Privacy International Internet Censorship Report

eric434 writes "The Register reports that Internet restrictions, government secrecy and communications surveillance have reached an unprecedented level across the world, from 9/11-inspired Patriot-esque laws to national internet filtering and corporate abuse of the legal system. Summarizing the Privacy International report, it's quite evident that we've not only approached but started down a slippery slope. In the words of Simon Davies (director of Privacy Intl.), 'The report sounds a warning that we must move quickly to preserve the remaining freedoms on the Internet before they are systematically extinguished.'"

Comments

SPAM Laws

[bigjocker]

That's why I oppose solving the Spam problem using laws and politics. We should oppose those laws as we opose any law that tries to control or censor any other area of the internet. How long until any of the Spam laws are used against the Net?

The Spam problem is a technical one, and as such should be solved technically. Somebody once compared a political solution to the spam problem with the laws that make you use the seat belt, but this is not the same case. There are no rightful uses for crashing your car when not whearing a seat belt, but there are rightful uses for some mass e-mails (distribution lists, discussion groups, legally registered advertisement, etc).

The current system is flawed. Blame it on the SMTP protocol or the administrators that use it without knowing it. There lies the problem and there it should be solved. There are great proposals for solving this (digital certificates or pgp signatures at the transport layer, etc), and I (as many of us are) am willing to adopt any new technology that should solve this problem, if it is incompatible with the current email technology, well, bad luck, somewhere the first step must be taken. Look at IPV6.

Re:SPAM Laws

[lommer]

The Spam problem is a technical one, and as such should be solved technically.

No. This argument is made frequently on slashdot, and I am thouroghly (sp?) convinced that it is wrong. While the problem of spam may have technical aspects it is a different problem. Spam is a moral problem - it is a case of a select few people abusing a system for their own profit, thereby ruining the effective usefulness of the system for others. One persons right to infringe upon the rights of another in all other aspects of our society is primarily governed by laws, and I see no reason why the spam problem should not be either. Granted there are legitamite uses, and therefore such legislation must be careful to take these into account. However, this is an almost guaranteed certainty, given the current complexity of the legal system, adding such exemptions, checks and balances would be no problem - in fact it would be considered neccesary by many legal and constitutional experts.

Opting for a purely technical solution has problems of its own. We have already seen some attempts at technical stopgap measures designed to stem the flood of UCE, but these have generally just resulted in an escalation in the tactics of spammers (e.g. faking return addresses, using trojan horses to create relays, etc.)

The problem of spam is NOT a technical one. It is a moral one and its solution therefore lies in the legal system.

Abuse of the Legal System

[ratamacue]

corporate abuse of the legal system

Remember, corporations only abuse the legal system because they can. The root of the problem is government, and the fact that government has the ability to continuously expand government year after year without limit. The bigger the government, the more complex, ambiguous, and exploitable the law. The solution is to eliminate the powers of government that make it possible -- not to expand government even more via regulation, taxing, etc (all of which are guaranteed to be exploited too). We need to impose strict limits on the scope and expense of government, or the system will continue to be exploited by its very nature.

I just don't totally agree

[cavemanf16]

While there may have been all kinds of laws enacted that are pretty ridiculous, there will eventually be an equilibrium reached that is close to fair, but never perfectly fair for those involved. What I mean to say is that the "Internet" and its use will be regulated, there's no if's, and's, or but's about it. Everything gets regulated. Which is why I think humanity is always pushing forward to explore the next frontier, be it in medicine, robotics, communications, travel, etc.

Think of some of the first automobiles. Flimsy, worked only part of the time, accident prone, unsafe, etc. and yet Americans and indeed the world embraced the new technology of the 'horseless' carriage with gusto once Henry Ford introduced a cheap way to manufacture and build them so that the masses could use them. The world economy benefitted from this new technology immensely.

Yeah, some of our "freedoms" on the Internet have eroded TOO much, but eventually some semblance of order will be acheived, and off us techies and 'explorers' will go to challenge the Next Big Thing.

I think this fundemental idea is why the Star Trek series has been so popular: it focuses on that "explorer" spirit. While most of the acting is corny at best, and some of the scripts downright absurd, we're drawn to "exploring the new frontier" theme.

I, for one, welcome our new regulatory overlords.

Re:Natural

[Smallpond]

ummm.. warrant? judge? 4th amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure?

If John Ashcroft wants to get a warrant every time he asks for my library records or to monitor my email, I'm all in favor. Let him.

The name Patriot Act is kind of ironic, since the American Patriots were the people who rebelled against an overly repressive regime.

Your balance is a dangerous one.

[lysium]

I can meet someone at a diner, and swap porn and credit card numbers to my hearts content. Should resturant booths come equipped with audio/visual recorders to protect against this threat?

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