AnonymousBloggingApologia


Anonymous Blogging Apologia

 

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding anonymous blogging in the blogosphere. Those who decry it do so they say because of the unreliability of anonymous writing. How can we trust the information if we don't know its source? What if the source itself has an unpleasant agenda. These are good points. But in the reality of a world in which critics of certain regimes get interrogated, fired from their jobs, tortured, expelled and sentenced to long prison terms for dissent, it is an uncertainty we have to live with.

 

Anyone who wishes to take a public stand is welcome to do so. If you make an informed choice to stand up and be counted, we have no right to insist you do not do so. But an anonymous source, even if less than ideal, can still do tremendous good. As an example, look at Zimbabwean Pundit and This is Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has no free press and all foreign press has been ejected. If it weren't for these two anonymous bloggers we would not know about the violent and repeated destruction of urban squatters' housing. We would not know about the continuing ejection of commercial farmers and the giving of those farms to political friends of the President.

 

Most of the bloggers who have been arrested in the past two years were easy to find because they followed the advice of some purist critics of anonymous blogging: They used their real names and details of their lives. Considering the likelihood that the harrassment of bloggers will continue, we believe anonymous blogging should remain a valid option and comprehensive instructions on how to do so should be available.