Internet Blackout Day, Malaysia - Stop 114a

I am going to briefly speak about this because I took part in the "blackout" by adding a pop up to my blog and also refraining from using any social media sites. Refraining from using social media was just an optional thing I wanted to do to show my solidarity to the cause. The black out was on the 14th of August 2012. There were some who misunderstood that they should stay off the internet which is not exactly the point. The blackout was actually to raise awareness of the amended section 114a which allows a site owner, victims of identity theft or victims of other forms of mischief such as tweet-jacking to be held responsible for slander, defamation, etc.

Briefly, what it means that if someone were to make a slanderous comment on my blog or on my facebook wall, I will be held responsible for that comment and I am considered guilty unless I can prove otherwise which is a blow to the fundamentals of justice which is innocent until proven guilty.

It does not stop there. The article also allows for someone to be tried if their internet has been leached. Say someone is using my wifi with or without my knowledge to post something slanderous/defaming using an anonymous identity and the person who has been defamed lodges a report, then a trace is done to the IP of where the post came from. Once they have identified the source, the subscriber of the internet account will be held responsible. In this case it would be me although I did not commit the crime nor did I know about it, I would have to prove my innocence.

I will leave you with the link to learn more about section 114A here. Know your rights. Support Internet Freedom!