Online: Shaping social behaviour online takes more than new laws and modified edicts, points out how most social networks and online communication platforms make use of generic user Ids; the result of this is that the individual must make a concerted effort to establish their real identity- online communication seems to favour anonymity. The creation of different personas on discussion boards, blogs, email accounts, and social networks has both benefits and dangers, with the ethical question asking where we draw the line between protecting anonymity, and deceiving others.