Many Netizens ignorant of the law, says blogger

(NST) – Netizens who post derogatory and seditious remarks on social media are oblivious to and ignorant of the country’s cyber laws, said bloggers and analysts.

Blogger Datuk Ahirudin Attan said the majority of cases of people abusing social media involved those who were ignorant of the consequences and were oblivious to the laws governing the Internet.

“Netizens must understand that they are not operating in a vacuum. They can be sued for what they post on social media because there are laws enforced for cyber users,” he said.

Ahirudin, who runs the “Rocky’s Bru” blog, said many took the freedom they currently have on social media for granted by resorting to posting content that could harm the country and disrupt peace.

“The ignorance to check on the authenticity of information available on the Internet can be cited as one of the causes, as many of these postings can be misguiding.”

Ahirudin added that educating the public from an early age was crucial and the government should strengthen the current campaigns like the “Click Wisely” campaign.

Another blogger, Y.L. Chong, who runs the “Desiderata2000” blog, said social media served as the only channel for Netizens to express their thoughts freely as many were under the impression that they were restricted from voicing out their thoughts publicly.

Chong, who lauded the government’s plans to revamp cyber laws based on American, British and Australian models, said Netizens should practise self-regulation despite growing frustration among some quarters as cyber laws covered Internet abusers.

Counselling psychologist Charis Wong said posting allegedly seditious remarks on the Internet were not psychological issues but rather users voicing their frustrations over the recently concluded 13th General Election.

“If they don’t have personal contact with the people they mentioned in their seditious remarks online, we can’t label it as a psychological disorder,” she said.

“Rather, these are people who are addicted to the social media and choose to vent their frustrations and anger.”

She stressed that whatever their frustration, they should not cross the line of ethics when posting online.

The Communications and Multimedia Ministry on Sunday said it had identified two individuals who allegedly insulted Prophet Muhammad through their Facebook pages on Friday.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, said their usernames were “Calvin Gani” and “Rakyat Anarki” on Facebook.