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Mozilla tells DHS: we won't help you censor the Internet
- exit 16y agoi'd like to see a movement which clearly places the internet above the sovereignty of any nation
- rheide 16y agoI'd like to see pigs fly.
- kahnship 16y agoThe sheep have downvoted you. In other words, the kids don't get it. In other words, they don't deserve the freedom they have.
- fleitz 16y agoit's called humanity. The sovereignty of your nation is really only important to your sovereign. No one else really cares, except insofar as much as your sovereign can steal money from you and give it to them. Stop confusing your 'country' with your 'nation state' the two are not synonymous. Your country is important because it contains people with whom you share culture, your nation state is a bunch of pieces of paper and lines drawn on a map, if no one believed in these pieces of paper and lines on maps it would cease to exist. The nation state is next on the list of business models that the internet is going to kill. They aren't going to take it lightly.
- mattmanser 16y agoI care. It's little things like not having all my stuff taken from me by armed thugs and not getting murdered that are important to me. I guess you value information freedom over basic living conditions huh. I also like this thing called democracy and freedom of speech, which a bunch of people, normal everyday people like me, round the world really don't like. There's a hell of a lot of them. And even if they do like democracy, they also rather like this totally bizarre idea to me called religion. In my sovereign state is pretty insignificant. I can poke fun at it. They makes a lot, billions of people, not very happy. Just not in my little sovereign state. It's great being in my country. There's a social state, which a bunch of American's think is a really bad idea but which I, and a lot of my sovereign state, happen to think is pretty nifty. So before you start saying that the sovereignty of your nation is really only important to your sovereign, take a look at all the people in England who love being English, France, who love being French, Iranians, who love being Iranian, Indians, who love being Indian, Chinese, who love being Chinese, Russians, who love being Russians. You get the idea. I personally think you and reality are very far divorced in your views of sovereignty. A lot of people like it.
- fleitz 16y agoI'm pretty sure thats the same reasoning Kings and Queens used for thousands of years to describe all the horrible things that would happen should the people be put in charge. Go ask your average cop how many people they arrested for armed robbery and murder, then ask them how many seat belt tickets they handed out.
- parasubvert 16y agoMany horrible things have happened when "the people" WERE put in charge. The difference with democracy is not that you pick better leaders, it's that the majority is free to pick the leaders they want. It is arguably as easy to pick a scoundrel as bloodline was.
- arethuza 16y agoIf you are referring to events like the Russian Revolution I think it's more accurate to say that a bunch of thugs who said they were acting for "the people" got in control (somewhat to their own surprise) and did anything they deemed necessary to maintain their grip on power - mostly by killing anyone who could conceivably be an opponent.
- anamax 16y ago> If you are referring to events like the Russian Revolution I think it's more accurate to say that a bunch of thugs who said they were acting for "the people" got in control And this time things are going to be different because ....? A huge fraction, if not most, revolutions end badly.
- danielsoneg 16y agoNot to be pedantic (who am I kidding, this is the internet) but I believe the people with whom you share culture is called your Nation, not your Country - which is, however, distinct from your "Nation State" as you point out.
- sigzero 16y agoNot only no but hell no. There is no justification you could give me to think that would be a 'good' idea.
- ratsbane 16y agoI just accidentally down voted this when I meant to up vote. IPad, small arrows, big fingers. Sorry about that. [edit] not that I completely agree, just that I think it's an idea worth more exploration.
- bdunbar 16y agoplaces the internet above the sovereignty of any nation How would that work?
- cabalamat 16y agoIt's called the Pirate Party.
- orblivion 16y agoMy personal feeling: It's sortof inevitable. Governments are subject to economic forces. They can't make the Internet go away by decree. They can make their country's access go away by decree, but that's economic suicide. For example, does China want to risk giving their citizens access to all the goodies on the other side of the great firewall? But they have to do it to keep up. They will decide that ruling over a prosperous country is worth more to them than being a tyrant.
- maeon3 16y agoClose that car hood citizen, there are secrets in there, don't make me taze you.
- fleitz 16y agoIhre papier bitte.
- eloisius 16y agoSupposing they comply with the subsequent court order, what's to prevent the 10 variations that will pop up to replace it? This would surely only proliferate add-ons with the exact same functionality.
- jarin 16y agoHats off to Mozilla for discovering that dealing with DHS is exactly like dealing with Righthaven and the RIAA.
- bgruber 16y agoThis is exactly why i stopped reading boingboing; there's a tendency to ascribe meaning to actions that just isn't there. Mozilla said no such thing. What they said was more like "we won't just do whatever a government agency tells us to unless legally compelled to do so." I'm pleased Mozilla did this, but their stance is not the one it's being portrayed as here.
- slouch 16y agoI was fairly sure this link introduced no new information on the subject. Thanks for confirming the suspicion.
- ltamake 16y agoMozilla just went up in my book.
- trafficlight 16y agoWhat have they ever done that's been harmful to you?
- PetrolMan 16y agoI don't think Itamake meant they had done something wrong necessarily. There is always room for a company to gain esteem...
- pmh 16y agoPrevious discussion on the original blog post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2518075 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2518075
- lurchpop 16y agoA major reason to support Mozilla over Google (Chrome) who've gotten way too cozy with the gov over the past few years.
- Dilpil 16y agoWait a minute- DHS? As in, department of homeland security? Why are they involved in this even?
- lotharbot 16y agoDHS absorbed the Customs department, which has power to deal with issues surrounding counterfeit goods. The domains DHS has been taking down have redistributed digital content without license/permission, which DHS considers to be a form of counterfeiting. (Not saying they're right, just explaining why they're involved.)