What constitutes advertising?
PODCASTING will not be allowed during elections as it does not fall under the “positive list” which states what is allowed under election advertising.
What constitutes promoting political views?
Dr Balaji added that individual bloggers can discuss politics, but have to register with the Media Development Authority if they persistently promote political views.
Advertising, as I understand it, is usually paid-for. Even in the case of Google’s text ads, they appear on websites with the promise that click-throughs will be rewarded.
Nevertheless, in this context, I believe the definition of advertising covers a broad sweep, similar to how Public Entertainment is defined by the law in Singapore. Nothing too surprising here.
However, promoting political views boggles. If it is election advertising that is to be specifically (or should I say broadly?) restricted, shouldn’t this be rephrased as promoting political parties?
After all, people have many political views regarding a range of topics. Some views may fall in line with the ruling party. Some views may be more in line with contrary opinion. Some may even be totally off-tangent: original views and analysis which have not been aired anywhere else. Opinionated posts about almost anything could be construed as promoting a political view.
What are bloggers to do? All register?
Now that’s an idea…
Read Kevin Lim’s take on all this. Links to other relevant blog posts too.
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Hahaha….
Sometimes i think both the Malaysian and Singaporean goverments are trying their hardest to win the title of the baddest, meanest of all big brothers ! ;p
Well, if you want to post multiple political views without getting persecuted:
1) Don’t put your pic or personal details on your blog ;
2) Don’t list your blog publicly on your blog provider’s directory ;
3) Don’t register your blog on any search engines ;
4) Write the entries in Russian, Swahili, Spanish or whatever ;p
PS : Good idea to try and hide your IP address too !
Well, too late for all that. My digital trail is too easy to follow. Anyway, a few of the main things about blogging, web 2.0 and all that jazz is that information is made easy to find, highly connective and relatively persistent. Take that away… we might as well not blog.