Maverick Indonesia

Another Blog-celebrity?

Rangga Wardhana, a blogger from Purwokerto, has become a perfect example on how the blogosphere can turn you into a celebrity, in a positive or negative way, in a split second.

Rangga has published ‘stolen’ active credit card records he hacked, and posted the information in his blog—making the data available for everyone and making him the new celebrity in the blogosphere.

detikinet soon picked up the story, and they contacted Bapak Blogger Indonesia, Enda Nasution and IT expert Onno W. Purbo to get their comments. The two headlines quoted from Enda and Onno seemed to be conflicting.

“Blogger ‘Purwokerto’ Bodoh,” Enda Nasution commented, bluntly.

“Blogger ‘Purwokerto’ Canggih,” said Onno, “because he practice total transparency.”

However, Onno’s next statement is in line with Enda’s standpoint, that what Rangga did could be classified as a crime. Enda was also concerned that what Rangga did will affect our image as a ‘carder’ country—especially because Indonesia has been black-listed for this illegal activity.

The pros and cons of Rangga’s actions have begun to heat up in the blogosphere. Adiwirasta a.k.a TukangKetik said in his blog that he looked up to Rangga—because Rangga reminds him of Robin Hood. Stealing from the haves for the welfare of the poor, said Adi.

After the declaration of National Bloggers’ Day last Oct 27th, as bloggers, we’re shocked to hear the news. We do believe that along with the freedom of expression, we also believe we have the responsibility to use the freedom we have for greater good.

So was Rangga doing something good for the poor or was he being irresponsible?