This entry has been censored.
Hey all. I'm updating NOT because I'm likely to tell you anything about my life (I may towards the end) but instead to talk towards about censorship, freedom of speech and all that.
Firstly, I realise that not all of you know about [censored]. Yesterday [censored] came and talked to the school about the issues with threats and stuff over livejournal. Now I know that [censored] and [censored] were suspended for expressing themselves over the internet. Officer [censored] talked about the seriousness of the issue and threatening people and [censored] also talked upon it.
Now I give you a choice. First you can take the blue pill, not click on the cut bellow and go off and not learn my thoughts on the matter. Or you can take the red pill and stay in this journal and see how far the entry will go.
I am not aware of what either of the people said nor what the laws to which have been referred to in brief. I have discussed the matter with my father* who dismissed the letter as "utter nonsense" and could not see what part of how the people could have broken either the federal or state crimes act nor the telecommunications act. It is safe to say that while he has a fair idea he is not an expert and am happy if someone would inform me of the actual nature of the occurence rather than vague hints.
Firstly let us talk about threats, slander and the two things mentioned on the note we have, "intimidation and cyber bullying". The internet, like any other medium, can be used to plot against and to threaten people. I understand this very clearly. Something that does strike me as odd is the idea that you can use a blog to do it. What is a blog? A public journal, for whatever thoughts you want to share with the world, although ostensibly most of the people who read your blog will be your friends and sometimes your family. As such it is not addressed to someone. If we contrive this idea further we could assume that if somebody stated a desire to hurt somebody who he knew actually read the journal it could be seen as intimidation or bullying however I am sure that the people who have made these controversial entries did not expect or wish for the people who were dealt with to read them. You cannot possibly threaten somebody who does not know that the comment has been made?
So then we deal with it as slander and defamation. Firstly, for those who would claim that we have a right to free speech, I am afraid that legally this is not the case in Australia. We do not have rights, we have laws which sets limits. Defamation may definately on the cards here. This is unfortunate as personally I believe that there SHOULD be a right to say what we feel like saying when we please. I do not likely agree with the comments that were made. I do not know what they were but I still do not think I would not agree with them. This is not the point. The point is that we should be allowed to speak our mind. If everybody charged someone with defamation who had defamed someone on livejournal, well let me just say that I do not think there would be many people left on this sight.
And the final point I would like to address is the kind of comment made. I do not believe that comments that could be defamatory should be made. It is something that I personally would loathe to be accused of as I would hope that any oppinion I would express would be fair. I also feel that the thoughts expressed here should not be treated as the most serious of sources. This is NOT something we do to be serious journalists critiqueing the world. This is not a newspaper post. It is ramblings of, in this instance, adolescents. Some of them use language which others don't condone. I am entirely sceptical that any comments made were meant seriously. Should people think more before they speak? Probably. Should we threaten them with legal action when they don't? No. That seems to me too extreme for speaking something that they probably shouldn't have.
So in summation I personally hold the view that while talking about somebody on a public space should not be done lightly or without evidence and due consideration for the person. I do not condone intollerance of any kind (hypocritical within itself, I know). That said I believe that people should be able to say things without fear of prosecution. I think that me and my friends should not be made afraid of a criminal record because of words uttered foolishly. They should not have to trawl back through their entries to look for any foolishly uttered words that mentioned a teachers name.
And I hope if the teachers are reading this they noticed my use of a literary allusion. Partly it's just for fun but also it does relate to a topic we did recently. I use what I learn and like learning. I dislike some parts of the process and do not show them great respect however I do believe that it is well worth doing.
Last thing, there are some teachers that I would like to thank and praise on this livejournal at some point and I am now afraid to. Is that right?
-Noviny (aka Benjamin Hogan Conolly)
Firstly, I realise that not all of you know about [censored]. Yesterday [censored] came and talked to the school about the issues with threats and stuff over livejournal. Now I know that [censored] and [censored] were suspended for expressing themselves over the internet. Officer [censored] talked about the seriousness of the issue and threatening people and [censored] also talked upon it.
Now I give you a choice. First you can take the blue pill, not click on the cut bellow and go off and not learn my thoughts on the matter. Or you can take the red pill and stay in this journal and see how far the entry will go.
I am not aware of what either of the people said nor what the laws to which have been referred to in brief. I have discussed the matter with my father* who dismissed the letter as "utter nonsense" and could not see what part of how the people could have broken either the federal or state crimes act nor the telecommunications act. It is safe to say that while he has a fair idea he is not an expert and am happy if someone would inform me of the actual nature of the occurence rather than vague hints.
Firstly let us talk about threats, slander and the two things mentioned on the note we have, "intimidation and cyber bullying". The internet, like any other medium, can be used to plot against and to threaten people. I understand this very clearly. Something that does strike me as odd is the idea that you can use a blog to do it. What is a blog? A public journal, for whatever thoughts you want to share with the world, although ostensibly most of the people who read your blog will be your friends and sometimes your family. As such it is not addressed to someone. If we contrive this idea further we could assume that if somebody stated a desire to hurt somebody who he knew actually read the journal it could be seen as intimidation or bullying however I am sure that the people who have made these controversial entries did not expect or wish for the people who were dealt with to read them. You cannot possibly threaten somebody who does not know that the comment has been made?
So then we deal with it as slander and defamation. Firstly, for those who would claim that we have a right to free speech, I am afraid that legally this is not the case in Australia. We do not have rights, we have laws which sets limits. Defamation may definately on the cards here. This is unfortunate as personally I believe that there SHOULD be a right to say what we feel like saying when we please. I do not likely agree with the comments that were made. I do not know what they were but I still do not think I would not agree with them. This is not the point. The point is that we should be allowed to speak our mind. If everybody charged someone with defamation who had defamed someone on livejournal, well let me just say that I do not think there would be many people left on this sight.
And the final point I would like to address is the kind of comment made. I do not believe that comments that could be defamatory should be made. It is something that I personally would loathe to be accused of as I would hope that any oppinion I would express would be fair. I also feel that the thoughts expressed here should not be treated as the most serious of sources. This is NOT something we do to be serious journalists critiqueing the world. This is not a newspaper post. It is ramblings of, in this instance, adolescents. Some of them use language which others don't condone. I am entirely sceptical that any comments made were meant seriously. Should people think more before they speak? Probably. Should we threaten them with legal action when they don't? No. That seems to me too extreme for speaking something that they probably shouldn't have.
So in summation I personally hold the view that while talking about somebody on a public space should not be done lightly or without evidence and due consideration for the person. I do not condone intollerance of any kind (hypocritical within itself, I know). That said I believe that people should be able to say things without fear of prosecution. I think that me and my friends should not be made afraid of a criminal record because of words uttered foolishly. They should not have to trawl back through their entries to look for any foolishly uttered words that mentioned a teachers name.
And I hope if the teachers are reading this they noticed my use of a literary allusion. Partly it's just for fun but also it does relate to a topic we did recently. I use what I learn and like learning. I dislike some parts of the process and do not show them great respect however I do believe that it is well worth doing.
Last thing, there are some teachers that I would like to thank and praise on this livejournal at some point and I am now afraid to. Is that right?
-Noviny (aka Benjamin Hogan Conolly)