Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Thursday, March 20, 2003

The least free press in the world -- Comment()
Here are the worst offenders of press freedom in the world according to the worldwide press freedom index:

124 Belarus
125 Saudi Arabia
126 Syria
127 Nepal
128 Tunisia
129 Libya
130 Iraq
131 Vietnam
132 Eritrea
133 Laos
134 Cuba
135 Bhutan
136 Turkmenistan
137 Burma
138 China
139 North Korea

USA should have started the campaign of freeing countries from the bottom of the list. So, first priority should be North Korea, then China, then Burma... Iraq is 10th in priority. But perhaps we should consider also the oil reserves of these offending countries.

The freedom of press and media worldwide -- Comment()
The worldwide press freedom index shows that number one is Finland --- a four-way tie shared with Iceland, Norway, and Netherlands. USA is below Costa Rica: "The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings."

I wonder how the recent developments will affect the ranking of USA. There is already talk about black-listing those who present contrary opinions.

I'm happy to say that the Finnish movie director Aki Kaurismäki, whose film "The man without a past" is a candidate for Academy Awards (Oscars), has refused to attend the price ceremony as a small token of protest.

-- Comment()
Bioterror Defense: Quick DNA Scan: "A new method for quickly identifying bioweapons that may have contaminated the food, water or air supply may soon make it into the hands of doctors and other nonspecialists. By Dermot McGrath." [Wired News]

-- Comment()
E-mail virus exploit war interest: 'Computer security experts are warning about a new e-mail virus that feeds on public interest in the war against Iraq. The Ganda worm comes as an e-mail attachment with a variety of subject lines such as "Spy pics" and "GO USA !!!!".' [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

-- Comment()
Lessig Blog writes: "Most lawyers and policy makers do not understand what technologists believe; most technologists don't understand that (at least some) lawyers believe that what technologists believe about the system should matter. [...] So here's an idea. I'd like to construct a page of views of technologists who have experience with the system. The aim will not be to evaluate the system as a whole, but instead to collect credible testimony about the burdens the system imposes. Policy makers should be evaluating whether the benefits outweigh the burdens. My aim is not to do that weighing. My aim is simply to collect stories and evidence about the burdens. [...] If you have experience and a view, then email me and describe both. I will collect them and verify the source, and then make the results available here."