Having just criminalized video games the government doesn’t like, it looks like Hugo Chavez is looking to have Venezuela be the next country to massively censor the internet.
“The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. No, every country has to apply its own rules and norms,”
Of course, it seems that the “rules and norms” that Chavez wants are “no criticizing me.”
“We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime. I have information that this page periodically publishes stories calling for a coup d’etat. That cannot be permitted,”
Notice the problem here. Chavez’s real complaint is with an organization calling for a coup — but his response is to suggest that special laws need to be placed on all internet communications. There’s a disconnect there which doesn’t make much sense. If you want to make it illegal to support the overthrow of the government, that’s one thing — but that’s different than focusing on laws about the internet. The internet is just a communication mechanism.
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