Thai Government To Close 400 Anti-government Sites

Will Lord writes "The Guardian is reporting that the Thai government plans to close down 400 anti-government websites and is asking ISPs to block 1,200 more. The response follows a declaration of a state of emergency which has seen troops take to the streets of Bangkok to police anti-government protests. With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent, do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?"

Comments

Stupid question

[silentcoder]

>With web crackdowns like this becoming more and more frequent do you think we will start to see similar (overt) activities from US and European governments?"

Duh.

Of course we will. There is only one way to prevent governments from abusing power and that is not to let them. With the general complacency that the population shows about issues where civil liberties are at stake (remember most people are in favor of censorship 'to protect the children' [and oddity since I rather think we should be protecting our children from living in a police state shouldn't we ?]) this kind of thing will only get more mainstream.
When will people want to fight back ? The same time they always have- when they have lost all their rights, people as a rule aren't known for valuing their most precious gifts until they lose them. The trouble is - this time, that may really be too late. With the kind of weaponry and power governments can wield today, if a citizenry doesn't defend it's rights while it still has them - they are likely to find that when they have lost them, there is no way to ever get it back.
And sorry folks, the second amendment will not help my US friends when that day comes. You will pull out your nine-mill and find out exactly HOW useless it is against a tank. And don't count on massive revolt from the soldiery either, they sign away their civil rights when they join so the services tends to self-selects against those who actually value having those rights.
Ultimately our biggest problem isn't that corrupt politicians want too much power (that's always been the case) but that people who value short-term security over freedom are happy to hand all our rights over to them for the promise of protection. Throw in the fact that some of them are skillfull manipulators of people's religious and moral believes and you have real trouble. Even McCain has been campaigning for the religious right vote with his anti-abortion stuff.
By making moral issues into artificial legal issues - they can get a lot of people to vote on a moral base instead of a practical base. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice really shouldn't HAVE anything to do with what president you vote for, that's a matter for the courts. What should matter is who will give you the highest level of protection of your basic civil rights. That is after all what the government is SUPPOSED to be for. We can never get one that won't mess up at least a bit, but we can do a damn site better than the kind that wants you to think his ideas about who-can-marry-who is a valid consideration of his potential skill as a leader.