Republique Remembers Charlie
One of the reasons I went to Paris was to go to the Place de la Republique to pay my respects after the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
Like my father, I am a great believer in free speech and agree totally with Voltaire.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
Unfortunately criticism is now seen in many countries and organisations as severe disloyalty and could even suffer the ultimate punishment,
Alan Shadrake Freed By Singapore
Alan Shadrake, who has been imprisoned in Singapore for writing a book critical of their use of the death penalty has been freed according to this report on the BBC.
He has been immediately deported back to the UK.
This is a story that will be worth following.
The Power of the Internet
Wikileaks disclosure of what is really happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, may be embarrassing for those in politics, that think they know better, but it just shows the real power of the Internet.
So now if you have something important, that others might see as news, you can broadcast it with impunity and others can’t really stop you.
I am all for freedom of speech, so that if I want to say something like a certain footballer is complete rubbish, then I should have the right to say that. I have certain important topics that I want to speak out on like capital punishment, justice and injustice in certain countries, including the UK, religion, the environment etc. I feel I have the right to post on anything given that I don’t say something that is wrong, scientically incorrect, commercially sensitive or vindictive.
We will be seeing more leaks like these on the war and governments and companies, will have to get used to the fact, that some of their controversial documents will be posted by those who disagree with their policies. They will not be able to stop it!
The solution though is in their own hands.
Not by applying some draconian rules for their staff, but by performing sensible policies and actions in the first place.
As an example, let’s take the BP oil spill in the Gulf. Internal documents might show that engineers warned of the problem and suggested various actions, that were ignored by the company, their sub-contractors and government agencies. I’ve worked in factories, where such documents have existed and been ignored with fatal consequences.
A leaked document might have saved those lives.
Fair Comment?
I have been following the progress of the action against Simon Singh by the British Chiropractic Association with interest. As a scientist, I believe strongly that in science we get progress by research, experiment, peer review and open debate, and not by resorting to the law. I’ve also always had a deep regard for Simon ever since he wrote Fermat’s Last Theorem: The story of a riddle that confounded the world’s greatest minds for 358 years
So perhaps I’m biased.
But I am rather pleased that he has obtained a judgement in the Court of Appeal, that allows fair comment as a defence in certain libel actions.
Fear of Libel Laws
In a piece called Scientifically Correct – Raymond Tallis, I drew attention to the problems of the British libel laws. Now one of my favourite authors, Simon Singh, has had to give up his column in The Guardian because fighting the libel writ is taking too much time.
Simon says that it may come to the point, where quality American publications refuse to publish in the UK, because they are feared of the consequencies.
Where is free speech?
Freedom can go to Hell
This was written on a placard carried by one of the men who protested in Luton when the Royal Anglian Regiment paraded through the town.
It may be out of context with what was going on or I might have got the wrong end of the stick, but I object strongly to anybody saying that my “Freedom can go to Hell”. After all Prudence and his rabble have done enough to erode a lot of things that I used to be able to take for granted.
When protesters start saying things like this it is about time that the silent majority took action.
For instance some religious bigot wanted to take coffins through Wootton Bassett. There was a simple solution to this. Don’t ban him as it will only make him worse, but when he passes everybody should line the road and then turn their collective backs silently and with dignity on the protest.
That would send a powerful signal all over the world to those who care about freedom.
The Russian Attack
It would appear that Russia has been using Twitter, Facebook and other sites to silence a Georgian with whom they disagree.
I take a dim view of this, as I’m a great believer in free speech, but it doesn’t really matter that much. The fact that it’s now clear that the Russians attempted the silencing does them more damage, than one Georgian blogger.
Technology will continue to improve over the next few years and censorship of the Internet will make these sort of attacks much more difficult.
I do find it strange that Russia should use the Internet in this way, when according to Internet spam experts like SpamHaus, three of the top ten spammers are based in the Russian Federation. I think of phrases that use pot, kettle and black.
The Anonymous Widower 