After making a strategic error in the opening followed by solid play from Reino Kartunen (3 kyu) of Finland, I was forced to throw in the towel. That brings my record to 1 win and 1 loss. Looking forward to round three.
The Iwamoto tournament is an online go/weiqi/baduk tournament involving over 600 amateur go players. All games are played on the KGS go server.
Related posts: Round 1
Fiji's sole representative scores an upset in round one
The final board position
Today we have links to five news items on blog censorship for your reading pleasure and one on the up-hill battle for copyright enforcement in Fiji.
Today's Fiji Times has an interesting feature story on blogs. In this story there are some comments from a certain unnamed "former information security consultant". It will come as no surprise to anyone who has read my recent post advising against blog censorship, that the "consultant who refused to be identified for fear of victimisation" is me. My part of the story reads as follows,
A former information security consultant working in Fiji said recently the reputation of bloggers had been tarnished.The trouble is, I did not ask the Fiji Times for anonymity. I will admit that I hesitated to respond to the reporter's queries as speaking on government activities during a state of emergency is not something to do lightly in any country, but in the end I felt it was important to share my views - especially as my views are non-partisan. I also wanted to take the opportunity to state publicly that there are numerous bloggers in Fiji, most of whom have been blogging since long before the coup, who are not interested in pushing a political agenda and who often make no attempt to conceal their identities. To see only some of these, look at my September 12, 2006 post - possibly the first ever blog post about Fiji blogs! If someone is currently maintaining an up to date list of Fiji blogs, please let me know."I am one of many apolitical bloggers in Fiji, and use the web for professional communication, sharing thoughtful writing, or just plain fun.
"I have no political agenda and do not want to be painted with the same brush as Fiji's anonymous political bloggers," he said.
The consultant who refused to be identified for fear of victimisation said FINTEL had the expertise and equipment to block any web address with very little cost or effort.
"The movement of the resistfrankscoup blogspot site to the Wordpress blog site illustrates that blocking websites is not effective.
"If their blogs are blocked, anonymous political bloggers and their readers will simply shift their activities to other available internet resources, such as:
A new blog on blogspot.com (unless they just block the entire blogspot domain);
Any other free blog site such as Wordpress, Livejournal, or countless others;
Any social networking site such as Hi5, Facebook, MySpace, or others;
Any free website provider such as Google Pages, Geocities, or others;
Any instant messaging service from the venerable IRC to jabber, yim, gtalk, or others;
Any group discussion technology from the venerable USENET to Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, or others;
Any p2p technology to circulate files or to chat such as Skype or FWD;
Or users could do any of the above, including reading any blocked blogs, by using open proxy servers, an anonymising service, or The Onion Router.
The consultant said the perception of the interim Government tampering in FINTEL, Fiji's pivotal Internet Service Provider through which all internet traffic flowed, would dampen high-tech investment in Fiji. "Off-shore service centres rely on the perception of data communications security in order to assure their customers that the confidentiality of their data will not be compromised.
"The other cost is through potential issues with EU and other international stakeholders where the interim Government could be perceived to be interfering with the fundamental human right of free speech," he said.
[You can't keep a blog blocked Fiji Times, May 19, 2007]
Recently, bloggers have been getting a bad name in Fiji. I am one of many apolitical bloggers in Fiji, all of whom blog for professional communication, for sharing thoughtful writing, and for just plain fun. I have no political agenda and do not want to be painted with the same brush as Fiji’s anonymous political bloggers.My name is Chris Hammond-Thrasher and I blog in Fiji!
A stunt faking the censoring of a notorious anti-military blog in Fiji has fooled the international and Fijian press. Sometime on May 16, 2007, the no-holds-barred blog opposing Fiji's interim government, resistfrankscoup, went blank. This prompted a flurry of activity in newsrooms and anti-government blogs as most observers assumed that the interim government, likely in collusion with FINTEL, Fiji's pivotal Internet service provider, had blocked the site.
A short while later, the site reappeared but several recent posts were missing and some functionality was broken prompting further speculation of ongoing government tampering. A simple comparison of the site viewed from a FINTEL connection with the site as viewed from an American provider reveals that absolutely no tampering is being performed.
However, at 4:10 am (Fiji Time) on May 17, 2007, a new incarnation of the blog in question sprang up on the Wordpress blog service claiming responsibility for the site's interruption saying they wanted to see how people would react:
We know many were disappointed when your RFC blogsite suddenly disappeared from your screen. We also know the junta was elated by the sudden black-out but guess what, we closed it down ourselves to gauge how the junta, our loyal bloggers, our opposition and others would react.Despite this announcement, over a dozen news outlets in at least four countries have run a story describing this event as an act of military censorship. See below for some examples culled from Google News.
[This is us! Why Fiji Cries, May 17, 2007]
There have been numerous reports in both the Fijian and international press over the past few of days about the interim government working with FINTEL to censor troublesome blogs. I think that this would be a mistake. In fact, blocking these blogs may actually harm the interim government.
Here are four reasons why Fiji's interim government should reconsider asking FINTEL to block access to anonymous anti-military blogs:
1. Clearly, some of the remarks in Fiji's anonymous political blogs regarding members of the interim government are libelous. Fiji's Defamation Act and supporting Common Law allows for an injured party to ask the court to instruct an Internet Service Provider to turn over records relating to a customer who has published defamatory remarks. No additional legislation or special measures are required. However, some anonymous bloggers cover their tracks and will not be caught by this method.
2. The perception of government tampering in FINTEL, Fiji's pivotal Internet Service Provider through which all Internet traffic flows, would dampen high-tech investment in Fiji. Off-shore service centres rely on the perception of data communications security in order to assure their customers that the confidentiality of their data will not be compromised.
3. Information warfare theory shows that censoring blogs may cost the interim government more than it gains. Power is the ability of a combatant to take an action and have it result in a desired effect. In information warfare, where the weapons are ideas and the battlefields are people's minds, cultures, and ways of life, the power of a combatant is limited by the combatant's perceived legitimacy. Every action that can be perceived as taking the interim government one step further from a return to democracy is going harm the government's perceived legitimacy in the eyes of major international stakeholders - the EU comes to mind here - and in the eyes of at least some proportion of the population of Fiji. This reduced perception of legitimacy then constrains the interim government's future efforts to exercise their power. In an information war, which is certainly what Fiji is currently experiencing, combatants must carefully weigh the consequences of any action before executing it as one's own actions can be more damaging than an enemy attack.
Figure 1.
Some quick links from my computer to yours.
This was NOT the scene in Suva on May Day 2007The Permanent Secretary for the Public Service Taina Tagicakibau said the civil service was not affected at all today. She said the Public Service Commission rang all the ministries and departments especially the larger ones that provide essential services but found civil servants at work as usual.
[Civil servants defy anti-coup protest, Fiji Live, May 2, 2007]
Reports from Fiji suggest that calls for a day of industrial action in protest against the interim military government to coincide with May Day yesterday have had a mixed response.
[Fiji May Day protest has mixed success, Radio Australia, May 2, 2007]
The 1st of May Protest today rankled the Public Service Commission to a state of hysteria said Freedom bloggers Fijianblack, Discombobulated Bubu and Intelligentsiya.
[The Journey has just begun…, Intelligentsiya, May 2, 2007]
The digital native doesn’t send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online, and starts a blog. We need to be the destination for those bloggers. We need to encourage readers to think of the web as the place to go to engage our reporters and editors in more extended discussions about the way a particular story was reported or researched or presented.Murdoch, the King among Kings when it comes to the big business of news, wants you to blog, but only if you blog with him.
[Rupert Murdoch, Speech by Rupert Murdoch to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 13, 2005]
THE military is looking for person or people behind the bloggers website Fijian Black', which called on members of the public to silently resist the interim Government.photo by Hugo
The website called on people to boycott work last Tuesday in protest against the interim administration.
Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni said he believed people did not respond to the call.
"Everyone was at work," he said.
The content of the Fijian Black' blogspot largely consists of articles critical of the military and the interim regime.
"Yes, we are still looking for Fijian Black but we are not spending too much time on that," Major Leweni said.
The Public Service Commission is investigating how many civil servants stayed away from work in response to the call.
PSC chairman Rishi Ram said those who failed to report to work on Tuesday could have their wages docked.
[Website hunt, Fiji Times, May 3, 2007]
