Argentina: Massive Blockade Of Blog By The GovernmentSaturday 20th of August 2011 12:06:12 AM
Google has confirmed that several are denouncing a few days ago: the blockade of hundreds of thousands of blogs and other sites in Argentina by several ISPs in the country. The situation is consequence of blocking relief channelled through the national communications Commission and imposed on the site Leakymails - which aims to achieve the objective not yet achieved if the Wikileaks argentino-by Judge Sergio Torres of the national criminal court and correctional Federal N ° 9, much controversy has arisen.
According to the measure precautionary the Argentina ISPs should "devise necessary means" to block and http://www.leakymails.blogspot.com as well as several of them have directly banned the IP address associated with the domains (216.239.32.21) causing the disaster that Leakymails is housed in one of the servers of Blogger in which there are more than one million sites that have been inaccessible for the majority of Argentines.
The release of Google, in addition to explaining what was said, also emphasizes that:
The indiscriminate blocking affects rights of constitutional rank, such as access to information, freedom of expression and the right to work and exercise any lawful industry. Thousands of bloggers and Internet users in general depend on the availability of their contents to disseminate their ideas and promote their products or services.
So what:
Blocking websites, IP addresses, ports and network protocols is an extreme measure (similar, in some cases, the closure of newspapers, radio or other media), and should be limited to sites or content specific, be proportional and limited to the end sought to avoid the unnecessary allocation of the various rights guaranteed to the users.
Quite apart from considerations of Google, with which I agree would make more assumptions than of the "blocking indiscriminate" extensible, really important in my opinion is that the situation reinforces more inter alia illogical, for ineffective and dangerous, to questionable but put on a tightrope fundamental rights, which is the resolution issued by judge Torres.
The sequence of events starts with the complaint lodged by the Minister of security Argentina against Leakymails. She reported on the web "published and disseminated emails economists to officials of the national Government, both of private and official boxes" which requested that "be reasserted the steps this jurisdiction deems appropriate to prevent the continuation of the dissemination of the content of the emails in question, during the conduct of research".
Said and done. Shortly after with unusual speed, the judge issued the order to block Leakymails via resolution using as the main legal basis article 222 of the Penal Code punishes by imprisonment of up to six years that "divulges political, industrial, technological and military secrets related to security, the means of defence or Foreign Affairs of the nation". On the other hand it is true that in the resolution the judge also explains that "are at stake constitutional rights such as the privacy", but as I said, and makes clear the last part of the decree issued by the National Commission for communications the main legal basis is article 222:
Pursuant to the provisions of the national court in Criminal and correctional Federal No. 9, Secretariat no. 17, in the case No. 9.177/11 caratulada "N.N. s/disclosure of political and military secrets", which ordered that this National Commission communication, has the care communication of what there resolved all the telecommunications licensees that have added value service record and provide access to INTERNET service, reportedly dated August 4, 2011, provision has been made as follows: "I. order temporarily blocking by local service providers of Internet access to the following web sites http:/www.leakymails.com and http:/leakymails.blogspot.com." OTF. Federal Judge Sergio TORRES
Legal? Surely. Immoral, illogical and dangerous? For many, including myself, also and is the case off a fetid aroma.
It must be assumed that the Argentine criminal code contemplates that publish information from letters, emails or any other personal document is legal provided that the material has a public interest. Certainly most of the emails from Leakymails are typical of gossip, but others contain sensitive information about unethical practices or even criminal that call into question several members of the Government (and opposition) to citizenship that vote them and therefore its publication could be deemed legitimate.
Resolution sings rather that the main legal support of the same is "Revelation of secret political and military" when grosso Leakymails documents fall within the framework of the pure privacy, to what we have to add that Interestingly enough to judge the documents of the site would be perfectly in the case of "public interest" collide with article 222. Or put another way, the judge made a quick interpretation of the law absolutely favourable to the plaintiff, linked to the Government which in turn can be affected politically by determine leaks of the defendant, by issuing the tough measure precautionary shut down an Internet site that for the elderly has also led a situation of mass closure for blogs and websites that collides in earnest with the right to information.
If all this weren't enough, also the decision could be against the American Convention on human rights, Treaty signed by Argentina, to block a web site in a preventive way before a strong criminal conviction.
The foregoing leads me to believe that we we have another example - I still consider an act of censorship by explained - where justice has yielded to pressure from certain powers; It is the only logical reason to issue a preventive closure involving censorship, something that never happened in Argentina since the restoration of democracy. On the other hand if it wanted certain forces was to remove Leakymails from above, the judicial process and the precautionary measures only have achieved otherwise, enhance and validate a rather embarrassing site which probably would have killed him only. Now we only have to wait the developments, hopefully the final judgment of the Court is at least more balanced and confirm that there is no problem with the separation of powers in Argentina (no doubt to general level it is).
According to the measure precautionary the Argentina ISPs should "devise necessary means" to block and http://www.leakymails.blogspot.com as well as several of them have directly banned the IP address associated with the domains (216.239.32.21) causing the disaster that Leakymails is housed in one of the servers of Blogger in which there are more than one million sites that have been inaccessible for the majority of Argentines.
The release of Google, in addition to explaining what was said, also emphasizes that:
The indiscriminate blocking affects rights of constitutional rank, such as access to information, freedom of expression and the right to work and exercise any lawful industry. Thousands of bloggers and Internet users in general depend on the availability of their contents to disseminate their ideas and promote their products or services.
So what:
Blocking websites, IP addresses, ports and network protocols is an extreme measure (similar, in some cases, the closure of newspapers, radio or other media), and should be limited to sites or content specific, be proportional and limited to the end sought to avoid the unnecessary allocation of the various rights guaranteed to the users.
Quite apart from considerations of Google, with which I agree would make more assumptions than of the "blocking indiscriminate" extensible, really important in my opinion is that the situation reinforces more inter alia illogical, for ineffective and dangerous, to questionable but put on a tightrope fundamental rights, which is the resolution issued by judge Torres.
The sequence of events starts with the complaint lodged by the Minister of security Argentina against Leakymails. She reported on the web "published and disseminated emails economists to officials of the national Government, both of private and official boxes" which requested that "be reasserted the steps this jurisdiction deems appropriate to prevent the continuation of the dissemination of the content of the emails in question, during the conduct of research".
Said and done. Shortly after with unusual speed, the judge issued the order to block Leakymails via resolution using as the main legal basis article 222 of the Penal Code punishes by imprisonment of up to six years that "divulges political, industrial, technological and military secrets related to security, the means of defence or Foreign Affairs of the nation". On the other hand it is true that in the resolution the judge also explains that "are at stake constitutional rights such as the privacy", but as I said, and makes clear the last part of the decree issued by the National Commission for communications the main legal basis is article 222:
Pursuant to the provisions of the national court in Criminal and correctional Federal No. 9, Secretariat no. 17, in the case No. 9.177/11 caratulada "N.N. s/disclosure of political and military secrets", which ordered that this National Commission communication, has the care communication of what there resolved all the telecommunications licensees that have added value service record and provide access to INTERNET service, reportedly dated August 4, 2011, provision has been made as follows: "I. order temporarily blocking by local service providers of Internet access to the following web sites http:/www.leakymails.com and http:/leakymails.blogspot.com." OTF. Federal Judge Sergio TORRES
Legal? Surely. Immoral, illogical and dangerous? For many, including myself, also and is the case off a fetid aroma.
It must be assumed that the Argentine criminal code contemplates that publish information from letters, emails or any other personal document is legal provided that the material has a public interest. Certainly most of the emails from Leakymails are typical of gossip, but others contain sensitive information about unethical practices or even criminal that call into question several members of the Government (and opposition) to citizenship that vote them and therefore its publication could be deemed legitimate.
Resolution sings rather that the main legal support of the same is "Revelation of secret political and military" when grosso Leakymails documents fall within the framework of the pure privacy, to what we have to add that Interestingly enough to judge the documents of the site would be perfectly in the case of "public interest" collide with article 222. Or put another way, the judge made a quick interpretation of the law absolutely favourable to the plaintiff, linked to the Government which in turn can be affected politically by determine leaks of the defendant, by issuing the tough measure precautionary shut down an Internet site that for the elderly has also led a situation of mass closure for blogs and websites that collides in earnest with the right to information.
If all this weren't enough, also the decision could be against the American Convention on human rights, Treaty signed by Argentina, to block a web site in a preventive way before a strong criminal conviction.
The foregoing leads me to believe that we we have another example - I still consider an act of censorship by explained - where justice has yielded to pressure from certain powers; It is the only logical reason to issue a preventive closure involving censorship, something that never happened in Argentina since the restoration of democracy. On the other hand if it wanted certain forces was to remove Leakymails from above, the judicial process and the precautionary measures only have achieved otherwise, enhance and validate a rather embarrassing site which probably would have killed him only. Now we only have to wait the developments, hopefully the final judgment of the Court is at least more balanced and confirm that there is no problem with the separation of powers in Argentina (no doubt to general level it is).