Discussion Post Part 1

[Anthony Barton]

After reading "Blogging Down the Dictator?", I found myself agreeing with almost everything the authors had to say. First, I have to say I read many blogs, and while they are focused more on sports, I find them a refreshing source of information I care about that is also entertainment instead of typical, often boring hard news. Blogs enable authors to talk about the hard news in whichever way they see fit, allowing them to throw opinion in whenever necessary. The quote from O'Grady on page four is a great example of showing just how powerful blogs have become.

At the end of the day, if the government ever tries to silence it's people, I think they will always find a way to make their voices heard. Akaevu.net was that voice. I thought it was very intelligently set up on a Russian server and operated from US soil as to be very hard to get hacked by the government. It also made the right assertion that if enough blogs were created, it would be impossible for the government to pay hackers enough money to shutdown all of the various sites.

With the government still in control, I do find it hard for democracy to fully take shape in the country anytime soon. That said, blogs like Akaevu.net allow for unfiltered news to reach the people instead of the facade of stories the government decides to publish, which is a great thing.

Sorry this was late, I thought it was due Oct 3 anytime not Oct 3 by noon. I'll post this and if our group names are on the googlegroup I will post them as well as our discussion post part 1 before the noon deadline and then what our group is doing can be posted as discussion post part 2.