The danger of blogging

There’s a story on Yahoo about a Croatian blogger who was working as a diplomat in Washington, D.C. He was recalled to his country due to the content of his blog, though the content that caused the problem is still unclear to me. Yahoo has it that

Croatia has recalled an official from its Washington embassy after he reportedly wrote Web diaries portraying diplomatic life as boring and saying he saw no difference between the candidates in the U.S. election.

But just because he wrote those things doesn’t mean those are the reasons.

I looked up his blog nickname, Vibbi, and found this blog post by someone called Zec, who is apparently Croatian. His comments seem to confirm that it was the lack of professionalism concerning his diplomatic duties in the United States that got Vibbi recalled. The last part of Zec’s article caught my attention:

For those who aren’t familiar with emerging blogosphere here in Croatia, it has differences to foreign blogosphere. The most popular blogging service in Croatia is BLOG.HR which started to educate people about blogs and offer them place for setting up free blogs.

The difference is that in the 6 months blogosphere becomes more information -oriented ,at least according to impact scale ( not communication, learning, projects…) and a true citizen reporting started to raise some seriose questions. The main questions are related to some legal issues ; libel , invasion of privacy and author’s intellectual property.

After all, we are small country and the information is spreading very fast over net.

Therefore, it’s a need having some sort of disscusion about blogers ethics before it is too late and people get hurt.

I, as you know, am guilty of having hurt people through this blog, so you can see why I found this interesting.

Here’s the Google cache of Vibbi’s blog. Now, translate it into English!

Just for fun, I tried an online translator…check this out.

Original Text Translated Text
Nista nova u svjetskoj banci danas. Tu u nas ured u staklenoj zgradi doalze svi, i drzavnici i poslovnjaci. Kako im nije bed nositi odijela stalno. Meni se neda, stisce me kravata, nemres imat boxerice pa te stalno dolje zulja. Bili Japanci, Francuzi, svi hoce nesto od nas. Postali smo zanimljivi sad kad ulazimo u EU. Svi bi naseg vrhnja, a kad dodju ni vrrhnja ni kumica vise nece biti.

Upravo me zvalo. Moram ic negdje. Nastavljam kasnije.

Evo me vratio sam se. Sjedio na nekakvoj skupstini kao predstavnik drzave. Koja cast, mos si mislit. Bilo bi mi draze da sam jucer mogao na koncert Eda Majke. Kazu da je bilo super.

Zvala me ona koja me kao ceka u Zagebu. Hoce doc preko bare da me posjeti. Neka dodje ali nedaj bog da mi ostane. Ne vjerujem joj bas previse.

P.S. Procito u lokalnim novinama da se otvorilo bezbroj escort agencija samo sa potrebe delegate na Skupstinama MMFa i Svjetske Banke.

Nista money into a svjetskoj banci today. Here into a us The Office of into a vitreous scaffolding doalze all , plus drzavnici plus poslovnjaci. Of how them is not bed I will be bringing weed out invariably. A menu does not long ago , clutch me tie , stainless imat boxerice then these invariably down zulja. Bili Japanese , Frenchman , all hoce nesto with us. Limited space smo liquid USA when arrival gate into a EU. All bi colonize cream , and when assignation nor vrrhnja nor gammer vise nece to be. Management me zvalo. Moram ic whereabouts. Nastavljam at a later time. Evo me restore oneself. Take a seat at an some skupstini as a prophet unblushing. Which cast mos them philosopher. Whether bi we draze yes we do unattended jucer could at an concert Eda Mother. Cassowary that it is whether super VGA. Zvala me she which me as a ceka into a Zagebu. Hoce doc via at least yes we do me visitor. Neka assignation limit not long ago maker yes we do we remain. Does not vjerujem joj bourdon too high. P.S. Procito into a local journalist yes we do does Open countless escort agency merely from an want delegation at an Skupstinama MMFa plus Svjetske Bank.

Very enlightening, huh? :D