By: Daniel Nardini
Like Julian Assange, Edward Snowden may eventually end up in Ecuador for “political” asylum. I find it ironic that Snowden would apply to Ecuador for asylum since that country has a less democratic government than does the United States or its allies. Snowden, a former employee working for a company contracted by the U.S. National Security Agency, unveiled all kinds of secret and sensitive information on the Agency’s surveillance of calls and Internet information in and outside of the United States.
What Snowden may want to consider is the newly passed Communications Law in Ecuador. The law, also being referred to as “Ley Mordaza” (the “Gag Law’) by South American journalists, gives the Ecuadoran government the power to fine, jail and threaten Ecuadoran journalists and TV broadcasters for doing their job. It also gives the Ecuadoran government power to check the contents of any news media information on whether it is “acceptable” or not. Of course, one has to ask what is acceptable or not?
Although I agree that the U.S. government’s secret seizures of the Associated Press phone records for two months was definite over-reach, this in comparison is nothing to the Ecuadoran government being able to control and regulate the nation’s news media almost at will. There is a gigantic difference between a government spying on a news media outlet (however wrong that is), and a government being able to fine and jail any and all journalists and TV broadcasters for saying something the government does not like. Is this the kind of government this Snowden character wishes to live under?
If Snowden was an employee working in Ecuador’s intelligence, and he did what he has done to the U.S. government, would the Ecuadoran government just try to catch him and bring him back for trial? The chances are they would simply try to knock him off. And those countries that are trying to help Snowden evade the U.S. government—China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and possibly Ecuador—have far more repressive laws than the United States and most of its allies could ever have. But then, I should consider that if Snowden has trouble dealing with the U.S. government, then is it not also possible he may regret ever dealing with the Ecuadoran government?
Ecuador’s Press Gag Law
By: Daniel Nardini
What Snowden may want to consider is the newly passed Communications Law in Ecuador. The law, also being referred to as “Ley Mordaza” (the “Gag Law’) by South American journalists, gives the Ecuadoran government the power to fine, jail and threaten Ecuadoran journalists and TV broadcasters for doing their job. It also gives the Ecuadoran government power to check the contents of any news media information on whether it is “acceptable” or not. Of course, one has to ask what is acceptable or not?
Although I agree that the U.S. government’s secret seizures of the Associated Press phone records for two months was definite over-reach, this in comparison is nothing to the Ecuadoran government being able to control and regulate the nation’s news media almost at will. There is a gigantic difference between a government spying on a news media outlet (however wrong that is), and a government being able to fine and jail any and all journalists and TV broadcasters for saying something the government does not like. Is this the kind of government this Snowden character wishes to live under?
If Snowden was an employee working in Ecuador’s intelligence, and he did what he has done to the U.S. government, would the Ecuadoran government just try to catch him and bring him back for trial? The chances are they would simply try to knock him off. And those countries that are trying to help Snowden evade the U.S. government—China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and possibly Ecuador—have far more repressive laws than the United States and most of its allies could ever have. But then, I should consider that if Snowden has trouble dealing with the U.S. government, then is it not also possible he may regret ever dealing with the Ecuadoran government?