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."