Five immigration officers and one
civilian were found guilty this week in a conspiracy case relating to
bribes in connection with the English Language Test.

Even though the case is over, the legal
media operating here, have been gagged by a court order preventing us
from naming any of the defendants involved.

The gag order is in place because the
Crown may go ahead with another trial regarding the same conspiracy
later this year.

However!!! Social media have, so we are
informed, been naming names.

On social media there are no gag
orders.

I believe it is about time there were.
Or gag orders stopped altogether because they serve no purpose.

In December last year a gag order was
issued in the US over a tragic incident regarding the botched mission
in Gaza where an officer was killed.

“Identifying details of IDF Lt. Col.
M., who was killed during a mission in Gaza, quickly spread through
social media despite the media blackout; while security officials
condemn what they view as a despicable phenomenon, social media
experts say it's a lost battle for those trying to conceal
information in this day and age.”

Apparently, the law does not apply to
the users of WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

The writer of the story I am quoting
from (YNETNEWS) says “it has become a plague”.

“While IAF fighter jets and
helicopters were still flying over Gaza, and sounds of explosions
shook the air, many social media users had already been informed
about the details of the battle. Similarl to past events, it began
with a rumor about a kidnapped soldier, prompting the IDF
Spokesperson’s Unit to issue a response to calm the situation, but
in the early hours of the morning the rumors about an abducted
soldier were replaced by personal details of the fallen Lieutenant
Colonel M. The pictures of his family, his children, and his wife
spread on social media like wildfire.”

"That's how it is in our era,"
experts say. "You can’t stop it and you can’t act surprised
that sensitive information is available to all. We must understand
that times have changed and this is the reality, you just have to
figure out how to deal with it."

"There is a problem here, which is
expressed through our voyeuristic urges," says Etgar Shpivak,
CEO of Fixel, a company that specializes in the digital field. "It’s
a problem that attests to our lack of responsibility as a society.
Many times we do not know whether information is true or false, and
because of that voyeuristic nature we feel that we are the bearers of
the news, we are the innovators. It can be either a cool commercial
that’s fun to share or sensitive information about soldiers who
died in battle. In recent years, there’s far more information being
spread through WhatsApp or Telegram than through Facebook,” he
explained.

“On Facebook, psychologically,
there’s a feeling of being exposed, whereas WhatsApp feels more
intimate because you’re only sharing the information with a few
friends. People don’t think about the fact that a simple message
they forward is going to make its way to hundreds of chat groups. It
happens at a crazy pace," Shpivak stressed.

“When asked about the difference
between voyeurism, celebrity and security incidents, Shpivak says the
urges that push us to share sensitive information is a broad
phenomenon.

"The psychology is the same. Just
like we forward a video of a celebrity in a bathing suit, we pass on
information about a soldier who was wounded in battle. Our attitude
is the same. The more intimate chat groups are created, the more
problematic it becomes. However, the problem is not Facebook but
something much broader. It’s a societal problem, and not only in
Israel, but worldwide. The mindset of the social media generation
is—first share, then think. We need to educate them in order to
raise awareness about social responsibility,” he explained.”

SOURCE:
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5400289,00.html

Another reason for the problem is few
people trust officials and alleviate their fears by crying it out
over social media. Just look at what people are saying on social
media and then we, the supposed legit side allow comments on our
stories with little or no censorship.

I am very happy to report every comment
placed on our stories are vetted and that is why they don't appear
immediately. We probably receive the least because of that. Even so
at the last count the total we have realised is almost 3,000.

Amazing.

The more the information is shared
there is no point in hiding it so that in itself makes gag orders
nonsensical.

In my early days here, before social
media, the 'gossip' was called The Marl Road. Now a new local media
house that keeps getting into trouble with the RCIPS, has adopted it
as their web site title.

Did they receive the gag order?