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US Gov't. Ending Its Hands-Off-the-Internet Stance

Posted by kdawson on from the that-was-then-and-this-is-now dept.

Taco Cowboy writes in with a report from The Register about a US policy shift away from keeping hands off the Internet. "According to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, Obama's top official at the Department of Commerce, the US government's policy of leaving the Internet alone is over. Instead, an 'Internet Policy 3.0' approach will see policy discussions between government agencies, foreign governments, and key Internet constituencies, with those discussions covering issues such as privacy, child protection, cybersecurity, copyright protection, and Internet governance." Here is the presentation in which Strickling enunciated these changes.

7 of 452 comments (clear)

  1. Nervous reactions by N3tRunner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is all because of their recent failed security simulation where they couldn't repel a cyber attack. Now that they feel vulnerable they have what they think is adequate motivation to screw the rest of us. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out...

  2. Internet to Powerful, for governments by physburn · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The internet is too powerful, for governments, to leave alone. This is especially true of governments which would like to control the thoughts of there populus, but even for the most Lazze Faire governments, the chance to control the internet industy must be highly tempting.

    ---

    Privacy vs Sureillance Feed @ Feed Distiller

  3. Hopenchange! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Along with a renewed Patriot Act!

    Funny, I seem to have missed the Slashdot story of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passing that bill, or the Democrat-controlled Senate passing that bill. Nevermind the Slasdot story about the Democrat President actually signing that Patriot Act extension....

    Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

    Actually, that's not true. The old bosses at least said they were going to keep Gitmo open, extend that Patriot Act, and leave troops in Iraq. So at least they did what they said. These new bosses are MUCH worse - they LIE and do and say anything to get elected, then keep on with the policies of the past that they LIED about changing.

    And now, these LYING new bosses want us to turn the largest sector of the US economy - health care - over to THEIR control. Because that'll be better for all of us.

    What kind of person could possibly believe that THIS group of egomaniacs getting control of another couple of trillion dollars a year would help anyone?

  4. Re:Maybe they need to set their priorities by jamesh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I like the spam problem as a measuring stick. First go and solve the spam problem without reducing the usefulness of the internet to anyone (except the spammers of course). If you can do that, then we'll talk about some other policing that might be a good idea...

    If they could stop all the child porn and stop all illegal downloads then i'd be all for it, but only if they can stop _only_ child porn, and _only_ illegal downloads, without any 'collatoral damage' of legal material. And they can't - all recent attempts to do so are proof of that. So in the mean time, keep a better eye on your kids and make it easier for people to buy your stuff than download it.

  5. Geeks will blaze a new trail by HangingChad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, Obama's top official at the Department of Commerce, the US government's policy of leaving the Internet alone is over.

    Any time this has happened the past, geeks blaze a trail to another communication medium. While most people were using phones to make phone calls, geeks used it to create a BBS system. Later came the internet, which was a great place until AOL came along. Just seems like when one medium starts becoming crowded and excessively regulated, geeks will find another place.

    Maybe self-discovering mesh networks, something over satellite, not sure what's next. But the more crowded and regulated the internet gets, the more the inner geek will start looking around for a less crowded place.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  6. Re:You got the cause and effect reversed by selven · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is voting a prerequisite for having an opinion? If someone is against the current US democratic system in principle, should he still have to vote in order to have an opinion? Saying "I don't care" is itself a perfectly valid political statement.

  7. Re:You got the cause and effect reversed by eiMichael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I agree with with the gov't bashing; however

    Or, abstaining from voting can also be expressions of apathy or being completely discouraged due to the corruption that goes on, and on, and on, and on in political circles no matter which party is in power.

    The point still remains that you could have done something as simple as write in your own name when you vote official positions. By doing nothing you are effectively telling the system, "do as you please, I no longer care."

    If everyone who didn't vote (some 70+% of registered voters) actually voted for someone they believed in, even if it was just a self vote, that would be more likely to change the system than abstaining. You can't just bitch about corruption and expect everyone else to take up arms.

    "We must become the change we want to see in the world".

    ---Mohandas Gandhi.