3 ms·

How long until all countries firewall off and whole reason for creating the internet is completely lost.

pmlnr 8y ago
Not much. We need mesh networks across every device - routers, smartphones, long distance repeaters, etc - ASAP to avoid it.
- rqs 8y ago
  Sorry, it will not work. If your government can pass laws to allow themselves to block any Internet services, it may as well go ahead pass laws to prevent people from circumventing that block. So, the only defense you have, is to prevent your government from issuing the first law.
  - p2t2p 8y ago
    Probably something like Fidonet model could be sustainable in this case.
- no_identd 8y ago
  GNUnet!
- StreamBright 8y ago
  Until you create a true point to point channel between households without any corporate or government equipment, this is just a dream. Many people are mistaken about the internet, they think it cannot be easily filtered but this is not true at all. Every country has few major telcos that own the equipment where 100% of the internet traffic flows through. This is why banning IP ranges is super easy for them.
  - y_molodtsov 8y ago
    Until SpaceX launches its low-orbital fleet of internet satellites... That would be fun to watch.
    - lambdadmitry 8y ago
      It won't. The antennas will be pretty big and visible, and also they will inevitably leak some RF sideways. It's easy to ban them and catch people who get them illegally.
mtgx 8y ago
The sad part is that it's not just authoritarian countries that are doing this, but also the democratic ones, in a foolish effort to stop "fake news" or "terrorism propaganda". And the "better" AI is going to get, the easier it will be for them to call for such censorship, especially when people like Zuckerberg say they can already "stop 99% of the terrorist posts automatically". Because that's most definitely misleading and wrong, unless we can actually review what that content was. Like I bet a large portion of those posts were not posts by terrorists, but posts about terrorists. I don't think the AIs we have today can distinguish between them very well. And at least a small portion probably had very little to do with terrorism, but maybe were posts from people in the same area as some terrorists, or stuff like that. The AI will automatically block content that nobody will ever see. And we'll only depend on people who can somehow raise awareness that their content was blocked, produce a scandal, and then get the companies to unblock it (assuming the censorship will mostly be done by private companies in democratic countries). But this is not going to be a pretty future.
- sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
  > The sad part is that it's not just authoritarian countries that are doing this, but also the democratic ones Which democratic country has blocked a major messaging app because it is used by political dissenters?
  - zimpenfish 8y ago
    > Which democratic country has blocked a major messaging app because it is used by political dissenters? While it hasn't yet blocked it, the UK Government is certainly constantly after WhatsApp to remove the encryption (or build a backdoor) because a couple of terrorist jackoffs used it that one time (and I think they count as "political dissenters".)
    - Mayzie 8y ago
      > the UK Government is certainly constantly after WhatsApp to remove the encryption (or build a backdoor) Australia too. :-(

Not much. We need mesh networks across every device - routers, smartphones, long distance repeaters, etc - ASAP to avoid it.

rqs 8y ago
Sorry, it will not work. If your government can pass laws to allow themselves to block any Internet services, it may as well go ahead pass laws to prevent people from circumventing that block. So, the only defense you have, is to prevent your government from issuing the first law.
- p2t2p 8y ago
  Probably something like Fidonet model could be sustainable in this case.
no_identd 8y ago
GNUnet!
StreamBright 8y ago
Until you create a true point to point channel between households without any corporate or government equipment, this is just a dream. Many people are mistaken about the internet, they think it cannot be easily filtered but this is not true at all. Every country has few major telcos that own the equipment where 100% of the internet traffic flows through. This is why banning IP ranges is super easy for them.
- y_molodtsov 8y ago
  Until SpaceX launches its low-orbital fleet of internet satellites... That would be fun to watch.
  - lambdadmitry 8y ago
    It won't. The antennas will be pretty big and visible, and also they will inevitably leak some RF sideways. It's easy to ban them and catch people who get them illegally.

mtgx 8y ago

The sad part is that it's not just authoritarian countries that are doing this, but also the democratic ones, in a foolish effort to stop "fake news" or "terrorism propaganda". And the "better" AI is going to get, the easier it will be for them to call for such censorship, especially when people like Zuckerberg say they can already "stop 99% of the terrorist posts automatically". Because that's most definitely misleading and wrong, unless we can actually review what that content was. Like I bet a large portion of those posts were not posts by terrorists, but posts about terrorists. I don't think the AIs we have today can distinguish between them very well. And at least a small portion probably had very little to do with terrorism, but maybe were posts from people in the same area as some terrorists, or stuff like that. The AI will automatically block content that nobody will ever see. And we'll only depend on people who can somehow raise awareness that their content was blocked, produce a scandal, and then get the companies to unblock it (assuming the censorship will mostly be done by private companies in democratic countries). But this is not going to be a pretty future.

sdhgaiojfsa 8y ago
> The sad part is that it's not just authoritarian countries that are doing this, but also the democratic ones Which democratic country has blocked a major messaging app because it is used by political dissenters?
- zimpenfish 8y ago
  > Which democratic country has blocked a major messaging app because it is used by political dissenters? While it hasn't yet blocked it, the UK Government is certainly constantly after WhatsApp to remove the encryption (or build a backdoor) because a couple of terrorist jackoffs used it that one time (and I think they count as "political dissenters".)
  - Mayzie 8y ago
    > the UK Government is certainly constantly after WhatsApp to remove the encryption (or build a backdoor) Australia too. :-(