Ministry of Propaganda - 21/Jan/2005: "The Risks of Blogging"

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The Risks of Blogging

Looks like blogging isn't exactly for risk averse people: You can get sacked or you can even go to prison. Does this mean bloggers should just shut up? No. At the same time I think sometimes a bit of restraint might avoid the problem while at other times bigger issues are at stake.

In regards to exercising some restraint when blogging about work related topics or blogging from work, Reid Stott says it very well in Don't Blog Up Your Gig. I can't add anything to it. I'm not necessarily following all of his advice (yet), but it certainly made me think.

But what about free speech and going to jail for blogging a different political opinion? I must admit I'm not sure if I had the courage were I to live in a place where you can go to jail for having a different opinion than the government. Living in a country where you can voice your opinion and dissatisfaction with your government it's easy to say you would, but really doing it I think is a different question. Hence I have great respect for these people.

And what is the "free world" doing about it? US President George Bush spoke a lot about freedom in his inauguration address, but will he really do something for it? As far as I know China isn't part of the Axis of Evil, on the contrary China seems to be more of a partner. Yet it heavily restricts personal expression in particular in blogs. The British and German governments aren't much better, if at all. What am I personally doing about it? Nothing. Because I don't know what I can do. I could send letters to politicians, but what will that achieve? Blog about it, but will any government in China, Kazakhstan or Iran care? Anything else?

End of entry

Entry trivia

When writing this entry the weather was: Cloudy, occasional rain
When writing this entry I was listening to: The Bands 05
I'm currently reading/have just finished reading this book/publication: BusinessWeek (print edition)
I recently visited this website/-page: The Tech Beat (BusinessWeek blogs. Kind of)
The last drink I had was/is: Isle of Jura Superstition

End of entry trivia

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