Freedom of speech on the net It seems that the law in some countries is such that ISPs and websites can be be bullied into removing content of their users on a simple notification of an alledged defamatory comment. It would appear that is doesn't actually have to be substantiated.

From the BBC News website it states:

Under the law in countries such as Canada, the UK, and Australia, intermediaries can face potential liability for failing to remove allegedly defamatory content once they have received notification of such a claim, even without court oversight. As a result, many ISPs and websites remove content in response to unproven claims, even if they privately doubt that the content is indeed defamatory.

This is extremely worrying. If someone does not like what another says all they need to do is notify the ISP or website host and the content could be removed without it going to court. This system could be open to absuse by anyone with a grievance against the person who posted the original comments. From the point of view of the website host or ISP there is no risk in removing content, but to keep it would put them in a potentially costly situation. The easist thing for them to do is to capitulate to the person making the allegation. Obviously, this means that freedom of speech is curtailed. A situation which is, quite frankly, unacceptable.

Links:

• Free speech, libel and the internet age, BBC News
  

  ¶ 22:04 0 comments

  The Israeli's Really Know How to Win World Support It looks like the Israeli's really know how to get world support. Their response is totally "disporportionate" to the initial situation. Hizbullah aren't exactly the good guys in this either, but for Israel to destroy Lebanon in this way and miss Hizbullah for the most part is unpardonable.

As I have mentioned before it seems that for every Hizbullah fighter that the Israelis are killing they manage to kill 2 children along with many other innocent civilians.

The website From Israel To Lebanon has some rather disturbing and quite frankly sickening pictures of what is happening in Lebanon. The most disturbing in my mind are the pictures of Israeli girls, maybe around 10 to 12 years old, writing messages on shells at an artillery position in Kiryat Shmona. The web site suggests that these shells were then fired at civilian in Lebanon.


The US and UK governments are complicit in this action. The US for supplying the weapons and the UK for allowing them to ship via a Scottish Airport, Prestwick*, after the US government's request for shipments to pass through Shannon Airport in Ireland were rejected by the Irish government. In fact, it seems that the Irish people are so unhappy that Shannon is being used as a stop over for US Troops being sent to the Middle East that some of the planes used have been vandalised.

Links:

• Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick Airport
• Craig Murray on Lebanon
• From Israel to Lebanon
• Labour MPs pile pressure on Blair over bomb flights
  

* Prestwick Airport, which has the darkly ironic tag line "Pure Dead Brilliant" written over the front of the terminal building.  ¶ 14:26 0 comments

  A generation that is independent of mind, confident and forward-looking Today I read that the SNP (Scottish National Party) is to make "Free Education" one of its pledges for the up coming election in Scotland next year. This is something that has to be supported. Education is one of the most important things that give us freedom.

As a simple example. Consider the act of purchasing a house. Unless you have been educated in the appropriate laws it would be difficult to conduct the transaction yourself. You have a dependency on the solicitor who is performing the transaction on your behalf.

Purchasing a house is not a frequent act and I'm glad to pay a solicitor for doing work correctly that would take me days to figure out myself with the probability that somewhere along the line I got something wrong. But, in life in general I don't want to be dependent on others to make decisions for me. Would they really be looking out for me? I guess my immediate family would and some very close friends might, but other people? Would the state be looking out for me with my best interests at heart? No, it would not. And quite frankly I wouldn't want it to, thank you very much!

Education therefore increases our ability to be independent and act according to our own beliefs and not those thrust upon us by someone else.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy Leader of the SNP said that "the SNP is determined to create a generation that is independent of mind, confident and forward-looking." Quite right!

• SNP makes 'free education' pledge

  ¶ 19:10 0 comments

  The UK's Inconsistent Policy Towards the Middle East Craig Murray, former Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan, and outspoken critic of Western policy has written a disparaging post regarding the current situation in Lebanon.

On the subject of the war between Lebanon and Israel he says:

For every hour... on average two more Lebanese children are dying. Israel claims now to have killed 100 Hizbollah fighters. Even if true, that means they are killing two children to every fighter.

On the point of consistency of policy he says:

Who remembers David Mellor as a junior Tory minister laying into an Israeli soldier for brutality against Palestinians? In his footsteps comes Kim Howells, offering to keep the way clear for the Israeli to get a better shot. We now remember the Security Council Resolution which calls for Hizbollah to disarm, but have forgotten all the other SCRs on the Middle East, most notably the Security Council's demand that Israel returns to its 1967 borders.

He sums up with:

Whenever you think Blair can bring us no lower in international morality, he does it. This government is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents through its support for Bush's imperialist wars.

I've known it for some time, but Craig Murray confirms it better that I ever could have described it. I live in a "poodle state" that is subservient to the United States of America. It makes me so ashamed to be British.

The full article can be read here: http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/07/craig_murray_on_1.html  ¶ 21:45 0 comments

  The freedom to parody One of the most important things regarding freedom of speech is the freedom to parody. In fact Oscar Wilde once said "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

While some people may not like the parody, it serves to highlight some aspect of the thing being parodied. Whether that is a car (as in the example below) or a belief system.

I think it is vitally important to parody things because it can get a message across in a way that nothing else can.

For example, from the mid-1960s until the early-1990s Warren Mitchel played the part of Alf Garnet in the TV series "Till death do us part" and later "In sickness and in health". The character was a parody of a certain type of individual. The character of Alf was reactionary, mean-spirited, selfish, bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic. Curiously Warren himself was Jewish.

When appearing on chat shows Warren was often asked about the character of Alf and did he hold similar views. The answer was always no, followed by a description of someone who had met Warren in the street who had totally failed to see the satire invoved in the show. The very type of person that Warren was parodying were congratulating him for the show failing to see the subtle humour. Meanwhile the rest of the viewers were laughing at those very type of people that were put up for ridicule.

Through the parody, it could be said that the show played some part in changing people's attitudes, moving society forwards.

However, some parodies are not quite so subtle and can stir hateful behaviour. For exampe, the cartoons that appeared in the Danish newspapers some months ago triggers riots and deaths in islamic communities. The cartoons were parodying the fact that on the face of it islam is supposed to be a religion of peace, yet some chose to become suicide bombers, apparently contrary to the teachings in the Koran. The following violence backed up the parody and satire showing that, at least for a significant minority (like the minority satarised in the character of Alf Garnett) that the cartoons were a reflection of that which they sought to parody.

So, after all that, for a little light relief, here is a parody of a Cirtroen advert:

  ¶ 17:51 0 comments

  Blog Moved That was quick! After only two posts I moved this blog from MySpace to Blogger.

I decided pretty quickly that I didn't like it. I got the impression that it was aimed at the mindless who probably wouldn't really care about this sort of thing - well, at least the adverts seemed to suggest that was the intended demographic.

Blogger seems to be a better option because it is so customisable that I can eventually tweak it into looking the way I want.  ¶ 17:49 0 comments

  What I am going to do. Do you ever feel that the government is taking a bit too much control. I firmly believe in things like liberty and freedom of expression. I believe that the government should be controlled on what they can do to curtail an individual's liberties. Freedom should not be taken away willy-nilly. There has to be a reason for it. It has to be in line with human rights.

Society should be tolerant of people with other beliefs - although maybe that's a bit of a tall order when you consider how intolerant some societies are.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

This blog is going to reflect that.  ¶ 17:43 0 comments