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Some Countries Want To Ban 'Information Weapons'
DrgnDancer sends in an NPR piece on recent efforts to control so-called "information weapons" on the Internet. What's interesting is that the term "information weapon," as defined by many of the countries trying to limit them, doesn't mean what you would think. It's closer to the old Soviet term "ideological aggression." "At a UN disarmament conference in 2008, Sergei Korotkov of the Russian Defense Ministry argued that anytime a government promotes ideas on the Internet with the goal of subverting another country's government — even in the name of democratic reform — it should qualify as 'aggression.' And that, in turn, would make it illegal under the UN Charter. 'Practically any information operation conducted by a state or a number of states against another state would be qualified as an interference into internal affairs,' Korotkov said through an interpreter. 'So any good cause, like [the] promotion of democracy, cannot be used as a justification for such actions.' The Russians, and a lot of other countries such as Iran and China, apparently consider the free exchange of information to be an information technology threat. One that must be managed by treaty."
Seems like a giant waste of money to me. It certainly didn't accomplish much during the Cold war
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Yeah, it's not like they turned into a Democracy when the government finally collapsed.
In a democracy, criticism of the people is criticism of the government...and vice versa.
Now, I'll leave it to the rest of you to argue about how and if this statement applies to the US.
"information weapons" is just a catch phrase for telling truth to assholes like the people who run the Soviet Union. Er..ah..excuse me,.. the People's Democratic Republic of Russia. Whatever. The rulers of Russia were assholes 500 years ago, they were 100 years ago, they were 50 years ago and they are still assholes today. Nothing ever changes there in terms of leadership.
Normally I consider it not to be of any concern to anyone lucky enough not to live in Russia. But they have about 6000 hydrogen-to-helium converters that have a tendency to ignore environmental regulations on waste-heat management when they are operated. It would be best not to piss them off lest they decide to send a few of these H2He converters floating down on our neighborhoods. We get enough shit already from the idiot Moslems already about those fucking cartoons. We don't need any more problems from assholes who can't tell the difference between freedom-of-speech and a weapon.
This is what happens when nulkulturny shit-for-brains psychopaths get hydrogen-to-helium converters. We have to pretend that they are civilized people.
It really is in the best interest of all the freedom-loving people of the world to make sure that assholes don't get hydrogen-to-helium converters.