Internet arrests cast public web of fear

Internet arrests cast public web of fear

By Ranjan Roy

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The first arrests in Malaysia for spreading
rumors over the Internet have people debating freedom of speech
and the right to privacy as they sprint down the information
superhighway.

The largest Internet service provider Friday assured worried
subscribers that it wouldn't snoop into their e-mails, a key tool
in a nation that sees information technology as the cutting edge
of its development policy.

The debate follows an investigation into last weekend's rumors
of violence which sparked off panic buying of food and forced
many to rush home from work and bolt their doors.

Cyber sleuths at Mimos Co., which brings the Internet to the
bulk of Malaysia's 200,000 subscribers, tracked down an unsigned
e-mail that warned of the widespread purchase of machetes by
migrant Indonesian workers.

"Are they going to start anything funny?" the widely
distributed e-mail read. "We don't know. Please make sure that
your house, family and others are well protected."

Two people were arrested last Monday and another Wednesday
under the country's harsh Internal Security Act, which allows for
detainment without trial.

On Friday, police revealed a new arrest, a university student
in the northern state of Penang, for allegedly distributing
malicious letters by e-mail. He was not involved in the recent
rumor mongering, but his letters could provoke racial tension,
police said.

For some, the action has exploded the illusion of electronic
privacy.

"The current action by the government may lead to the short-
circuiting of lively Internet discussions and shut off perhaps
the only remaining independent avenue for Malaysians to discuss
and debate issues," said Elizabeth Wong of the human rights
group, The Voice of the People.

The Malaysian Bar Council said the use of the ISA was
excessive. Those arrested should undergo a public trial for
spreading rumors, a crime that has specific laws under which they
should be charged, a Council statement said.

Harsh punishment could hurt the image of a country that wants
to portray itself as Asia's Silicon Valley, a movement personally
backed by Bill Gates.

Malaysia soon hopes to launch its Multimedia Super Corridor, a
vast area bound by a fiber-optics network, providing links
between high-tech companies, government offices, homes, hotels
and even shopping malls.

Rumors "breed best in a society which is deprived of factual
information," said Wong, adding the tightly-controlled local
media had lost credibility.

"What is read in the newspapers is reduced to the status of
propaganda, whereas what is heard on the grapevine is elevated to
fact," she said.

Others see the whole affair as an opportunity to advocate
self-restraint on the Internet, warning that more electronic
drivel could lead to more government controls.

"It is regrettable that they had to crack down like this,"
said Farish A. Noor of The International Movement for a Just
World, another human-rights and research group.

Farish said Internet users must create their own ethical
guidelines to prevent abuse if they want to protect their freedom
of expression.

"For us the issue is freedom. Channels must remain open to
sensible discussion. What we do not accept is that freedom comes
without responsibility," he said.

Messages on Internet should carry the name and address of the
author, a routine requirement by newspapers of their letters to
the editor, he said.

Mimos, which runs Jaring, Malaysia's biggest Internet gateway,
issued a statement Friday saying: "Mimos does not monitor e-
mail."

"Based on a complaint from users or official request from law
enforcement agencies, Mimos can trace the source of any specific
e-mail, provided adequate information is available," said Vice
President Mohamed Awang Lah.

Abusive and malicious mail is common in Malaysia, said another
Jaring official. Recently the company introduced a new website to
receive complaints about electronic junk.

"Regular surfers will agree that there are all sorts of things
circulated via Internet," wrote S. Vijayaratnam in Friday's New
Straits Times. "It is imprudent to believe as gospel, everything
that appears on the Web."