Internet 'spy system' delayed because nation can't get the equipment The government of Cambodia has delayed implementation of its National Internet Gateway – because it is yet to acquire the equipment needed to operate the service. The Gateway was announced in February 2021 and quickly attracted criticism on the basis its enabling legislation gives the regime – which has banned opposition …
We assume that freedom of speech and so on is the ultimate guarantee of freedom for the individual. Unfortunately recent experience suggests otherwise. These days its comparatively cheap to set up media campaigns to undermine societies, especially if the society is relatively poor. A country would probably want to keep tabs on what's coming and going.
(..and note that we in the US have laws that perform these functions such as the registration of foreign agents, the licensing of foreign owned telecommunication companies and so on.)
Mounting a successful information campaign can succeed even in the face of a surveillance state. It marginally increases the costs to implement it. Those who wish to destabilize a country have enough money and time to deal with that. What it does do more successfully is dramatically decrease the freedoms of the individuals who disapprove of the leaders. That is the intent and that will be the result.
Unbridled freedom of speech carries with it many risks, as do all freedoms. Society has naturally placed some restrictions on those freedoms. However, placing increasingly restrictive ones will not remove those risks or even significantly reduce them, but it will create several new problems in the short term. In the long term, if you didn't already have one, you are likely to get a dictatorship which makes everything worse.
> ... if you didn't already have one
The constitution declares Cambodia to be an "independent, sovereign, peaceful, permanently neutral and non-aligned country." The constitution also proclaims a liberal, multiparty democracy in which powers are devolved to the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. However, there is no effective opposition to the Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1984. His Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly in 2018 after the banning of opposition party CNRP. The government is considered to be autocratic.
I was speaking in general. Cambodia has been in the dictatorship bucket for decades, but even if you gave similar powers to a democratic country, they could quickly corrupt it into another dictatorship. I assume the person who started this thread is aware of Cambodia's status, but they seemed a little too eager for the powers a system like Cambodia's could provide. I wanted to indicate that it could make other countries a lot worse.
Laws perform no function, they're just signs written (or printed) on paper.
It is the application of the law that performs a function, and that is done by a human being.
As the USofA is demonstrating right now, human beings can be very selective in which laws they decide to apply and even how they decide to apply them (looking at you, Republicans).
As I understand it, Cambodia is still digging its way out of the hole dug by the Khmer Rouge slaughtering all of the intellectuals. Once you've murdered all the educated people, who is left to run the country effectively?
(And please, spare me any simplistic left vs. right comparisons. There are ample anti-intellectual autocrats to be found at either end of the political spectrum, if that idea is even meaningful.)
After the Vietnam war ended in 1975 the Vietnamese sort-of invaded Cambodia and put an end to Pol Pot. This caused the usual backlash in the US about Vietnamese/Communist 'expansionism' but the reality was that they did do the Cambodians a huge favor. This led to a sort of communist government in that country and the general ostracism that happens after such an event. This led to a sort of stagnation during the 1980s -- the Pol Pot remnants were kept in camps on the Thai border (my sister worked in them during the 80s and remarked that "they settle family disputes with hand grenades!"). Things eventually got sorted out during the early 90s with the end of the Cold War and the general collapse of the Kissinger era Domino Theory. Hence modern Cambodia and Vietnam.
Its worth remembering that all the countries in this area didn't really exist during the first half of the 20th century, they were all colonial possessions of France or Japan. What we mistook for "communist revolution" was first and foremost national independence movements. The only exception to this rule was Thailand -- I don't know how they got away with it but they've always been independent.
Anyway, that's the best I can do without doing the left/right thing.
"The only exception to this rule was Thailand -- I don't know how they got away with it but they've always been independent."
They "got away with it" because they were lucky to have a progressive King (Mongkut[1]) who could see the way that the wind was blowing during the mid 19th C and who modernised Siam extremely quickly. He also realised that Westerners had many hang-ups over social conventions and modernised traditional Thai dress and customs to conform to Western expectations. Neighbouring countries that tried to preserve their customs were regarded by Westerners as "primitive" and therefore fit to be conquered by military means or by missionaries. Mongkut tamed both Western military and Western missionaries and adopted Western education in science and technology meaning that the Western powers largely left Siam alone because it was seen as "one of us."
A very clever and cunning man who also managed the royal succession extremely well, ensuring the continuity of the monarchy and the maintenance of Thai idependence.
[1] The King who features in "The King and I" musical.
"Cambodia is still digging its way out of the hole dug by the Khmer Rouge slaughtering all of the intellectuals."
Which should be a warning about the inevitable consequences of the anti-intellectualism being promoted in the UK and USA at the moment. The stupidity of encouraging a belief that all opinions are equal is leading us into dangerous territory where astrology and sympathetic magic are regarded as being as equally valid as astronomy and physics.
It's possible Cisco, Juniper and other folks with the capabilities required to create this are kind of unsure if they want to get involved in this project, considering the potential PR nightmare once the general public finds out about it.
Of course it leaves Huawei and others who don't care about PR backlash who may be interested in getting involved, but may be worried that bringing attention to their capabilities may put them in the list of US sanctions for tech stuff. Not like Huawei doesn't already have trouble with the US government currently.
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