The blogs of today have replaced the journals and diaries of a bygone era. Google ‘Internet blogging sites,’ and 20,200,000 different sites pop up. Internet blogging has become a substantially powerful tool for individual expression, not only in America, but throughout the world.Recently, foreign countries have been facing problems with Internet blogs on Web sites. News about a South Korean blogger and Vietnamese blog regulations are filling the media with questions about freedom of expression in cyberspace.In South Korea, a liberal democracy since the 1960s, different regulations on speech are implemented. A popular Korean blogger and online guru was arrested recently for his ideas about the financial market.Known as Minerva, the blogger “upset the government with his doomsayer’s forecasts for the economy and his satirical attacks on President Lee Myung Bak’s policies,” according to the Jan. 11 issue of the International Herald Tribune.The Chicago Sun-Times reported Jan. 10 that the South Korean government arrested him on charges of spreading false information on the Internet with harmful intent, which is a crime punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. Because of the global economic crisis, the South Korean government has been concerned about negative reports on its economy. The South Korean economy has steadily slumped as exports and consumption rates decline, according to the Jan. 16 article of The Korean Times.  Minerva, for months, has uploaded more than 100 anonymous postings on Daum communications — the country’s second-largest Web site — predicting numerous           collapses, including the collapse of the U.S. investment bank, Lehman Brothers and the devaluation of the Korean currency, according to the Los Angeles Times.Before he was jailed, he pled ‘not guilty,’ explaining his intentions of trying to help people suffering because of the global crisis. Although many of his predictions proved false, the government still took legal action because of the negatively affected foreign exchange markets. Vietnam has also taken legal action to bring more accountability to individuals in cyberspace. Vietnam approved new regulations prohibiting bloggers from “discussing subjects the government deems sensitive,” limiting them to writing only “personal issues,” according to a Dec. 25 article in the Sydney Morning Herald. People’s freedom of expression should be extended to include the Internet. When government restricts an individual’s ability to think, the government infringes upon that person’s innate right to opinion.  Taking legal action against Minerva only makes the South Korean government look suspicious to the people — as if they are trying to hide their economic failures. Instead, they should encourage people to communicate and express their ideas freely — whether those ideas concern the economy or the president.Freedom of expression will allow democratic citizens to be more informed and active in their government. Protecting people from harm is a duty of the government, but ideas are not harmful — actions are harmful.Potential harm lies in human actions. Thus, ideas should never be punished.But Minerva was denied bail on Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times. South Korea’s Democratic Party and opposition to the leader accuse the government of “gagging the Internet,” according to the International Herald Tribune. The Democratic Party has now lined up prominent lawyers to argue Minerva’s case. Minerva’s case will define South Korean freedom of expression on the World Wide Web.——Contact Dini Parayitam at [email protected]