Terrorist bloggers

Another threat to the blogging community is being reported on the BBC website.

Malaysia is threatening to use its anti-terrorism laws, which allow for indefinite imprisonment without trial or charge, against bloggers who 'insult the King or Islam'.

Their record suggests that this would be the thin end of the wedge with the danger that it would soon be expanded to bloggers who criticise the government.

As the story concludes: "With a general election on the horizon it seems the government is keen to send a signal to its online critics that it will only tolerate so much."

This story came as I was about to write of the Australian government's mishandling of its own terrorism laws in the case of Mohammed Haneef, an Indian doctor. That's another example of what many of us have been warning against - the abuse and misuse of terrorism laws. That's a more complicated story which I'll get onto later.

Meanwhile, the BBC story is here.