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>“We're looking at the real question of open government,” Issa said. “Has the government or even MIT been holding back materials that the public has a right to

>“We're looking at the real question of open government,” Issa said. “Has the government or even MIT been holding back materials that the public has a right to know?” >Issa said he wanted to make sure “that what is paid for is as widely available as possible to the American people.” It's good to see lawmakers paying attention to Open Access. While it is important to make sure that the unscrupulous practices of the Department of Justice are curtailed, it is also important that people pick up and carry on Aaron's campaign for Open Access. I am upset not just because Aaron was treated unfairly, but because he was treated unfairly for doing the right thing. Freedom of Information is at the core of Internet values, and that's what Aaron fought for.

rayiner 14y ago
Help me, I can't find "freedom of information" in either RFC 791 or RFC 793.
- nitrogen 14y ago
  Help me, I can't find "freedom of information" in either RFC 791 or RFC 793. Come on, don't be that guy. You know when someone says "freedom of information is at the core of the Internet's values" they're really saying that freedom of information is at the core of the values of the people who worked hard to build and promote it (see Vint Cerf's recent statements about the ITU conference: http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/vint-cerf-save-the-internet/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/vint-cerf-save-the-interne...), not that the RFCs defining the Internet Protocol include those exact words.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    My point is that the Internet does not come packed with an ideology, the personal politics of some of its creators aside.
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      To those of us who grew up with the Internet as our hometown and BBSes as our place of birth, it sure seems to have an inherent ideology just by its very structure.
- defen 14y ago
  Values aren't always codified in formal documents. If they were, Aaron Swartz would still be alive, since a key fact that lawyers have been hammering home to us for the past few days is that federal prosecutors are only capable of following the rules as they are written. In other fields of human endeavor there's plenty of other sources of knowledge. For example, folklore. "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." -- John Gilmore "History is rife with examples of governments taking actions to ‘protect’ their citizens from harm by controlling access to information and inhibiting freedom of expression. We must make sure, collectively, that the internet avoids a similar fate." -- Vint Cerf
  - rayiner 14y ago
    C'mon. Since when are technical people so whimsical? Believe in folklore, have your politics, but don't make the ridiculous assertion that a technology for moving bits around comes with a particular set of politics baked in. What, praytell, are the politics of the transistor? The internal combustion engine?
    - defen 14y ago
      Defining the Internet as "a technology for moving bits around" is incredibly reductive and sterile, and does nothing to capture the reality of it. You may as well say that a brain is a "collection of cells that transmit electrical potentials". What are the politics of a neuron? The Internet encompasses more than its hardware and algorithms. It was created and is operated by tens of thousands of people with real values, is used by many more, and freedom of information is a very important principle for many of them.
      - rayiner 14y ago
        What are the politics of a neuron? There aren't any. It's mechanism. You're free to give your neurons whatever policy you wish. There are people who created the internet who believe in freedom of information. There are people who were just working on a defense contract at a major defense contractor. There are people who operate it now who believes lots of different things, and even those that believe in "freedom of information" in some sense have all sorts of definitions for what they think it means. Creators of technology don't get to decide what politics will be attached to that technology. RMS doesn't like Android, which contains GPL-ed software. Does it matter? Of course not.

rayiner 14y ago

Help me, I can't find "freedom of information" in either RFC 791 or RFC 793.

nitrogen 14y ago
Help me, I can't find "freedom of information" in either RFC 791 or RFC 793. Come on, don't be that guy. You know when someone says "freedom of information is at the core of the Internet's values" they're really saying that freedom of information is at the core of the values of the people who worked hard to build and promote it (see Vint Cerf's recent statements about the ITU conference: http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/vint-cerf-save-the-internet/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/04/vint-cerf-save-the-interne...), not that the RFCs defining the Internet Protocol include those exact words.
- rayiner 14y ago
  My point is that the Internet does not come packed with an ideology, the personal politics of some of its creators aside.
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    To those of us who grew up with the Internet as our hometown and BBSes as our place of birth, it sure seems to have an inherent ideology just by its very structure.
defen 14y ago
Values aren't always codified in formal documents. If they were, Aaron Swartz would still be alive, since a key fact that lawyers have been hammering home to us for the past few days is that federal prosecutors are only capable of following the rules as they are written. In other fields of human endeavor there's plenty of other sources of knowledge. For example, folklore. "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." -- John Gilmore "History is rife with examples of governments taking actions to ‘protect’ their citizens from harm by controlling access to information and inhibiting freedom of expression. We must make sure, collectively, that the internet avoids a similar fate." -- Vint Cerf
- rayiner 14y ago
  C'mon. Since when are technical people so whimsical? Believe in folklore, have your politics, but don't make the ridiculous assertion that a technology for moving bits around comes with a particular set of politics baked in. What, praytell, are the politics of the transistor? The internal combustion engine?
  - defen 14y ago
    Defining the Internet as "a technology for moving bits around" is incredibly reductive and sterile, and does nothing to capture the reality of it. You may as well say that a brain is a "collection of cells that transmit electrical potentials". What are the politics of a neuron? The Internet encompasses more than its hardware and algorithms. It was created and is operated by tens of thousands of people with real values, is used by many more, and freedom of information is a very important principle for many of them.
    - rayiner 14y ago
      What are the politics of a neuron? There aren't any. It's mechanism. You're free to give your neurons whatever policy you wish. There are people who created the internet who believe in freedom of information. There are people who were just working on a defense contract at a major defense contractor. There are people who operate it now who believes lots of different things, and even those that believe in "freedom of information" in some sense have all sorts of definitions for what they think it means. Creators of technology don't get to decide what politics will be attached to that technology. RMS doesn't like Android, which contains GPL-ed software. Does it matter? Of course not.