The chat was hosted by Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, and, along with Julien Pain of the Internet Desk at Reporters Without Borders, the chat participants included folks from any number of nations and cultures.
The issues that emerged from this live (and lively) conversation surprised me. Here are a few from my notes:
Bloggers, cyber-dissidents, and journalists are not necessarily overlapping categories.
"Cyber-dissident" is a problematic term at best, and people who are under surveilance or threatened by sanctions for expressing their opinions do not wish to label themselves in that way by downloading a handbook with that word in that title.
The strategies suggested by the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents can easily be exploited by terrorists, which also makes the handbook's distribution ethically problematic.
"Cyber-dissident" is a problematic term at best, and people who are under surveilance or threatened by sanctions for expressing their opinions do not wish to label themselves in that way by downloading a handbook with that word in that title.
The strategies suggested by the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents can easily be exploited by terrorists, which also makes the handbook's distribution ethically problematic.
I note with interest that the "Cyber-dissident" article that I began on Wikipedia has been nominated for deletion. A discussion on Wikipedia about the deletion is now in progress.
nptech
