Desiderata was sleepless in Seremban because Blogosphere was very much on his mind lately. Because the National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs) headed by Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka Rockybru has yet to obtain its registration since its first election of an Interim Committee two years ago, Desi had to take upon himself the initiative to organise Bloggers Universe Malaysia (BUM) annuals, namely BUM2008 and the recent BUM2009 events; the inaugural BUM2007 was already underway in the earlymonths of 2007 even as Rocky and Malaysian "pioneer" Jeff Ooi laid the grounds for All-Blogs' birth. (Of course, since March 8, 2008 MP for Jelutong Jeff has had less time for Blogging activities but he continued to lend firm support for BUM without hesitation.)
I had dared to proceed with organising BUM2009 because of a close knit group of Bloggers who met with me informally to attend what I had termed G7 Meetings, (named cheekily after the developed nations' conferences!) later supported by sevral All-Blogs interim committee members, especially Rockybru and his deputy Jeff Ooi, and we "enjoy" a mutual understanding that we will stand united because we are passionate about promoting Blogging and Bloggers' welfare in NegaraKu, across colour, creed, gender and age, and especially partisan political affiliations. This was/is/will be reflected as much as possible in most of the Speakers invited to take part as panel members I believe manisfested at all THREE BUM annual gatherings thus far -- within the constraints of time and resources we were working under, of course (and this I share as BUM Organising Committee chairman ...).
As I said at the beginning, I was "sleepless" in Seremban recent days because the last few times I communicated with Rockybru, he seemed intent on Desi sitting on the Chair of BUM2010 OC (Yes, the show will go on!...), but I told him I am reluctant. YL Chong must find more time for his journalism work, lending his hobby hours to Blogging and hopefully, help progress All-Blogs AFTER it obtains its registartion SOON, I assured Rockybru, adding that he has been doing a "fine" job, which many/few/ none of other SoPo Bloggers may agree/disagree with... it's a democratic universe at BUM. I am not inclined to "hog" the OC chair but assure I will lend my support to whoever takes over from next year (Yes, I did indicate to Sdr Bernard Khoo aka Zorro after BUM2008 that ideally he should chair BUM2009, but that was not to be ... it's another story to tell maybe at an campfire when we both are inclined to meet at Port Dickson sharing ghost stories...Zorro and his lovely "CathyZJones"...?)
I am initiating another G7 gathering of like-minded Sopo Bloggers to meet at the National Press Club, Jalan Tangsi, Kuala Lumpur from 8.30PM tomorrow Friday June 19, 2009 -- very informal, and even if you run late, I believe NPC President Rocky won't mind if you buy the next round of beers or tehtarik... (Frankly, the last time I stepped into the NPC clubhouse was some three years ago, I can't remmeber for the semi-life of me if they serve pulled (or pushed:( tea at NPC. Thinking Allowed and Aloud ala Jeff001 -- Maybe I'd tapau some from Lingam's, but it's not for the CJ, OK!
Meanwhile, till we meet again, I share this not-so-assuring item plucked from Malaysia Today:
Bloggers have no right to privacy says British court
Posted by admin
Thursday, 18 June 2009 06:53
(Yahoo! News UK) The High Court in London has ruled that bloggers have no right to privacy under British law since blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity.
The case was brought by The Times newspaper after it discovered the identity of a blogger in the police service who wrote the popular NightJack web page, which was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing in April.
The author, Richard Horton, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop the paper from releasing his name but his application was denied.
It would seem to be quite legitimate for the public to be told who it was who was choosing to make, in some instances quite serious criticisms of police activities and, if it be the case, that frequent infringements of police discipline regulations were taking place, said Mr Justice Eady, The Times reports.
I do not accept that it is part of the courts function to protect police officers who are, or think they may be, acting in breach of police discipline regulations from coming to the attention of their superiors.
The NightJack blog was very popular with the reading public, getting up to half a million hits a week. Horton has now deleted the blog and received a written warning from his superiors.
The case will have a chilling effect on other workplace blogs, since the lack of any expectation of privacy will cause some to abandon their blogs.
Thousands of regular bloggers . . . would be horrified to think that the law would do nothing to protect their anonymity if someone carried out the necessary detective work and sought to unmask them, said Hugh Tomlinson, QC, for Mr Horton.
The police force has supplied a number of authors of popular blogs, so much so that the forces have intro duced guidelines on blogging aimed at limiting what can be said by officers on the beat.
CONTRAST the above report with the following at another workplace rcently undergoing some "reformasi"?...~~ YL, Desi
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Enter the Malay Mail bloggers
http://rockybru.com.my/2009/06/enter-malay-mail-bloggers.html
By Ahirudin Attan aka Rockybru
First day back at the Mail, first visitors. I had a meeting with the reporters and editors in the afternoon.
Gave them their first two assignments:
1. Buy a pair of jeansI'm allowing jeans in the office. The idea is for them to be relaxed. Feel free and liberated. But I also reminded the reporters that there are places, such as the Parliament and the courts, where jeans aren't allowed. Yes, we are going to promote free press but like jeans and everything else in life, there are limits to what we can do.
2. Start a blog
Only a handful of the reporters have blogs, I learnt during the meeting. So with great pleasure it was that I gave all the Malay Mail reporters, sub-editors, and editors one week to start their blogs. They can blog about anything at all - politics, football, cosmetics, pets, their work, their editors, etc.
Why blogs? I want them to feel the freedom of writing blogs. And the responsibility of moderating comments, testing the limits, and engaging others in useful discourse.And as the oldest newspaper in Malaysia goes on-line - which is what I plan to do with the 113-year old paper - the journalists working with the paper need to know what makes blogs and bloggers tick, and what the New Media is all about.
The Mail has about a hundred staff.After the meeting, I received my first visitors at the Malay Mail. These two young ladies are from India and in the country to do a film project on Internet censorship and blogging. They will also interview Nathaniel Tan and YB Elizabeth Wong for the project.
at 8:46 PM
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