Slashdot Mirror
Behind the Fight to Control the Internet
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "The battle over control of the Internet and ICann (previously slashdotted here and here) gets placed in broader context in the Wall Street Journal. The article explains the role of 'other nations' discomfort with the U.S. as the world's only superpower, unafraid of taking unilateral action,' a fear intensified by the U.S.'s move to halt the introduction of .xxx domains for pornography sites. In a related column, Frederick Kempe opens the floor for a debate between the diplomat leading talks for the U.S., and the former journalist from Luxembourg leading the effort to move the Internet away from U.S. control. 'Today, in a globalized world in which the Internet has become a global resource for freedom of expression and for economic exchange, this monopolistic oversight of the Internet by one government is no longer a politically tenable solution,' Viviane Reding says. Kempe also suggests ways the two sides can split the difference."
I think the danger is more to us 'Merkins forming our own splinter Internet, putting us in the same camp as other bastions of free speech like China and Saudi Arabia. The fact is that our own gummint meddled in Icann's business over .xxx and sparked this mess.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
...as soon as every nation on the Internet returns our investment with interest on adjusted dollars. Then, I would have no problem with it for the most part.
The US didn't ban porn. The US Commerce Department didn't ban .xxx. They merely dropped support for a proposed TLD. This is a insignificantly trivial action. The only reason it's being brought up is to scare UN ambassadors into thinking they might not get their daily dose of German fisting videos.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
...invented gunpowder, so it's theirs forever. I expect you American rednecks to hand over your weapons to your local Chinese government official as soon as possible.
It's my analogy and you can't go changing it like that. If everyone else had built their own houses next to our house there wouldn't be a problem. It would be the French surrender monkeys going over to their own internet/house by themselves and doing whatever it is that surrender monkey french people do when they aren't surrendering to the Germans or arrogantly pretending they won World War I or II and then writing psycho books blaming Jewish people for the 9-11 attack. Instead, we've let them have rooms in the massive house and now they noisily natter on about how they wish they were the boss and how unfair the homeowner is. And you know what, nobody is paying any attention to the chittering low level noise of complaints. Really. You know, I just checked and "cheeseeatingsurrendermonkeys.com" is taken. Darn it.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.