7 ms·
By requiring connections to be end-to-end encrypted (by pushing for HTTPS and other strong encryption methods), web architects have forced nations into an all-o
by peterwwillis 8y ago
By requiring connections to be end-to-end encrypted (by pushing for HTTPS and other strong encryption methods), web architects have forced nations into an all-or-nothing position. They must completely control their slice of the internet, because otherwise they can't accomplish their goals. The future is fragmented, incompatible internets.
If protocols and services were designed instead to allow a measure of control at a high level, these nations could still do all the things they're going to do anyway, but allow the internet to remain open. For example, data wouldn't need to remain within a nation's borders if the nation still had control over it, at least within their own networks. They wouldn't have to create their own Facebook if they could manipulate Facebook inside their borders. You could still have cooperative compatible services, with controls where they were required.
I guess it's western ideals that make these suggestions sound horrible. But different countries are going to work differently - the fracturing of the internet and laws governing its use is the proof of that. You can choose your response: pick up your toys and go home, or make concessions so that everyone can use the same toys.
- unethical_ban 8y agoWelcome the free world to play with our toys. It is all-or-nothing. You can't stop math.
- iforgotpassword 8y agoToo bad everyone thinks they are the true free world and everyone else got it wrong.
- phicoh 8y agoWith end-to-end encryption it is easy to tell: the free world is where end-to-end encryption is unrestricted.
- peterwwillis 8y agoActually the free world is all non-Communist countries. It's a propaganda term invented by the west (literally they were interchangeable, "free world" and "western world"). You can still see this influence as the use of the phrase "the leader of the free world" is exclusively held for the President of the United States. The "free world" as a broader idea is still kind of useless in the modern world. Your government may not have made end-to-end encryption illegal (yet) but as private corporations actually run everything that people use, they get to impose their own will and determine your practical "freedom". There's no law preventing Apple from changing its encryption technology.
- Analemma_ 8y agoThis is just boosterism and willfully ignoring the facts. Of course you can stop math: you just Balkanize the internet and jail people inside the wall who don't follow the rules. Which is what China is doing.