Apparently, a South Korean blogger was arrested for spreading "false economic information" over the internet. This incident raises serious concerns over internet freedom of speech and if there is such a thing. If this was China, we would be able to attribute it to the totalitarian press-control of the Chinese Government. However, this happened in South Korea, a supposed democratic bastion.
Should someone be charged with a crime because of something they write on a blog? I am inclined to think not, as I am a blogger myself and shiver at the thought of being arrested for my opinions. The government might try to get around this by calling his actions "treason" and detrimental to the country.
I'm hoping the man gets released or it will have serious implications on bloggers around the world who might refrain from spreading information as they would fear the backlash against them. An additional thought...shouldn't the U.N. get involved in this?
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Associated Press: Licensing The Blog
In a strange and eerily-autocratic move, the Associated Press is trying to create legal grounds to issue licensing agreements to allow readers to quote passages as small as five words. This has huge ramifications for bloggers as I alone quote the AP numerous times while writing opinions on stories. Thus I consider this move an insult and a "slap in the face" to the spread of enlightened and grassroots thought and editorials.
Charging between $12.50 and $100.00 in order to quote words the AP stands to reap a huge profit off this as this would apply to bloggers, other news institutions, emails between co-workers/friends/family and etc. Even if one were to decide to pay the exorbitant fee charged, the AP could rescind the agreement at any time if use of the licensed content was deemed "offensive and/or damaging to (the) Publishers reputation".
The New York Times views the move as an "attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and websites can excerpt". I would rather "define" this as a veiled attempt to usurp power and control the flow of media throughout the internet. There isn't any word yet on the legal muscle behind this move but needless to say I am very disappointed in the AP.
Charging between $12.50 and $100.00 in order to quote words the AP stands to reap a huge profit off this as this would apply to bloggers, other news institutions, emails between co-workers/friends/family and etc. Even if one were to decide to pay the exorbitant fee charged, the AP could rescind the agreement at any time if use of the licensed content was deemed "offensive and/or damaging to (the) Publishers reputation".
The New York Times views the move as an "attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and websites can excerpt". I would rather "define" this as a veiled attempt to usurp power and control the flow of media throughout the internet. There isn't any word yet on the legal muscle behind this move but needless to say I am very disappointed in the AP.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
The Title Of The Blog
Some people may wonder how exactly I came about naming the blog "The American Portrait". Well it wasn't my first choice that was for sure! I had originally wanted to name my blog "The Ivory Tower", however after doing some researching I found out there was another blog with that similar title and I didn't want to be competing with the other site for confused and mis-directed visitors.
I came upon my current name because I wanted it to be something "reflective" of me. I settled on the idea of using the word portrait somewhere in the blog because I thought that was an interesting way to describe a snapshot not of someone's appearance, but of their writing.
I settled upon the name "The American Portrait" because I think of myself as an average 20-something United States citizen who just so happens to be competent at blogging. So in essence, the blog is really the portrait of an American.
I came upon my current name because I wanted it to be something "reflective" of me. I settled on the idea of using the word portrait somewhere in the blog because I thought that was an interesting way to describe a snapshot not of someone's appearance, but of their writing.
I settled upon the name "The American Portrait" because I think of myself as an average 20-something United States citizen who just so happens to be competent at blogging. So in essence, the blog is really the portrait of an American.
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