Political dangers

See also: Political repression of cyber-dissidents

Blogging can sometimes have unforeseen consequences in politically sensitive areas. In some countries,
Internet police or secret police may monitor blogs and arrest blog authors of commentators. Blogs can
be much harder to control than broadcast or print media, because a person can create a blog whose
authorship is hard to trace, by using anonymity technology such as Tor. As a result, totalitarian and
authoritarian regimes often seek to suppress blogs and/or to punish those who maintain them.

In Singapore, two ethnic Chinese individuals were imprisoned under the country’s anti-sedition law for
posting anti-Muslim remarks in their blogs.[85] Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer was charged with
insulting the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and an Islamic institution through his blog. It is the first
time in the history of Egypt that a blogger was prosecuted. After a brief trial session that took place in
Alexandria, the blogger was found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of three years for insulting Islam
and inciting sedition, and one year for insulting Mubarak.[86] Egyptian blogger Abdel Monem Mahmoud
was arrested in April 2007 for anti-government writings in his blog. Monem is a member of the then
banned Muslim Brotherhood. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil
Sanad was charged with insulting the military for an article he wrote on his personal blog and sentenced
to 3 years.[87]

After expressing opinions in his personal blog about the state of the Sudanese armed forces, Jan Pronk,
United Nations Special Representative for the Sudan, was given three days notice to leave Sudan. The
Sudanese army had demanded his deportation.[88][89] In Myanmar, Nay Phone Latt, a blogger, was
sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon critical of head of state Than Shwe.[90]

Personal safety

See also: Cyberstalking and Internet homicide

One consequence of blogging is the possibility of online or in-person attacks or threats against the
blogger, sometimes without apparent reason. In some cases, bloggers have faced cyberbullying. Kathy
Sierra, author of the blog "Creating Passionate Users",[91] was the target of threats and misogynistic
insults to the point that she canceled her keynote speech at a technology conference in San Diego,
fearing for her safety.[92] While a blogger's anonymity is often tenuous, Internet trolls who would
attack a blogger with threats or insults can be emboldened by the anonymity of the online environment,
where some users are known only by a pseudonymous "username" (e.g., "Hacker1984"). Sierra and
supporters initiated an online discussion aimed at countering abusive online behavior[93] and
developed a Blogger's Code of Conduct, which set out a rules for behaviour in the online space.
Behavior

The Blogger's Code of Conduct is a proposal by Tim O'Reilly for bloggers to enforce civility on their blogs
by being civil themselves and moderating comments on their blog. The code was proposed in 2007 due
to threats made to blogger Kathy Sierra.[94] The idea of the code was first reported by BBC News, who
quoted O'Reilly saying, "I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour,
I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of regulation it would come through self-
regulation."[95]

O'Reilly and others came up with a list of seven proposed ideas:[96][97][98]

Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.

Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.

Consider eliminating anonymous comments.

Ignore the trolls.

Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.

If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.

Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

These ideas were predictably intensely discussed on the Web and in the media. While the internet has
continued to grow, with online activity and discourse only picking up both in positive and negative ways
in terms of blog interaction, the proposed Code has drawn more widespread attention to the necessity
of monitoring blogging activity and social norms being as important online as offline.