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The Great Firewall of Europe
Glyn Moody writes "The Presidency of the EU's Law Enforcement Working Party wants to create [PDF] 'a single secure European cyberspace with a certain "virtual Schengen border" and "virtual access points" whereby the Internet Service Providers (ISP) would block illicit contents on the basis of the EU "black-list."' Leaving aside the fact that this won't work for lots of reasons, how seriously can you take anyone talking about 'cyberspace' in 2011?"
Give them time. At least the term "information superhighway" has largely disappeared from public discourse. That term was one of those few political terms so cheesy and clueless that it gave me a Tourette's-like tic every time I heard it...
You take them seriously when they are in a position of power. With a title like "Presidency of the EU's Law Enforcement Working Party", you better damn well take him seriously, or in the end you are not the one who is going to be laughing.
This is the kind of story I would expect coming from the US president's office, not the EU president's office. Hopefully this kind of censorship will die, like it died in Australia.
Free, liberated adults should be able to view any site (or book or pamphlet) they desire - without restriction. No government official may overrule that basic natural right of expression.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
who have no bleeping clue what a "schengen border" is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Ex-lawyers who noticed that the job of undemocratic dictatorship lackey is a lot easier and pays a lot better.
Note that these people are not democratically elected. Why the hell are these idiots tolerated ? I mean they're no better than Saudi's woman decapitators, or Iran's "why would you think gays exist in Iran"-moronic government, which also "allow elections*".
Morons.
* only on local level
1) Our economies aren't recovering fast enough ...censor the Interwebs!
2) The Chinese economy is growing really fast
3) Lets do what the Chinese are doing...
4)
The next logical step is for David Cameron to run over protestors at the royal wedding with tanks.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
They've invented a new colour? That is news.
... welcome our new cyberspace policing, virtual shengen boarder and access point creating overlords.
Or wait a second. I might prefer the concept of net neutrality after all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality
"we are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
I would have thought the Frech learned the last time
"Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man"
Seriously.
If we stop using "cyberspace", that means I'll have to stop using "meatspace", too. :(
The "Presidency of the EU's Law Enforcement Working Party"
Now, I am familiar with the concepts of "Working" and "Party" . . . I am not sure that they should be combined . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Hopefully, in 50-70 years, when kids today are old and in power, they won't be quite as bloody retarded when it comes to new technology.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
Here in Europe we use the term "cyberspace" to describe what in the US you call "Series of tubes".
The only thing that surprises me is that we've went so long WITHOUT more government-controlled internet firewalls. I remember telling people back in 1995 that the U.S. government wouldn't tolerate a free internet for very long. I was wrong on the timeframe, but make no mistake, it's coming. The more repressive regimes of the world were the first, but even the "progressive" governments who supposedly champion a free internet will eventually have to own up to their hypocrisy and clamp down.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Octarine.
Lovely spaaaaaam, wonderful spaaaaaaam filter.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
This was the plan all along with the union, and illustrates the danger when power is consolidated and centralized into the hands of the few.
With many small instances of political power, the elite at the top of each pyramid are limited in what they can do, because their pyramids are limited in height (e.g. revenue, and therefore power). With one large instance of political power, the elite are sitting atop a much larger pyramid. The potential for destruction and injustice is much higher -- proportional to the height of their pyramid.
Why must government be limited in what they can do? (And I cringe that I actually have to explain this.) Because history shows that government is the most dangerous, most destructive force that has ever existed. It shows that the people who desire power work for themselves, not the people they hold power over. It also shows that where destructive power exists, destructive power will be employed -- to the benefit of the empowered, not the powerless.
The absolute worst thing that could happen in the history of humanity is a single "world" government coming to power -- the tallest, richest, most powerful pyramid that could ever exist. They would be capable of destruction and injustice on a level we can't even imagine.
Hasn't anyone learned anything from the great firewall of China?
The only thing that surprises me is that we've went so long WITHOUT more government-controlled internet firewalls. I remember telling people back in 1995 that the U.S. government wouldn't tolerate a free internet for very long. I was wrong on the timeframe, but make no mistake, it's coming. The more repressive regimes of the world were the first, but even the "progressive" governments who supposedly champion a free internet will eventually have to own up to their hypocrisy and clamp down.
The problem is that some people think "progressive" means open and free and enlightened, when at its core, the whole idea of progressivism is basically nannyism... people as children that need to be cared for, with governments as the benevolent and protecting parents. Well guess what... parents lock the doors, set curfews, and make you eat your vegetables. I honestly don't think this kind of thing will fly in the US, not as long as there's a viable GOP. Our own "Net Neutrality" is never going to happen precisely because too many people fear it'll morph into this kind of nannyism. "For our own good", and all that rot.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
whoosh, whoosh, and whoosh again
"how seriously can you take anyone talking about "cyberspace" in 2011?"
I use that term all the time!
Signed,
mathemagician11475@aol.com
This idea is floating around for some time now. Various reasons have been given for such internet blocks: child porn, illegal gambling, drugs, .... Interestingly, the real reason has rarely been named. If you look where the money for the campaigns come from, at the end you always find the content industry.
I had a talk with some upper echelons of the biggest European Telcos a few months ago. They were complaining about the content industry spending money like water to get somehow internet blocks turned into law. Most Telcos didn't like the idea....
The idea of the content industry is, that once internet blocks are legal, they can be used to shoot down sites like PirateBay.
CU, Martin
We must not let the intertubes bring truckloads of filth into the EU.
No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. It's not a truck that you just dump stuff on to. It's a series of, um, tubes or some such.
They don't make porn in Germany, Netherlands, or Czech Republic.
Technically this is true. Coprophagia != porn.
That "As long as I don't see it, it isn't there" attitude :)
Privacy is terrorism.
"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer."
Have gnu, will travel.
Europe have looked at Australia, looked at the Australian backlash, and decided "we don't care, let's just propose it anyway, to show how absolutely out of touch we are."
"... and more and more now there are all kinds of electronic goodies available" -- Pink Floyd 1972
Politicians know about technology up to about the 1980s. Everything else they know comes from lobbyists.
So when they say "there has to be a way we can block or restrict access to 'X'" they fail to appreciate the technical difficulties involved in attempting that, the history of failure in making the same approach that other have made and the fact that they are talking about censorship which is a much more significant issue now than it was long ago due to the fact that people now know what they aren't getting. (Where before, people didn't know what they didn't know and were all cozy in their beliefs.)
Times have changed significantly because technology has changed and also technology has changed because of the times we live in.
Not that this is anything new, but these legislators are ruling on things they don't know enough about to rule on. Trouble is that it really shows.
Everybody knew this was coming. So that's why projects like Freenet, I2P, Tor and GNUnet has been developed and running for long time. It's bit harder to take those under control. Those seem to be working pretty well. I have personally tried all and using some currently.
Well, with major portions of North America, Asia, and Europe all trying to control the networks within their borders, all I can say in response is thats what happens when you declare cyberspace independent of so much political bullshit without the ability to enforce it. More Tunnels! I shamelessly promote the book "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" or maybe it's "The Day.." by Corry Doctorow which can be downloaded for free at his site craphoud.com and I humbly encourage everyone to refrain from violence in the global struggle for such a fundamental right as freedom of information, taking place even inside borders which have declared such a right as granted. It has begun.
Sadly, a Libertarian cannot force his views on another, and freedom cannot spread as does the cancer known as religion.
Aaand thanks to that article we now have people thinking there's actually a EU President like there's a US President.
My
Obviously it's impossible to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt why people don't do something.
Your WWII argument is easy to counter though: After the horrors of WWI, with millions of soldiers and civilians killed, and the unqualified surrender of one of the main sides, and the existence of new horrific chemical weapons, you might think that there was no hunger for a repeat. There were new parliamentary governments created in Spain, Germany, and Italy, with setups not totally different from Britain. But there was a repeat, in large part because the economic crises at the end of the 1920's created the perfect conditions for Fascists to take control in Spain, Germany, and Italy - desperate people are more willing to take big risks.
Compare that to now, where the current economic crises in Ireland and Greece have led to bailouts, in large part because Germany and France have their economic fortunes tied to those countries. Bailouts are bad, but less bad than wars.
I am officially gone from
C'mon. Pull the other one. It's got a dolphin with a grid of LEDs embedded in it's side.
Lawmakers who use the term "Cyberspace" won't get it anyway, this is perhaps why opposition to this kind of rubbish doesn't seem to get very far. Explain to them that the very design of the Internet means it just cannot ever be controlled or censored. Its been designed to withstand nuclear war FFS.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.