Enjoy this blog while you can...

... cos it might not be up any longer if the Malaysian government has its way.

Cyber law mulled to block lies in blogs

BY HAH FOONG LIAN

SITIAWAN: Registering bloggers may be a “stricter” way to stop cyberspace writers from spreading disharmony and lies.

Acknowledging that the registration of bloggers was a difficult task, Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha said that it needed the cooperation of other countries.

Kong said: “We need to have stricter cyber laws to prevent these bloggers from disseminating disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies.

“We are talking about creating cyber laws to control those who misuse the Internet,” he added.

Kong noted that the high number of bloggers in the country was a good development if they used the Internet constructively.

However, he said, some of them would put up sensational or controversial articles or images to attract readers to their blogs.

“We want our bloggers to be responsible, to keep within the rules and not put up seditious articles that can create disharmony and chaos,” he said.

Citing the example of the recent picture of Gombak MP Datuk Dr Rahman Ismail and Senator Datin Paduka Norhayati Onn, Kong said it reflected the irresponsible acts of some bloggers.

“Now we have cyber laws to check such misuse but the laws need to change to keep up with the times.

“This is because technology changes faster than our laws,” he said yesterday after opening the inaugural computer fair at Dewan Merdeka in Seri Manjung, near here.

The fair was organised by the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom).

Since the government's incompetence and the ruling party's racist rants are being exposed and information is being freely exchanged, I guess this must seem a logical step in their warped minds.

Censorship in the news and print media already limits the 'official' news to sycophantic paeans of government positions. So, censoring the net is the logical next step.

But the most recent mob incident involved a lie that was spread via SMS. What's next? Ban handphones and SMS's too?

God preserve us from incompetent governments!