Internet discussion debates censorship
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)