Internet discussion debates censorship

JAKARTA (JP): The government should use the Internet as a medium to counter erroneous information about Indonesia and not censor it, mass communications wizards said yesterday.

During a discussion called "Internet, Censorship and the Challenge of an Open Society" yesterday, speakers concluded that the Internet should be used to disseminate information.

The seminar was held to commemorate International Press Freedom Day.

Farid Gaban from the Republika daily described the Net as a fierce "clash of information" and said it was the best way to counter biased information.

"Don't close it down, but reply to and counter the information," said Farid, who manages the paper's Republika on- line homepage.

Although magazines and newspapers require publishing licenses in Indonesia, any institution can set up an Internet homepage and distribute information without a permit.

Several employees of the now defunct Tempo magazine have taken advantage of this and established an electronic magazine on the Internet called Tempo Interaktif.

Bambang Bujono, who runs Tempo Interaktif, said there have been no attempts to censor the information.

Launched just two months ago, Tempo Interaktif now boasts some 3,200 users located in 25 countries. Half the readers live in Indonesia, with other major concentrations living in the United States and Australia respectively.

There is also a user from as far out as Uzbekistan. "That's probably from our embassy there," Bambang remarked.

Apart from urging the government not to censor the Internet, the speakers noted that technically it was an extremely difficult to censor the Net effectively.

Feraldi W. Loeis from the Radnet Internet provider service explained how easy it is to evade detection and filtering.

The government has indicated that it intends to regulate information on the Internet. How it will do so remains unclear.

According to Feraldi, his company has never been ordered to censor politically sensitive material. "We've haven't been asked to censor anyone," he claimed.

The only material Radnet Internet has been asked to curb is pornographic material. He added that his company has closed access to material the company considers vulgar.

Feraldi remarked that censorship violates the Internet's code of ethics, which he said is a medium that is limitless, uncensored and which provides two-way benefits.

Apart from being technically unable to censor the Internet, the government's leniency towards the flow of information on the Net stems from the fact that very few Indonesians have access to it. There are 12,000 subscribers in Indonesia.(mds)