Indonesia’s Communications and Information Minister has declared that anyone tweeting illegal content, such as blasphemy, pornography, and threats, could spend up to 12 years in prison.
Indonesia has a strained history with free speech issues and open media, so a law that would punish Twitter users harshly for their words isn’t entirely surprising. The case of Prita Mulyasari is one big example of how uncomfortable the country is with online communication. Mulyasari was jailed and fined for sending e-mails to 20 of her friends that complained about a hospital’s service.
So now, with Twitter, another online service that makes it easy to complain or send lewd messages, users best be careful. Minister Tifatul Sembiring said Monday that the government is studying Twitter and that it would pursue all users found violating its strict laws, according to the Jakarta Globe.
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A BLOGGER who characterised the prominent anti-pornography activist Melinda Tankard-Reist as a fundamentalist Christian has vowed not to apologise, despite being threatened with defamation.
In a case that has set Twitter ablaze with outrage for days, Ms Tankard-Reist's lawyers served a ''letter of demand'' at the weekend to Jennifer Wilson, who lives on the NSW north coast and blogs at the website No Place for Sheep.
The letter demanded Dr Wilson retract a post that characterised Ms Tankard-Reist as hypocritical for not disclosing her religious beliefs. It also demanded she sign a letter of apology drafted by Ms Tankard-Reist's lawyers, pay Ms Tankard-Reist's legal costs, and noted that Ms Tankard-Reist reserved the right to sue for defamation.
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