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Already, to some extend, Europe is not a part of the Internet anymore. At least here in Germany, I personally consider it fraud when Internet Service Provider o
by FrojoS 15y ago
Already, to some extend, Europe is not a part of the Internet anymore. At least here in Germany, I personally consider it fraud when Internet Service Provider offer "Internet access". Wrong label!
After returning from the US I got extremely frustrated that I wasn't able to listen to Pandora anymore (I'm even paying) or watch many of the best Youtube videos that happen to use popular music as background.
When I recently got access again, over my US friends University VPN, I felt a bit like a former east German, who managed to tweak his radio so he can listen to "west stations".
- mortenjorck 15y agoThat's not a reasonable comparison, though. Pandora or YouTube access isn't being censored by the German government. It's being withheld on the other end due to old-world notions of regional broadcast rights. Pandora and YouTube haven't paid the rights holders for the right to "broadcast" in Germany, so the licensors insist that they cut off access to Germany from the source. What is being discussed in the article, however, is indeed censorship. If EU State Security gets its way, it will indeed be like East German radio.
- FrojoS 15y agoSure, I know, but still, thanks for pointing this out explicitly. Its true, I tried to provoke a bit and its not a totally faire comparison. However, its still against the idea of the Internet, when I can only access certain content from certain locations, no? And its also somehow censorship, though the proper term may be "regional broadcast rights". Its true, that the German government does not actively support this, but I don't see them fight it either. For instance they could insist, that different regional broad cast rights, especially online, should be baned by the WTO. We do similar thing for inter-EU trade all the time. This new law, like so many, who try to come over the backdoor of European law, is definitely on a different level. I just wanted to point out, that its already far from roses and unicorns here.
- jodrellblank 15y ago"Against the idea of the Internet" is not like being unconstitutional, but that seems to be the kind of weight you are giving it. Maybe they don't like the idea of the Internet?
- kalleboo 15y agoConversely, Americans can't listen to Spotify, or watch many of the european broadcaster's online streams (e.g. Eurovision)