Wednesday - February 01, 2006

Dictator’s Dilemna

What’s a hard-working, loveable dictator to do in today’s modern world? You can’t just shut down all radio, TV and internet access or you won’t be able to get out your message to the proletariat that they need to kill all of the (fill in the race) people, that America is the Great (fill in the evil demon) and that your dear leader (fill in the name) loves his people.

That pesky internet especially gets in your way as there are currently over 26 million blog sites around the world, not to mention a bajillion sites with true versions of history and science that contradict the version you’d like to force your subjects to believe.

And now, to make matters worse, the one man who has enough money to buy your average dictator’s country along with forty others just like it (out of his pocket change) says you need to let your beloved slaves people expand their minds with radical thoughts about freedom and democracy. If this keeps up, there won’t be any dictators left in a few years. What a pity ....

Gates Speaks Out Against Net Censorship
LISBON, Portugal (AP)

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday that attempts by governments to censor Web site contents were doomed, because banned information can seep out despite official injunctions. “The ability to really withhold information no longer exists,” Gates told a government forum on the Internet. Gates said his company must comply with legal requirements in the countries where it operates.

Late last year, Microsoft shut down the site of a popular Chinese blogger at Beijing’s request. The blog by Zhao Jing, writing under the pen name An Ti, appraised sensitive topics such as China’s relations with Taiwan and media freedoms in China. But the spread of free, private e-mail enabled users to disseminate information anyway, Gates said.

“You may be able to take a very visible Web site and say that something shouldn’t be there, but if there’s a desire by the population to know something ... it’s going to get out very broadly” via e-mail, Gates said. Some of Microsoft’s rivals, including Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), also have hit problems with censorship in foreign countries.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer, said Tuesday the company was tightening its policies regarding blocking Web journals. The software company, based in Redmond, Washington, operates a popular blogging technology called MSN Spaces. Smith said the changes would include efforts to make the banned content available to users elsewhere in the world even if Microsoft decided it had a legal duty to block it in a particular country.

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/01/2006 at 01:03 PM   
Filed Under: • International •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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