Ethical Blogging

Early this year, a Malaysian man was arrested for making insulting remarks over the passing of the Sultan of Johor, Almutawakkil Al-Allah Sultan Iskandar ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail in his blog. (The Straits Times 2010) The blog post received over a thousand comments, mostly condemning his actions and there were over 30 police reports lodged against the blogger in Johor by both politicians and members of the public.

A mock "Wanted" poster made by a blogger. Click to go to source.

As far as blogging etiquette or even everyday conversation goes, it’s pretty obvious that making baseless crude remarks about anyone is not very ethical. According to Babb (2007), there are ten rules of ethical behaviour in blogging one of which is to not invoke personal attacks. There are many ways to get your opinion out there in a reasonable way; there is no need for name-calling or accusations. Plus, it affects a person’s credibility when he/she comes across as being too opinionated.

New media is capable of reaching millions of people in a very short amount of time. (Meyer 2002) These technologies can make controversial remarks such as the ones made by the blogger insulting the late Sultan very prevalent and evidence can be hard to erase. For example, although the blogger has since removed the post, he has been quoted many times by multiple other bloggers expressing dissatisfaction- many including screenshots of the original blog and even a scan of one of the police reports with every word in the blog post recorded.

Many people are reassured by the facade of anonymity the internet provides not knowing that there are still ways authorities can track you down. (Goldsmith and Wu 2006) There are regulations in Malaysia preventing you from posting unwarranted hate speech such as the Defamation Act 1957, the Sedition Act 1948 and the Internal Securities Act 1960. The golden rule here is to simply not make crude remarks. Sure the freedom of speech entitles you to your opinions but you need actual proof and plausible reason for saying what you say. (Lee 2007)

References:

Babb, J 2007, “Blogging Etiquettes: Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts”, PC Advisor, published 2^nd June, accessed 6^th November 2010, http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsId=9550&pn=1>

Goldsmith, J Wu, T 2006, “Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World”, Oxford, New York

Lee, MK 2007, “Clarifying Freedom of Expression,” Infernal Ramblings, published 18^th May, accessed 6^th November 2010, http://www.infernalramblings.com/articles/Law/398/

Meyer, T 2002, “Media Democracy: How the media colonize politics”, Blackwell, Malden.The Straits Times 2010, “Blogger held over insult,” published 26^th January, accessed 6^th November 2010, http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_482206.html