Relax, it's just the Internet version of coffee shop talk
Author: Chai Shiew Chee
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_483956.html
Date: January 31, 2010
Original article:
Relax, it's just the Internet version of coffee shop talk
I REFER to Tuesday's letter by Mr Keith Gerard Tan, 'New ugly Singaporean', and Mr Lionel De Souza's response on Wednesday, 'Keyboard warriors? New ugly Singaporeans are more like cyber terrorists'.
The term 'Web defacement', or rather the defacing of a webpage, has a completely different meaning. Web defacement is an attack on a website, typically by system hackers, who replace the website they attack with one of their own. Web defacement is illegal and carries a potential prison sentence.
'Keyboard warrior' was a term forged in the Internet age to describe someone who expresses his feelings (mostly anger), thoughts and beliefs online.
On top of this, the cyber warriors who are the main target of Mr Tan do not frequent websites. They are commonly found on online forums and chatrooms, and their very existence is to exchange views and voice thoughts, be they coherent or not.
I am not sure if Mr Tan knows the expression, but I am sure Mr De Souza is familiar with the term 'coffee shop talk', a term coined long ago to describe political comments made over coffee in traditional coffee shops.
Now in the modern age, we should understand we have the tools to express ourselves on a more powerful platform, that of the Internet, and comments will cover the whole spectrum and may even be of an extreme nature.
Having said that, it saddened me that Mr Tan took something that is fundamental to human rights and the human condition - to express one's unhappiness - and somehow married that to Web defacement, a criminal activity. This makes me wonder if it is such a heinous crime in Mr Tan's eyes to express unhappiness with government policies that it is now comparable to a criminal offence.
What is even more worrying is that Mr De Souza, a known security expert, states that keyboard warriors are hiding behind the cloak of anonymity when they are not. In fact, extremists have been snuffed out and tried in court, so there is no anonymity and everyone is and will be held accountable for what he says.
Reflections:
I refer to "Relax, it's just the Internet version of coffee shop talk" by Chai Shiew Chee. She first of all pointed out the misusing some terms: Web defacement. It is discribing a kind of crime or illegal behavior. As for 'Keyboard warrior', she discribed it as a behavior of people expressing their feelings. Then she showed her opinion that those so called "cyber warriors" are doing the same thing just as the act of a coffee shop talk. The only difference of between the two behaviors is that they are talking over the internet, but not in the coffee shop. She critisized that Mr Tan discribed a kind of human right as a kind of crime. At last, she clarified that the keyboard warriors are not concealing to others at all.
I am kind of agree with the idea of Chai Shiew Chee. First of all, the behavior of talking freely is legal to anyone in the world. You can never define "free talking" as a kind of crime. Second, the term "Web defacement" is discribing those hackers or those who are spreading computer virus. Some officials don't feel like listening to some civilians' true feelings, so they are abusing them as criminals. Third, as we all know that only with the opinions of people can the government really improve. In my point of view, the behavior of talking freely online should not be banned or discribed the same as those criminal behaviors. On the contrary, we should motivate people to express themselves.
Ma Xiao
Group F
the Future
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I quite agree with you that it is human rights to talk freely on the Internet. Altough the behaviour of hackers is unbearable, people who talk on the internet is innocent. I think some of the people especially politicians and some famous people concerned so much about their frame. They are afraid that there will be some negative words to attact them on the Internet which will make them lose people's trust and interest. Some of them even treat people who said bad things to them as criminals! How ridiculous! I think the internet forum is suitable for people to talk and share ideas. People can talk freely on the internet and those people in charge should listen to the heart talk from people on the internet.
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