CIS Cybersecurity Series (Part 19) – Lobsang Sangay
“If there is already freedom of speech in a democratic country, then anonymous commentary could be misplaced in many instances. Because if the country is democratic, it has freedom of speech, and the laws protect you when you speak out. Then I think the citizens also have responsibilities. Democracy not only means freedom, but it also means duties. Your duty is to say who you are and criticize the government, or the employer, or the policy or whatever, in your name. So anonymity is misplaced in that sense, in most of the instances. Having said that, if a particular country or a government restricts freedom of speech, then you have no option but to be anonymous because just by speaking out, you are committing a crime and hence you are liable. For example, in Tibet, even if you paste a poster on the wall, saying just two words ‘human right’, you will be arrested and you will go behind bars. Even if you just shout a slogan, you will be arrested and you will be in prison.”
Centre for Internet and Society presents its nineteenth installment of the CIS Cybersecurity Series.
The CIS Cybersecurity Series seeks to address hotly debated aspects of cybersecurity and hopes to encourage wider public discourse around the topic.
Dr. Lobsang Sangay took office as Sikyong (Prime Minister) of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India, in 2011. He was born in a Tibetan refugee settlement in northern India. As a Fulbright scholar, he was the first Tibetan to receive a doctorate from the Harvard Law School in 2004. He worked as a senior fellow at Harvard University for a number of years during which he organized landmark conferences between the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars. An expert on Tibet, international human rights law, democratic constitutionalism and conflict resolution, Dr Sangay has lectured at various universities and think-tanks throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
This work was carried out as part of the Cyber Stewards Network with aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.
