"We hold these Truths to be self evident"

"...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

With an unmatched felicity of expression, Thomas Jefferson penned these immortal words in the Declaration of Independence, spelling out clearly the role of governments and the rights of the people.  The rights of the people also include, from extrapolation, the freedom of association and the freedom of speech.

Many governments proclaim to respect basic human rights but more often than not, they rob citizens of the right of assembly and the freedom of speech. The Internet is supposed to overcome restriction from the states and allow everyone to experience the beauty of democracy.

However, governments have begun to take measures to curb the unbridled freedom on the Internet. Afghanistan took the extreme measure of banning the Internet, Iraq and Cuba have made the Internet connection unaffordable to most people  while some governments begin to take control of Internet service providers (ISP) so that they can control the content of local websites and ban certain websites.

When governments have no good reasons to ban certain sites, they can undermine the sites by reducing its funding.

 They can do so by dissuading potential sponsors and advertisers from associating with these sites and listing political websites as political organisations, thus discontinuing their funding from overseas.    MORE>>

Laws to Protect Civil Liberties

The ideal government should introduce legislation that will guarantee the rights of the people.  Thus, the freedom of association and freedom of speech and the right of privacy should be also extended to the Cyberworld. Are these rights threatened in the name of security?                 MORE>>

Another area is the prevention of monopoly. The merger of AOL and Time-Warner has raised concerns about the freedom of speech. Will dissenting views be censored in view of the bottomline?           MORE>>