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The internet is "sovereign" in the only way that matters: it's hard to enforce regulations. A country is sovereign if it can keep other countries from enforcin

The internet is "sovereign" in the only way that matters: it's hard to enforce regulations. A country is sovereign if it can keep other countries from enforcing their will within it's borders. That's clearly not a clean yes or no. Any regulations that can be enforced, apply, and those that can't, don't. The government can decide who is allowed to lay cable where, but deleting information from the network is basically impossible.

deleted 3y ago
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_jal 3y ago
> The internet is "sovereign" in the only way that matters: it's hard to enforce regulations. The internet is not sovereign in the only way that matters: it has no army. As far as it being "hard" to control information flows, what do you think the international efforts to tie ID to internet access ("for the children") are for? It is porn today, and banks and Amazon tomorrow, and then you need burner accounts (or someone else's...) to do anything online without it being to your identity. And suddenly, information doesn't really feel like being so free anymore.
jonathankoren 3y ago
“Censoring the internet is like nailing jello to the wall,” because, “The internet interprets censorship as damage and censorship routes around it l,” eh? I remember those sayings. I even remember saying them. So sure we were. But that’s not quite how things worked out is it? Sure, it’s difficult for a country to enforce its laws over every internet user everywhere, but it doesn’t have to. It just has to enforce it for the people inside its borders. It’s been 23 years since Bill Clinton made the jello remark as part of a speech arguing for permanent normal trade relations with China, I think the jury is back on this one. A country not only can, but does. I’d argue you don’t even need a Great Firewall like China or Russia. Canada even got Facebook to follow its laws about subsidizing Canadian newsrooms by just putting ink to paper, albeit just not the way they hoped.

deleted 3y ago

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_jal 3y ago

> The internet is "sovereign" in the only way that matters: it's hard to enforce regulations. The internet is not sovereign in the only way that matters: it has no army. As far as it being "hard" to control information flows, what do you think the international efforts to tie ID to internet access ("for the children") are for? It is porn today, and banks and Amazon tomorrow, and then you need burner accounts (or someone else's...) to do anything online without it being to your identity. And suddenly, information doesn't really feel like being so free anymore.

jonathankoren 3y ago

“Censoring the internet is like nailing jello to the wall,” because, “The internet interprets censorship as damage and censorship routes around it l,” eh? I remember those sayings. I even remember saying them. So sure we were. But that’s not quite how things worked out is it? Sure, it’s difficult for a country to enforce its laws over every internet user everywhere, but it doesn’t have to. It just has to enforce it for the people inside its borders. It’s been 23 years since Bill Clinton made the jello remark as part of a speech arguing for permanent normal trade relations with China, I think the jury is back on this one. A country not only can, but does. I’d argue you don’t even need a Great Firewall like China or Russia. Canada even got Facebook to follow its laws about subsidizing Canadian newsrooms by just putting ink to paper, albeit just not the way they hoped.