Re: [atlarge-discuss] FYI: Anonymity, identity and authority

[espresso@e-scape.net]

At 13:21 -0400 2003/05/03, Sotiris Sotiropoulos wrote:
>Once again, you do not live in China.  You have no right to speak for
>the
>Chinese.  The onus or burden of proof is still upon you to produce
>information which supports the idea that ordinary Chinese citizens are
>forbidden from openly participating in ICANN AtLarge and that they
>need to
>take special measures to so. Until you prove that assertion, this
>discussion is going nowhere fast.  Please don't waste any more of my
>time
>or bandwidth with your baseless and unwarranted assertions about life
>in a
>place you really know nothing about.

Dear Sotiris et al.,

I did send my unsubscribe message but have not yet sent the
confirmation so I'll just offer this last contribution to
the debate.

Saturday was World Press Freedom Day but there really are
countries where using the Internet to express an opinion
can lead to imprisonment. Here are some short excerpts from
one of the newspaper articles on WPFD (by Robert Harvey,
CanWest News Service; The Gazette, page A18, reprinted from
the Ottawa Citizen):

>>>
In Vietnam, use of the Internet to express your opinions
has become a crime, says a Montreal physician.
  Dr. Lam Thu Van, head of the Canadian branch of Democracy
for Vietnam, said that "more and more dissident writers
are being imprisoned after expressing their views on the Net."
  Dr. Nguyen Dan Que is the most recent example.
  The physician, activist and writer has spent 18 of his 61
years in prison because of his persistent campaign for
democracy in Vietnam. And on March 17, he was arrested
again for trying to send some of his writings abroad via
the Internet.
[snip]
  The communist government tightly controls all media in
Vietnam, including its sole provider of Internet access.
According to the writers' organization PEN Canada, Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai ordered the monitoring of Vietnam's
5,000 Internet cafés last year to prevent access to
"state secrets" and "reactionary documents." Internet
users have received lengthy prison sentences for posting
documents "harmful to national security", says PEN .
[big snip]
<<<

Vietnam is by no means the only country where advocating
democracy, human rights or free expression can land one
in deep trouble. From Cuba to Togo to Belarus, there are
Internet users who can face repercussions for posting an
opinion of which their government does not approve.

While China may not specifically block access to the
web sites of ICANN and this group, its record speaks for
itself: voicing ideas with which the ruling party disagrees
requires the courage to face incarceration under conditions
we "westerners" would find intolerable and inhumane.

Given that these conditions are well-documented in the
international press and have been the subject of
investigations by Amnesty International, PEN, Reporters sans
Frontières and other recognized organizations, I do not believe
the burden of proof that citizens of some countries are at
a disadvantage when it comes to freedom of speech falls
on members of this group.

The real question is whether this group will prefer to
act as if the rest of the world simply doesn't matter,
or whether it will decide to work towards the time when
all Internet users can communicate with one another
without impediments and without fear of reprisals. If
the latter, I cannot see any way that the rules could
include obligatory publication of the real names of
all members or demand that some members incur greater
risks than others in order to contribute to the discussions.

It is my considered opinion that if this issue is not
relevant to you, nothing you may say about democratizing
ICANN or asserting the rights of Internet users will carry
much weight with anyone else. Now I really am going, and
I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavours.

Regards,

Judyth




##########################################################
Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
##########################################################
"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
"Un mot suffit aux sages; pour les autres, il en faut plus."
##########################################################



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