• Parties involved: Various bloggers that blog about the government and politics of their countries
  • Source of conflict: On top of being banned or censored, bloggers receive threatening emails and notices from government agencies and others holding opposing views
  • Timeline: Reported incidence range from 2006-2007, ongoing issue
  • Court’s decision: No court action taken
  • Impact on blogosphere: Bloggers in countries with extreme political ideologies and/or strict censorship policies must be cautious about content or face being banned, harassed, and arrested. However, blogs have more potential for spreading messages than journalists, because they may be able to operate anonymously or operate offshore.

Bridget Johnson, a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, writes in a May 2007 column on press freedom:

“My blog is banned, I regularly receive viruses and I have received nasty and threatening e-mails,” replied Britain-based Iranian blogger Ardeshir Dolat. “I believe bloggers do play a vital role in unseating the regime of the mullahs. … I know many Iranians inside Iran who started blogging had little or no knowledge of democracy and its principles, but you can tell from reading their blogs that they are learning fast about what democracy is all about.”

Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas is basically that country’s YouTube king, exposing to the world police torture and sexual-harassment crises. “I’m getting weird messages threatening me of cooperation with human-rights organizations, and accusing me of working for a Western agenda,” he said. “I still don’t know the source of these messages but I guess it is state security.”

The parties messaging and threatening the bloggers come from an atmosphere where “democracy” and “human-rights organizations” are seen as opponents that threaten political power. Because Dolat operates outside of Iran’s borders, he is safe from physical or legal harm, and Abbas, while threatened, maintains operation of his blog. Other bloggers described explicitly and implicitly in the article are not so lucky.