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South African Government Issues Plans To Censor Internet
An anonymous reader writes: The South African department of communications is sitting on a draft paper drawn up by the local Film & Publication Board, which proposes strict regulation of the internet within in the country in order to bring online publishing inline with that of DVD, video and terrestrial TV ratings. The proposals are being called censorship and unconstitutional, and include plans to criminalize anyone who publishes material online — including uploading videos to YouTube — who doesn't pay a licence and submit to vetting by FPB agents.
South Africa is essentially a one party state. South African political parties are not defined by what they stand for, but for who they stand against. Until that changes, the ANC will win every election, regardless of how ineffectively they govern.
People that call for more government control are always going back and saying "but we didn't mean THIS!"
People that call for less government control are also always going back and saying "but we didn't mean THIS!"
There's no reason to be ashamed of not making perfect choices, the only things that should be written in stone are gravemarkers.
And even then, sometimes there are errors on those that need to be fixed.
Trust me. A government can keep the lower class down. They can tax us into oblivion, and take away most of our freedoms and we'll take it in stride. Take away the porn though, and the peasants will burn this bitch down.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Control is regulated by information and the access to information. Those who allow themselves to give up access to information give up their ability to determine their own destiny.
In years past, the elite weren't just the financially powerful but those with the greatest control over and access to, information (points at the medieval elite and Roman Catholic church use of Latin as an example).
It was only the elite that could read and write. It was only the elite that had books. It was only the elite that were educated. With the advent of industrialisation, the drones needed more information to function, and so education became desirable. Even then, the access to information was restricted.
The rise of journalism, allowed people to know about their leaders and power brokers in ways that were previously unavailable. Even then, there were strict controls over the flow of information.
With the wide spread availability of the web, those restrictions were wiped away to a greater extent, and governments and power brokers have been attempting to curtail that flow ever since. People need to at least acknowledge how important the free flow of information is to their ability to pursue their freedoms, otherwise that access to information and the pursuit of those freedoms will be lost.
Governments need to inspire, be honest, and educate their populaces, instead of trying to dumb them down and put them back into the corner. Leading people by hiding what you do and how you do it is no longer an acceptable way of getting what you want.
Governments should not tell people what they are allowed to know. Attempting to categorise all information, in an information age, is simply unattainable. People must ultimately take responsibility for the information they receive, not leave it to others to make that decision on their behalf. We are not children. If they allow others to make those decisions, they won't ever get to know what they don't know. They are lost.
If the legislation is created in one country, how much easier is it to copy it to others? We have seen this with the "three strikes" policies. We have seen it with the "war on terror" eavesdropping legislation. We've seen it with the "think about the children" memes demanding controls over the kinds of information that can flow. I feel the general population is sleepwalking their way into another dark age of control being out of their hands. Their education has failed them. They don't understand technology enough to know what their freedoms depend on. It is seriously depressing.
Calling someone both "Godless" and "Satanic" is a contradiction in terms.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.