Regime warned over blocking blog spots
Title -- 5179 FIJI: Regime warned over blocking blog spots
Date -- 20 May 2007
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Pacnews 17/5/07
Copyright - PINA/IFEX
Status -- Unabridged
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GOVERNMENT WARNED OF HARM IN BLOCKING BLOG SPOTS
pacnews@connect.com.fj
SUVA (IFEX/Pacific Media Watch): It seems the Fiji military has been
successful in blocking one of the anti-military regime's blog spots in the
island nation, the Fiji Times reports
The spot resistfrankscoup can no longer be accessed but a few other blog
spots have since come to the fore and are more damaging to many of Fiji's
prominent people, including senior military officers.
But the military's attempt to stop the free flow of information has been
met with concern.
A University of the South Pacific library systems manager has warned the
interim government stands to gain little or nothing from blocking access to
Fiji's anonymous anti-military blogs.
Manager Chris Hammond-Thrasher said apart from curtailing the free flow of
information on the internet, it is a big mistake.
"Blocking these blogs may actually harm the interim government,"
Hammond-Thrasher said.
He gave reasons why the interim government should reconsider asking FINTEL
to block access to anonymous anti-military blogs.
"The perception of government tampering in FINTEL (Fiji's pivotal Internet
Service Provider through which nearly all Internet traffic flows) would
dampen high-tech investment in Fiji.
"Off-shore service centres rely on the perception of data communications
security in order to assure their customers that the confidentiality of
their data will not be compromised," he said.
Censoring blogs, he added, may cost the interim government more than it
gains.
"Information warfare theory, a popular topic in military and policy
circles, seeks to describe conflicts where one or more combatants vie not
for physical superiority but for the hearts, minds, and cultures of the
people. Put another way, information warfare is a battle for the
superiority of ideas," Hammond-Thrasher said.
He said blocking blogspot.com or a handful of offending blogspot sites will
simply not be effective.
"Anonymous bloggers and their readers will simply shift their activities to
other available internet resources," he said.
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