6/16/08

Blogger Arrests Hit Record High Worldwide

We are all in this together...

While China, Egypt and Iran have accounted for more than half of the reported arrests of Bloggers since 2003, the threat of being arrested for exercising acts of free speech is on the rise according to the BBC:
More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.

In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.


The World Information Access (WIA) report found that:
Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.

The report said the rising number of arrests was testament to the "growing" political importance of blogging. It noted that arrests tended to increase during times of "political uncertainty", such as around general elections or during large scale protests.

Bloggers averaged about 15 months of prison time when arrested, but the report acknowledges that, like in the case of Burma where there were hundreds of reports of arrests, many of whom were purported to be Bloggers, verifying the arrest of these internet scribes was not always possible.

Predictions of rising numbers of arrests are expected for the entire Blogging world, including the USA and partially due to elections this year and higher Blogging participation rates.

Welcome to the new and improved corporate owned America that the GOP built during the criminal bush years. Where spying on innocent Americans, lying America into illegal wars of aggression and "100 year" occupations, torturing innocents and criminals, spending this country into recession, selling nuclear secrets to the enemy and outing entire spy networks are treated as acts of conservatism heroism... And speaking and the truth liberally could cost you your not-so Constitutionally protected right to freedom.

P.S: I am testing the Scribefire add-on for my Firefox browser, so I am not sure how well this will work for posting to my Blog. Sorry. in advance, if it messes with things! :)

2 comments:

ThePoliticalCat said...

Workin' fine, far as I can tell. Glad to see you're doing OK, dude!

Connecticut Man1 said...

Gotta keep on keepin' on...

:o)