Is your blog safe from the DOJ?

Since last month, I have been getting emails and having chats with various bloggers asking if their blog is safe from the government — safe from being tracked down, from being hacked, their blogs permanently closed down, their personal information revealed or being sued for sedition.

Yes, we run several of the “potentially seditious” political blogs in the Philippine blogosphere. That might actually include my blog, though I’m not into politics, since I helped PCIJ serve up those Hello Garci recordings.

I’m no lawyer so I can’t answer the legal aspects so what I’ll clarify are the technical ones:

• Can I be tracked thru my blog? Yes if you post your name and personal information in your blog or if you have your name registered with your domain. However, they cannot force your service provider to reveal any private information about you.
• Can they sue me for sedition? Well, they could if your blog has some seidtious content. But how can they sue someone who’s anonymous right?
• Can they hack my blog? I don’t think they’re that good. Not even close. Unless they hire someone like Kevin Mitnick or your blog has some security flaws and you’ve not updated it, it’s not that easy to hack a blog.
• Can they attack my blog with DDoS? Distributed Denial of Service attacks can be done if you have the resources and tools. Still, there’s the big IF.
• Can they close down my blog? It highly depends on your provider if they cooperate or not. Remember though that if your blog is hosted on a server outside the country, they just can’t barge-in in the middle of the night, unplug the electric cords and seize the servers (like what they did with the Daily Tribune).

So relax. Unless you’re not really posting any seditious content on your blog, there’s nothing to be alarmed with.

But to be safe, always have a local backup of your blog.