Slashdot Mirror
A Private European Internet?
jakemk2 writes "Bill Thompson writing in The Register advocates a private European Internet to stop the fact that it has "been so extensively abused by the United States and its politicians, lawyers and programmers that it has become a serious threat to the continued survival of the network as a global communications medium"
Read it here" His logical fallacy is , of course, thinking that the US has a monopoly on this kind of thing.
I remember people saying how the Internet would bring us all together. You know, no borders, that silly stuff.
.. subnets - the world's new holy lands, only this time you can add as many as you like if things get too homogonized for your liking. ;)
Ironically, its proving that due to its non-geographical nature, you dont actually have to _have_ a border to fight over - you can just invent one at your own whim! Think about it
And please take this with a grain of salt, I'm only half-kidding.
"Old man yells at systemd"
From the article:
Umm... while I might agree that there is a lot of commercial content on the web these days, what about the rest of it, like educational resources, online research, BLOGS, and, well, damn near an infinite amount of other resources?
Nothing like cutting off your arm 'cause your fingers hurt.
This actually sounds tempting. I doubt it will happen but the Eurohackers will have a lovely sandbox to play in. It might be more useful than the cryptocorporate anarchy that is the Internet today. I wonder if they'll let USAians fed up with the current net join ?
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
Granted, the historical strength of the internet has always been bringing people together over distance based on common interests or motives (Slashdot, girlskissing.co.uk and eBay are all excellent examples). Just because it's been that way, however, doesn't mean that it's the only practical use.
What I find interesting is that the author suggests keeping the rest of the world out, as opposed to keeping the rest of the world from getting in (which is what China and a few others have been up to) on a scale that's unprescidented. Technically, I'm sure it's possible to accomplish this, but I'm still uncertain as to the practicality or the wisdom of doing so.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
From the article
An important factor in Europe's favour is that we retain a belief that governments are a good thing, that political control is both necessary and desirable, and that laws serve the people.
Hitler/Stalin/Mosalini/etc... (this list is long) would have agreed heartly and would have eagerly supported this notion.
Jefferson by the way would not. A few Jefferson quotes by contrast:
"Most bad government has grown out of too much government"
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."
Oh well.
Fact: in 1900, if you wanted to see the President, an appointment was nice, but not necessary.
Yesterday, I heard on NPR that the Secret Service is closing more streets around the White House for "security reasons." I had one thought: "Yep, here we go, building our own Forbidden City."
Jerry Pournelle is fond of saying, "but we were born free." There has been much debate of late on his site about the current situation in the U.S., most of it revolving around the "Republic vs. Empire" issue. The U.S. may have been born a Republic, but the 20th century taught us that our security can't depend on two oceans. Unfortunately, if the oceans couldn't protect us, the next option was to expand our influence overseas so the fight would remain away from home.
11 September showed us we can't keep the fight from here without extreme measures. Personally, I don't think the "extreme measures" are worth the cost of personal liberty, but hey, I'm just a poor seminary student and computer geek.
I will say this, though; the EU may create their own Internet, but before long, the same forces wreaking havoc here - bureaucracy and corporatism - will wreak havoc there. Like it or not, we're all connected now, and the havoc is becoming increasingly difficult to isolate.
JA
http://www.johnalex.org/
The U.S.A. of 1776 was a heaping lot of terrorists.
They were BRITISH CITIZENS and they took up arms and killed HER MAJESTY'S soliders.
What a fucking lot of hypocrites you all are now. Fighting a "war on terrorism" when your entire country was FOUNDED on acts of terrorism.