4 ms·
Assuming SOPA, et al, are defeated, there is some real news here: 1. The government(S) have decided that anonymity on the internet, is not a god given right.
by nirvana 15y ago
Assuming SOPA, et al, are defeated, there is some real news here:
1. The government(S) have decided that anonymity on the internet, is not a god given right.
2. There is a battle going on. Defeating SOPA at best will produce a delay. The language will appear again in other legislation or will change to be less obvious or will pass without anyone realizing it.
3. The intentions of the government are clear. They believe they have the right to regulate the internet, at a fundamental level. This is bad news, because if they are able to do so, we risk the internet becoming like airlines were back in the Pan Am era. (If you haven't seen it The Aviator, by Martin Scorsese is a great movie.)
4. Even if there is no legislation passed, the government is currently (illegally, as far as I can tell) censoring the internet by shunting dot coms and dotnets to a DHS website via Verisign rolling over to their demands (the torrent site attacks of last year.)
5. There is no method that we can use to fight this. Nobody even is trying to fight the PATRIOT ACT, or NDAA, etc. Once passed, they are carved in stone, and even if they aren't passed, what can we do?
It's time to try and find a way to route around censorship, and let my grandma still be able to find what she's looking for without knowing what DNS is.
- sirclueless 15y agoPlaying devil's advocate for a second: The fact that the internet can be almost entirely anonymous and unaccountable is something of a historical accident. There aren't many places as impervious to governmental interference on this planet as the internet. Having a right to privacy is one thing. Having a right to unaccountability in the face of a legal warrant obtained through due process is another entirely. Inasmuch as the global, distributed nature of the internet makes executing a warrant near impossible, I am not opposed in principle to legislation enabling technical measures for enforcement. That said, I am vehemently opposed to hamfisted solutions that waive due process in favor of "good faith" takedown notices to ISPs.
- wladimir 15y agoThe fact that the internet can be almost entirely anonymous and unaccountable is something of a historical accident The best things in life are something of a historical accident. You can't plan for the good, unexpected stuff. That doesn't mean it is not worth preserving or fighting for. Don't get me wrong: I am not principally opposed to legal warrants being enforced, if fair and just. But this does exclude special interest groups with a lot of money buying the law in their favor, to be able to remove everything they don't like, such as evidence of their crimes.