Venezuela's Chavez: Internet should be regulated

[Zorro]

Source: AP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for regulation of the Internet on Saturday while demanding authorities crack down on a critical news Web site that he accused of spreading false information.

In a televised speech, Chavez said: "The Internet can't be something free where anything can be done and said. No, every country has to impose its rules and regulations," Chavez said.

He singled out the Venezuelan news site Noticiero Digital, saying it had posted false information that some of his close allies had been killed.

Chavez called for Venezuela's attorney general to take action immediately against the Web site. "This is a crime," he said of the site's reports.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_internet

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Sr. Chavez has many excellent ideas and plans

This is not one of them.

--d!
This is not one of them.

--d!

[warm regards]

62. You know something as open and free as the internet

has got to drive an autocrat like Chavez nuts.

[Jkid]

68. What other excellent ideas and plans he has?

[northzax]

2. Oh this should be fun

:popcorn:

[bemildred]

36. Indeed.

Another festival of emotional excess.
:popcorn:

[Posteritatis]

3. DU net censorship corps will appear in 5... 4... 3... (nt)

[Wilms]

4. Reading the article sans red-baiting headline, it sounds like he'd seek to reprimand a Fox News type

He thinks media spreading lies is bad.

He'd probably think Judith Miller should have been brought to court. etc.

:shrug:


-edited to add-

DFTT

;)

[EFerrari]

10. The difference between Venezuela and the United States on this issue

is that here, Judith Miller was promoted for lying us into a war and Dan Rather was fired for telling the truth about Bush.

Damn that Chavez for not getting the memo.

[WriteDown]

19. Yep, internet censorship is okay when the "right" people are doing the censoring. nt

[boppers]

21. Which one of them were imprisoned?

Was Miller imprisoned? Rather?

[U4ikLefty]

25. Do you know how to read? She said Rather was fired

and Miller was promoted.

Try to pay attention next time Goober.

[boppers]

27. See #13.

Hugo is talking about prison.

[boppers]

26. .

[protocol rv]

42. Stick to the topic, please

Neither Judith Miller nor Dan Rather were promoted nor fired by the state. The topic herein is state control and censorship of the internet.

[EFerrari]

54. Judith Miller was in collusion with the State and Rather in opposition.

Try to grasp the topic, thanks.

[Webster Green]

5. Fuck that!

We couldn't get any real news without the Internets. :thumbsdown:

[paulsby]

6. not surprising at all. par for the course for chavez

and those of his ilk

[Newest Reality]

7. Hugo, my man!

Chill out dude! You are obviously getting paranoid there. I mean, we can dig the pressure and intrigue from the Capitalist West, and all the back biters and such, but pop a V and give it some thought.

Stay on the light side of the Force, Amigo!

[EFerrari]

8. Under US law, there are statements we cannot post to DU

without leaving the site open to government prosecution.

[northzax]

11. Oh really? Like what?

For example? I can't think of a single thing that would expose the site to prosecution. Can you cite a specific example?

[Wilms]

12. A threat against the president would be one thing that's illegal.

Of course, that's been done in VZ.

[protocol rv]

45. And if they catch them they jail them too

My dear friend Wilm, while the state of human rights in the US is weak after the Patriot Act and the Bush excesses, to Venezuelans your arguments ring hollow, because there's keen interest in protecting human rights for Venezuelans, as they existed prior to the Chavez regime, and whatever happens in the US is remote and impacts you, but not Venezuelans in Venezuela. I know there were defficiencies, but the brave new world we're entering, as the government transforms itself into a communist autocracy, is not quite what we had in mind when we voted for Chavez.

[Wilms]

50. We aren't friends.

Obviously it is your argument that rings hollow with the majority of Venezuelans. They elected Chavez.

Minor detail. :eyes:

[DissedByBush]

52. No problem for DU

The Secret Service would serve a subpoena to DU to identify the poster's IP address and a subpoena to the ISP controlling that IP address to find who had it at the time of posting.

It would then arrest the poster for the threat of bodily harm.

But DU would have no legal problems at all.

[Wilms]

59. Your point is taken. But below, I see you are pushing things out of context.

So while DU isn't liable if I try posting something illegal, a media source doing the same thing would be.

[DissedByBush]

61. Show me a media source in the US doing that

I haven't seen any of them doing anything that would meet the very high bar for criminalizing speech or the press.

Sure there's libel every once in a while, and false reporting that requires retractions. This appears to be an instance of false reporting.

But those are civil issues, not criminal.

Chavez wants the power to shut down or block any site that says anything critical of him.

Sure, he is using false reporting by a site to start this.

Once the power is there anything that disagrees with him will be classified as a lie, and the site shut down or blocked.

If you don't mind a president being able to do that then imagine what Bush would have done to DU when he was in power.

[EFerrari]

64. How do you know what Chavez wants?

Your assumptions are just astonishing. Are you Kreskin?

[DissedByBush]

67. It has not been obvious

Only to the blind followers.

[Wilms]

65. Everything you know about this is likely sourced by AP.

You proud of that?

Try reading the balance of the thread.

[boppers]

17. Google: Sherman Austin.

wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Austin

[DissedByBush]

51. Examples, please

Show me one thing that someone could post here that would open up DU to criminal prosecution.

[EFerrari]

55. Go read the rules. n/t

[DissedByBush]

60. The rules are what the admins want

Not what is enforced by criminal law.

[boppers]

9. Great. More anti-speech from a wanna-be dictator.

How about regulating what he says, would he mind that?

[rabs]

13. For what it's worth, Chavez said he was quoting German Chancellor Angela Merkel

about his Internet remark but that is not in the Associated Press article. And some other goodies the AP omitted.


-----------------------------

From the OP:

In a televised speech, Chavez said: "The Internet can't be something free where anything can be done and said. No, every country has to impose its rules and regulations," Chavez said.

(But the AP DOES NOT say that Chavez attributed that quote to Merkel.)

This is from the OPPOSITION newspaper El Universal of Caracas that DOES mention Merkel.

Dijo que igual pasa con las páginas en Internet y recordó unas declaraciones, que atribuyó a la presidenta alemana, Ángela Merkel , según las cuales habría señalado que "Internet no puede ser una cosa libre en la que se haga lo que sea. No cada país tiene que poner sus reglas, sus normas. Como los canales que entran a Venezuela por satélite y que transmiten lo que les da la gana. Eso no puede ser así. Envenenando la mente de mucha gente. La regulación, las leyes pues…".
---------------------
The issue of the Internet came up AFTER Chavez denounced the Noticiero Digital website for a false report that Public Works and Housing Minister Diosdado Cabello and four bodyguards had been assassinated by a commando of 15 gunmen on the Caracas-Guarenas freeway.

Chavez said Noticiero Digital had announced that it would later post a communique saying a group of paramilitaries paid by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe would be blamed for the assassination.

------------------
More from El Uiversal that is not in the AP story

Indicó que la responsabilidad es tanto para quien lo dice, como para quien lo deja decir y desarrollar. "Ellos saben que están cometiendo un delito que es penado con cárcel en cualquier parte del mundo. Vayan a decir eso allá en Estados Unidos, o en España o en Colombia o en cualquier país chico. El Estado tiene que hacerse respetar", destacó el mandario.

Chavez said the responsibility falls on those who issue (those false reports) as well as on those who allow such things to be said and developed. "They know that are committing a crime punishable by prison in any part of the world. Go say that in the United States, or in Spain or Colombia or in any small nation. The State has to be respected."

--------------------

Just to expand and clarify the AP article a little more.

[Wilms]

14. Proving that in fact, once again, it IS a mistranslation.

Even El Universal of Caracas reported.

[boppers]

20. Another Hugo falsehood: "They know that are committing a crime punishable by prison"

Falsely reporting a death is not a crime in the US.

[Warren Stupidity]

49. Hmm.. so US laws are the laws of Venezuela?

I didn't know that either. I learn so much from rightwingworld. What a strange place.

[Judi Lynn]

30. Just what those who watch, read, research have been saying so long. PERFECT example.

Even the OPPOSITION controlled media shared more of the truth of this than AP.

It really, really figures.

Thank you so much.

I had to groan internally seeing some of those who posted after you, as it shows they either don't read anything by anyone other than fellow wingers, or they do read, and ignore it since the truth doesn't support them, or they don't really bother to read anything at all, after the headline, in the end, as it only slows them down, and confuses them.

[Festivito]

33. Looks good, but still needs a link or a source statement.

"Chavez said the responsibility falls on those who issue (those false reports)..."

The responsibility for what? The reporting. The commandos. The inference it was commandos. The inference it was not Columbian?

Thanks for posting.

[Igel]

40. Where did the Merkel paraphrase end?

I honestly don't know.


Was it just, the "Internet cannot be a free thing, where you can do whatever you want"? Did it continue with, "No, every country has to impose its rules, it's standards"? Did Merkel continue with, "Like the channels that are beamed into Venezuela by satellite and broadcast whatever they want"? Or did she continue with, "It can't be like that. Poisoning a lot of people's minds"?

I see an assumption that she stopped with "it's standards." If she stopped after "whatever you want," then it could actually mean a bit more: Calling for assassination might be covered under either. But for me, at least, while banning calls for assassination is a "rule" or "standard" continuing to expound upon it probably entails a bit closer supervision.

I've heard rumors that the electricity specialist that Hugo invited in from Cuba to help with their energy grid problems is also quite adept in censorship and social control. And the Internet is, at least when it comes to user interfaces, heavily dependent on electricity.

[Warren Stupidity]

43. thank you

as usual the rightwing media hit squads and their obedient servants here on DU have a bit of explaining to do, not that they will ever admit that they are full of shit.

[w4rma]

15. Wow. Apparantly the AP is really out to get him. They quoted him way out of context. (nt)

[DissedByBush]

16. The next step for a wannabe dictator

Have to control the information.

Don't want the people getting information critical of the regime.

It's for the good of the people.

Just like in China and Iran.

That damn free speech, so irritating to authoritarian rulers.

[EFerrari]

23. You bashers have been saying that for the last ten years and you've yet to be right once.

He must not "wannabe" very much!

LOL

[boppers]

28. He's been there for ten years. That's proof enough.

When is he stepping down?

[DissedByBush]

41. Never

Raul Baduel, Chavez' savior (he got Chavez back in power after the coup), Chavez ally since the 80s, general, defense minister, is now under arrest for daring to speak out about Chavez' desire to remain in office forever. Somehow evidence of corruption appeared, after all those years, only after he turned on Chavez and left office.

If someone that powerful can go down just for dissenting, how could anyone else possibly oust Chavez? Even President Carter is worried about this.

Chavez is smart. He is consolidating his power slowly.

He doesn't outright kill his enemies. Corruption charges tend to pop up a lot though, but rarely among his supporters.

This slow road to dictatorship is obviously fooling many people.

Putting a stranglehold on sources of information free from government interference is another step.

He can't force a web site to broadcast his speeches all day. He doesn't like that.

"I am increasingly concerned about Chávez's inclination to incrementally consolidate all political power to his own office at the expense of an independent judiciary, which is necessary, as well as at the expense of autonomous bodies within the administration, apart from the legislative power which the government also controls almost completely now. ... an increasing domination on his part that led him to have a more authoritarian government." -- Jimmy Carter

[Warren Stupidity]

44. So FDR was a dictator?

I didn't know that.

Although, on reflection, quite a few rightwing republican assholes thought at the time that FDR was in fact a dictator.

[RC]

18. Too bad our own government isn't as truthful as Hugo's.

But then Hugo's isn't controlled by corporations.

[Bicoastal]

22. (facepalm)

[EFerrari]

24. The truth hurts.

:)

[boppers]

29. (double facepalm)

[proteus_lives]

31. And the Chavez-brigade arrives to toss rose petals around Dear Leader.

Gee, I wonder who he wants regulated. People who support him or oppose him???

Hmmm, that's a thinker.

[Warren Stupidity]

46. I wonder if perhaps he was misquoted

but never mind that, keep up the good work defending the big money elites of Latin America, global corporations, and rightwing media outlets.

[EFerrari]

57. Read the thread. Geeze.

[4saken]

32. The internet is a danger to anyone who...

is unwilling to recognize opposing positions, and the value they have in coming to the correct conclusions.

Cults especially have a very hard time with an open forum like the internet. Where the environment that keeps them stable depends on the lack of an honest debate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rqw4krMOug

[RC]

35. And the Truth be Damned.

"The internet is a danger to anyone who... is unwilling to recognize opposing positions, and the value they have in coming to the correct conclusions.
Where the environment that keeps them stable depends on the lack of an honest debate."


Kinda like our own Republican party, the Democratic party, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, too big to fail, the U.S. news media, Health care, Congress, ...

[eShirl]

34. Hugo, the oil assistance for poor people is nice and helpful, but

don't be a douche.

[conspirator]

37. I hope this is fake. It would be my first disapointment with Chavez nt

[protocol rv]

47. It's not fake, and you should catch up

You are not disappointed our electric power system is a mess, or that inflation is over 30 %, or that the human rights panels around the world criticize the state of human rights in Venezuela, or that crime has increased in the last 10 years and it's truly awful, one of the worst in the world? or that the economy is floundering? or that we have a health system crisis? or that the rule of law doesn't exist anymore? You should be disappointed about these points.

[Wilms]

48. Read the thread. And watch out for the misinformants. n/t

[EFerrari]

66. It's the same deal as the story that had him stealing a 4 star hotel

when Venezuela was the major stockholder and the takeover was in the works before he was in office.

It's fake.

[Andronex]

38. Dog face strikes again...

These "Chavez" statements are usually taken out of context when they are not outright lies, it's evident that there is a negative campaign against Chavez in the western corporate media. In order to justify a future military intervention you must first demonize that country, it's been done a thousand times, just standard procedure for the Empire...

[slackmaster]

39. More great leadership!

:nuke:

[Joe Chi Minh]

53. Why was this moved to the South American tread? It is surely of much more

general interest.

[EFerrari]

56. Afaik, because the topic is not about US policy in Venzuela but

about Ven internal stuff.

[Mika]

63. lol

<--->

[marshall]

58. General interest implicitly is focused on topics related to the United States

If it doesn't directly affect us it's not our business.