Björk's home country RAWKS !!!!

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



A New Global Landmark for Free Speech
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative will provide unparalleled protection for online journalists and whistleblowers.

By David Bollier


Could we be reaching a turning point in history where the monopoly on societal communication enjoyed by governments and corporations is finally broken? Will the commoners be able to share information freely without risking jail, civil penalties or authoritarian retribution?

The pioneering website on these questions is surely Wiklileaks, which in only three years has become the leading venue for whistleblowers from around the world. Founder Julian Assange — who has been likened to Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 — has posted hundreds of otherwise-secret documents that are highly embarrassing to governments, corporations and powerful individuals. Most recently, Wikileaks released a classified U.S. military video video of American gunships killing 12 Iraqi civilians, complete with brutish audio by the pilots.

As the Web becomes the medium-of-choice for communicating with the public, the laws governing Web communication become that much more significant. Wikileaks has been able to assure the confidentiality and security of its postings — not to mention its protection against libel suits — by ingeniously routing its Web communications through servers in countries with hospitable laws. It also sends its documents to selected journalists, who enjoy special legal protections in certain countries.

As detailed in a recent New Yorker magazine profile, Assange himself has had to live the life of a fugitive in order to evade enraged Pentagon agents who “want to talk to him.” Recently, Assange declined to appear in person at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City because he had been advised not to travel to countries that do not respect the rule of law. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2763

[aquart]

1. A sanctuary nation. Nice.

[xchrom]

2. rawks indeed! nt