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Al-Jazeera, the First Amendment, and Security Professionals
Scott Granneman, 2003-04-22

While attempts to disrupt Web broadcasts of Al-Jazeera may seem like a distant concern, they reflect the problems that should concern security professionals everywhere.

Comments Mode:
Agreed on the principle, but... 2003-04-23
Penguinisto
The First Amendment in Qatar... 2003-04-25
Anonymous
Al-Jazeera, the First Amendment, and Security Professionals 2003-05-01
Anonymous
First, I find it amazing that someone would claim this is not an appropriate topic for SecurityFocus - we are talking about a site being taken down using a variety of techniques that are all quite relevant to this site.

Second, I am amazed at the number of ?they had it coming? responses. These people seem to be advocating, or at least supporting, vigilante action. Do you to have a world where your sites can be ?brought-down? using the same extra-legal techniques if someone gets mad at you? I don?t think so.

Third, and this a comment only loosely connected with the security realm (maybe bug disclosure), when did censorship of information become the norm in the US? Even if we grant the unlikely claims that Al-Jazeera is completely anti-American (which is not true by the way ? they occasionally interview American officials and present the US point-of-view), why do people feel the need to actually suppress what they say? If they present untrue information, than we should know so that we can take appropriate counter-measures. If they present true information, especially which we did not know about before, than that is a benefit too. What value is there in suppressing Al-Jazeera? It seems to me like the only benefactors are those who use misunderstandings to promote hatred and intolerance.


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