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Russia and China Withdraw Bid For Internet Control
judgecorp writes "Russia, China and other nations have withdrawn proposals to take control over the Internet within their borders. The proposals, handed to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) on Friday, caused widespread dismay and protest. The WCIT event in Dubai, run by the UN agency ITU, is working on new International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) which are due for their first revision since the emergence of the mass Internet. The line-up of nations wanting to formalize their power to restrict the Internet included Russia, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and Egypt. Their proposal has been withdrawn without explanation, an ITU spokesperson confirmed."
Soon, the "global internet", where anyone on the planet could request information from anyone else and have that request fulfilled, will be a quaint concept from the past, like the buggy whip, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or color-blind hiring. Internet fragmentation is coming, indeed it MUST come, as it fits the needs of so many, so well.
Think about yourself - when's the last time you needed something from .ru or .cn? I got to the point where I outright blocked everything from .ru as I had zero legitimate (English-language) users and all spam from that country. Not trying to be racist, but that's how it was. What happened? Spam accounts went from 10 per day to 3 per month. Legitimate conversations on my website were not affected at all.
They'll just do this on a national level instead of international. You have to realize that there is real harm that arrives from the unfiltered internet. Racism, sexism, hegemony, all these concepts are enabled by technology. How many young boys have heard the story of the underage sex fiend John McAfee, and decided that he's an ideal male? Merely because he's been portrayed as a "rebel" and a "fugitive from authority"? You have to realize that these are heady words that have a great effect on youth, especially those raised without role models. This is what countries fear, and quite rightly in my opinion.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
America might because we got our fingers up every nation's ass due to the fact we have a Napolean complex.