Following my previous post entitled “Malaysian Bloggers arrested in 2007“, I have now listed some of the cases where the bloggers were sued or arrested in certain countries.
I have intentionally excluded Chinese Bloggers as there are just too many cases occurred in China to be mentioned here.
Based on statistic, on average there are about 120,000 new blogs created everyday. This number will continue to increase very soon. In view of the increase of bloggers, I believe the cases against bloggers will be increased accordingly.
However, below are some methods to help to build a more “peaceful” blogosphere in 2008:
1. Bloggerethics- an universal codes of ethics guiding the behaviours of bloggers to make the blogosphere to be a better place. Undeniable, the more the bloggers adopt such etiquette the lesser the cases against bloggers will be.
2. Blawg- more law blogs needed (especially in Malaysia) to educate the bloggers about their liability in cyberspace so that more bloggers will know what to say and what not to say.
3. Update of Legislation – there should be a set of comprehensive or rather a more comprehensive set of law or policy governing and regulating blogosphere, espcially in Malaysia, such law is comperatively rare.
Cases agianst bloggers in some other countries:
US
Media Law Resources offers a vast list of cases against bloggers in US.
Saudis Arabia
December 2007- Fouad al-Farhan is the first blogger from Saudi Arabia who was arrested by police.
Link: http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1953
Philippine
November 2007 -This is the 1st legal action against a blog in Philippine. The court granted a temporary restraint order against The Daily PCIJ, an online newspaper blog in Philippine.
Link: http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=464
A hosting company was sued for hosting libelous website.
Link: http://www.selaplana.com/2007/02/16/yuga-sued-for-hosting-libelous-website/?cp=1
Hong Kong
Hong Kong blogger Lam Oi Wan is facing 12 months of imprisonment or HK$400,000 fine for posting indecent images.
Link: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=74217
Taiwan
Former Taipei deputy mayor King Pu-tsung sued 2 bloggers over criticism of him posted on the companies’ blog sites.
Link: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=78387
Singapore
May 2005- A former government scholar, Chen Jiahao has been threaten to be sued by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) for making defamatory statement against A*Star and its Chairman, Philip Yeo in Chen’s blog.
Link: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=24053
September 2005 – 1 blogger and 1 forum user were charged under Sedition Act for making racist statement online.
Link: ttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/167812/1/.html
Please do help to add on to the above list if you come across any other cases.
Apart from the above 3 points mentioned, please also share with me what shall be done so that we can see a reducing number of cases against bloggers in 2008.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Zul // Jan 11, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Hi Eddie,
Very useful write-up. By any chance can you advise me about making unpleasant remarks or review in our blog or website? For example is my last review on StarJobs. They might think it is defamatory but I think it is honest and fair. What say you?
Appreciate your thought.
2 Eddie Law // Jan 13, 2008 at 11:15 am
Undeniable, sometimes fair comment and defamatory statement is just a thin line. The court will look at the circumstancial evidence to decide where it shall fall.
3 The 1st Malaysian blogger charged with sedition // May 8, 2008 at 2:57 pm
[...] mentioned in my previous post, in Singapore, 2 bloggers were also charged with sedition in September 2005 for making racist [...]
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