Media Freedom. It is a buzzword this last month in South Africa – the ruling party is lobbying for more control over the Media. Apparently the media has an “agenda.”

Media freedom is also a constant bone of contention worldwide.

We explore the role of the Internet in bringing Media freedom and the right to free speech home to governments.

Not a Universal Right

Freedom of Speech is not a universal right – not all countries endorse it. Notable examples are China, Zimbabwe and North Korea. Where Freedom of speach is not a give, media freedom is often curtailed as well.

Some governments want to control what their populace is exposed to, and what opinions their populace holds.

Often this is simply “We want to control you, and we want to control what you read in the newspapers, and we want to stop you from calling the emperor nekkid.”

The last part is most certainly what the ANC has in mind – stop calling them out on their corruption!

Enter the internet

The Internet has eased the access to information  for millions of people around the world. Together with this access to information comes the “haaayyy I can have an opinion too…” realization.

Twitter is a huge enabler for the world’s disenfranchised and oppressed.

If you see a van pull up and “disappear” one of your friends you can tweet it and the news can spread like wildfire.

It has made people aware that not all governments are as oppressive as theirs, that the grass might well be greener on the other side of the border, and that “colonial meddling” is not at the heart of them not having food to eat.

It is not only about politics

The Internet is about dissemination of information, governments fear that. In the case of freedom of speech there is a lot to fear from the spreading of information.

Enter Wikileaks. Wikileaks has been in the news a lot lately, and rightly so.

Below is a TED interview with Julian Assange on why the world needs wikileaks.

I agree. The world needs Wikileaks – Government Secrets need to come out.

In my humble opinion, Wikileaks needs to be handled carefully. If they let out the right secret with too much information that can be harmful to innocent participants (is there such a thing) like an informants name then it becomes a tool for the opressive regime.

I am sure that the Wikileaks guys are painfully aware of this though.

How to slip the noose then?

Should you government decide to sensor what is accessed on the international web there are some things that can be done.

You can use what is known as a TOR anonymizing proxy. Basically if you install the TOR client on your computer you can use it to access sites that your government is keeping an eye on with decreased chance of discovery. A TOR proxy hides your identity, making it harder for a tracking utility to link your public IP with you accessing a website.

There are other proxy services out there like http://youhide.com

Problem with youhide is that it can be blocked via a transparent proxy.

You can host a server in another country, or several countries. One of the strengths of Wikileaks is their redundant hosting in several countries that allow them to stay online even when a country where they host (or which has some kind of trade agreement with a complaining government) decides to pull the plug on their servers.

Summary

Web anonymizing software is not foolproof though. Governments spend a lot of money to stop their citizenry from accessing information. They have a vested interest in making sure news of opression does not get out, or that news of freedom does not get in.

These measures of control are not completely effective though. Even the great firewall of China lets information of opression and abuse in Tibet slip through, or lets the people in China access some unwanted websites.

The Internet as a tool of freedom is under utilized at this moment, and people in free countries should do as much as they can to ensure the freedom of the internet.

While not everyone can be a Wikileaks, you can host a simple site on a server where you have space, or even add your TOR server to the TOR proxy network.

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