Blackberry Ban Echoes Gutenberg Reaction

The Blackberry Ban of the UAE and Saudi Arabia echoes the reaction of authority in Middle Ages to the Gutenberg printing press. The fear of authority to people sharing their own ideas, to having alternative interpretations to the 'official' line and making new meanings is a familiar response to 'new technology. The printing press preciptated the development of scientific thinking which lead to the Enlightenment and the split between Theocratic explanations of the world and rational scientific explanations. It led to the democratisation of knowledge.


The need for the State to protect its secrets and defend its borders is a natural right. When censorship intrudes on everyday conversations and exchange of information there is the distinct whiff of Medieval media control in the air. The UAE TRA director general Mohammed al-Ghanem claims that the Blackberry restrictions are due to something quite different to control of communications. He said "Censorship has got nothing to do with this. What we are talking about is suspension due to the lack of compliance with UAE telecommunications regulations." Cue Mandy Rice Davies - "He would wouldn't he"

Siobhan O'Dowd Commits Raoul Moat Facebook Page Suicide

So the infamous Raoul Moat Facebook tribute page has been taken down (pro tem). The BBC said on their website that "Siobhan O'Dowd confirmed she had taken the page down, but has not ruled out putting it back up".

This subject strikes at the heart of  Freedom of Speech. Let me make my position absolutely clear. I believe on the basis of the information presented in the news that Raoul Moat was an aggressive bully who terrorised the people he decided were his victims, killed one man, nearly killed and then blinded a policeman and nearly killed his ex-girlfriend. He disrupted the lives of hundreds of people when he became a fugitive and cost all of us alot of money in hunting him down. By any body's reckoning (except by poor old Gazza) this man was a nasty piece of work.

Nevertheless I remain troubled by the indignation caused by the Facebook site. Yes it was in bad taste, yes it was ill judged, and yes the members of the group left some pretty outrageous opinions in my estimation. That said I have the words of Voltaire ringing in my ears:

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." 

What this means is that also have the right to claim that I feel Siobhan O'Dowd has displayed astonishing emotional un-intelligence. She has displayed an immature grasp of the medium she is using and the social impact it can have on the feelings of others. She has turned serious life events into a form of facile entertainment. She has displayed gullibility of gold plated magnitude. The site should be let to stand as evidence of just what an uncaring, ignorant and life thwarting individual Siobhan O'Dowd is. People who might employ her or have relationship with her should visit it to get a real sense of the inner person that Siobhan O'Dowd is. She has provided the evidence herself. These are not statements made by others.

We might be left asking why the site has been taken down? Public pressure? David Cameron? I would suggest these things are unlikely. The reason Siobhan O'Dowd has taken the Raoul Moat Is A Legend Facebook site down is because the penny has dropped that her personal reputation is at stake. She set it up for self serving reasons she has taken it down for similar reasons. Put it back up Siobhan then we can all see the real you! The similarities between you and your anti-hero are disturbing. You enjoy control (you might put the site back up) and you don't seem care about the feelings of other people. This is why you have committed Facebook suicide.

"We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard."  ~Voltaire, 

"The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. " ~Tommy Smothers

"To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves. " ~Claude-Adrien Helvétius

"God forbid that any book should be banned.  The practice is as indefensible as infanticide." ~Rebecca West


And as I type a second Moat Facebook is published.