This is somewhat interesting...

This story is of some interest to me, since I will shortly be blogging from inside Kazakhstan. As of two and a half weeks ago, NAN signed into law a bill designating blogs, Internet fora and social networks like Facebook and MySpace as media outlets, subjecting them to the same regulatory standards as Kazakhstan's traditional media (television, newspapers, et cetera). The rationale for this move was that it would help combat extremism, terrorist activity and pornography.

My first reaction to the new law was roughly along the lines of: 'riiiight; good luck with that'. As the PRC's forays into censoring expression on the Internet have borne witness, it isn't an easy task (they have plenty of people and infrastructure devoted to it), and the resistance to such a move will undoubtedly be heavy and stubborn - witness the resilient 草泥马 (Cao Ni Ma; Grass Mud Horse - pun on 'screw your mother') internet meme in the PRC, a song which makes liberal use of subversive anti-government puns (e.g., comparing the official slogan 'Harmonious Society' 和谐社会 [he2 xie2 she4 hui4] to an infestation of river-crabs 河蟹 [he2 xie4]). I'm not sure how internet-savvy Astana and Almaty are in comparison to Beijing, but I can't imagine this new law going down too well in Kazakhstan's blogging community, for example.

It is an understandable goal for the government to want to monitor for extremism and potential violence, but even with the best of intentions, alienating the online public doesn't seem to be the way of going about it. To be honest, it is true that bloggers could stand to be more accountable for what they write and publish (I write, probably busily digging my own early grave). If that accountability is to the government, however, the government should have a reciprocal accountability to the public which uses and publishes on the Internet. This kind of oversight power is all-too-easily abused for personal and ideological reasons when the watchers are not in turn watched by a responsible body politic.