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Vice: Internet Freedom Is Actively Dissolving In America (vice.com)
An anonymous reader points out Vice's rather dark view of the state of Internet freedom, the author of which posits that "one fact about the internet is quickly becoming clear this year: Americans' freedom to access the open internet is rapidly dissolving." As evidence, the writer points out negative trends in broadband adoption, legal moves to weaken encryption, industry consolidation that means fewer competitors in some areas, increasing use of data caps, and increasing reliance by many (especially poorer) Americans on mobile phones as their only internet-connected devices. (On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that there are now free encryption-centric apps for voice and text communication that give ordinary people privacy options, and both unlocked phones and inexpensive data plans are far closer to the American norm than they were a few years ago.)
Stop pretending. The government is monitoring ALL electronic communication. The US is a fascistic police state with a very very dishonest and corrupt government. It's funny that just 20 years ago the people of the USA made fun of the USSR for doing things that don't even come close to what is happening in the US today. Land of the free my ass. Merry Christmas! I hope everyone found some nice tracking equipment in their socks!
On one hand you have the Copyright Cartel, I mean, the Entertainment Industry buying laws to give them more rights, so they can abuse more ways to make money off content that will NEVER go into the public domain. And on the other hand you have the Government, who gladly accepts money to make laws that benefits their Movie & Music Mafia pals. On top of that, they want to overreach by collecting all the data America makes to make us safer, yet not catching home terrorist acts. Then claiming they need backdoors and no encryption to make us safer.
Our government has failed the people.
Be seeing you...
Some of the best journalism comes from Muckraking. Still, it's pretty easy to see that the main advantage of the internet is that it provides education / information to billions of people who never had access to it before, and the growth in that penetration is a bigger story than the limits to educating and informing people. The main disadvantage is when the internet provides miseducation / false information to billions of people. The nuance is that misinformation has been readily accessible to the billions of people for eons. The optimist thinks that misinformation will find it more difficult to compete with truth, and that attempts to curtail it will tend to blowback on churches, governments and corporations which try to wedge against it.
Gently reply
and point out their bs
Let me be the first to say, "No shit."
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I'm not so sure Vice is all-negative, after all, they did a pretty cool and positive feature on my fusion work. You can search youtube on my username for it if you care.
What does concern me is that it used to take me almost all day to read everything new that day on the 'net - and now it takes only an hour, if that, and I don't really read faster than I used to.
.
While it seems even the tinfoil hat crowd aren't talking about explicit censorship, either the world is kind of going dead, or something like hidden chilling effects are happening. I really don't like that one bit - no matter which it is - the creeping lack of new worthwhile content doesn't bode well at all. Yes, I read more widely on more topics and specialties than most so maybe it's more obvious to me, but gee, it's a huge change over the last few years. Seems as though society is just giving up, whatever the reason.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
If the author of the refenced article had any journalistic ability he would have realized that the definition of broadband was redefined between 2013 ant 2015 leading to the apparent decrease of home installations. Furthermore the author seems to be easily confused by conceits such as rate vs. total and confuses adoption (normally expressed as a rate YTY) with installed based. I attribute this to a general lack of fundamental understanding of mathematics if not calculus on the whole. Sadly this is a pretty common sight for ignorant journalists these dqys. What would make an interesting article is the decline of fundamental mathematics comprehension among journalists over time.
You and the GP blame "governments", but it's much more than that.
The worst censorship we witness online isn't done by governments, or those acting on behalf of governments.
The most insidious censorship is that done by the people running the discussion forums, or their minions. Look at places like reddit, or Hacker News, or Stack Overflow. If you don't hold exactly the right viewpoints and opinions, then you will most likely be silenced and banned.
Slashdot isn't as bad as those aforementioned sites, but it's still susceptible to very abusive and incorrect moderation, too.
The real threat here is Millennials. They're an entire generation of people who've deluded themselves into believing that they stand for freedom and openness, yet in practice they're actually among the most virulent perpetrators of censorship and the suppression of free expression.
If you express an opinion that they dislike, they don't engage in discussion. They just shut you down, typically using a system that's without any sort of an appeal process, or due process of any sort.
At least governments tend to be subject to at least some judicial oversight, no matter how minor or ineffective it may be. There is absolutely no resource against online moderators who engage in oppression.
If your society requires anonymity for freedom of speech, then that society is not free to begin with.
"(On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that there are now free encryption-centric apps for voice and text communication that give ordinary people privacy options, and both unlocked phones and inexpensive data plans are far closer to the American norm than they were a few years ago.)"
Mobile phones are rooted by both the carrier and/or your employer and provide a direct backdoor to the government. There is absolutely no security/privacy on a mobile phone. There isn't much point in encrypting your voice/text when they have the key.
The next big thing will get invented soon.
What may or may not be happening to the Internet is just a symptom of the bigger socio-political problems here in the U.S., and in the world in general; whoever you are, AC, take off the blinders, put on your glasses if you're that nearsighted, lift your head up, look around you, try to take in the bigger picture, and stop being satisfied with the bread and circuses that you keep being handed to keep you quiet. I won't lie, you'll hate me for making you become aware, but embrace this bit of wisdom: It's always better to know.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Duh. You think so? What with every government on earth trying to censor the internet?
Even if CBC removes its own comment section, how does that affect users of third-party comment sections, such as Reddit, SoylentNews, and Slashdot?
As for echo chambers, it's both the nature of the beast (people tend to prefer sites that are compatible with their views), and also a matter of choice.
At least on Slashdot, I've found that one effective tool against the echo chamber effect is to tactfully present the opposite side, even if it's not the side with which you personally agree.
They did that because of highly racist comments that were getting through the system. Those comments are illegal (hate speech) in Canada, so what were they supposed to do? Do I like it? No. Do I have a solution? Sure - force people to use their real identities on-line, same as they do to letters to the editor or tv and radio interviews. Instead of being cowardly "keyboard warriors", let them stand behind their speech. If you don't value what you said enough to attach your name and reputation to it, why should anyone think it's all that important to read it?
And for all those "anonymity is a basic principle of the internet", this wasn't always true. Just like people getting all upset about their name and address being posted on the internet, who forget how recently we used to think nothing about receiving an updated book with names, addresses, and phone numbers to every door, and nobody was going "OMG! OMG!"
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Yep, this vid is best explanation I've seen of what's going on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Of course government and corporations want to control and censor the internet, but lately they've found support and allies among righteous authoritarians who pass themselves off as activists for the oppressed (when all they're really after is power).
If you ever encounter someone who thinks that only government censorship matters, show them how Reddit once actively opposed things like SOPA and PIPA. Then point out how CISA recently passed without a blip from them, and how they now actively shut down discussion of things like TPP.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The real threat here is Millennials. They're an entire generation of people who've deluded themselves into believing that they stand for freedom and openness, yet in practice they're actually among the most virulent perpetrators of censorship and the suppression of free expression.
If you express an opinion that they dislike, they don't engage in discussion. They just shut you down, typically using a system that's without any sort of an appeal process, or due process of any sort.
Whoa, bit of an over-generalization there, don't you think? If you want to engage in generational blame, I could also easily blame the baby boomers that currently dominate congressional leadership, and feel the need to regulate things they don't understand (and laugh off the fact they don't understand technology, which always irritates me). The internet started free, and deteriorated into spying and other things under the boomers' watch, you know. Many Millennials only recent gained the ability to run for Senate, for example, and most are not even eligible to run for President. The generation hasn't even had an opportunity to contribute to governance much yet, and you already blame them?
Really, the issue is we've gone through a massive cultural shift in the 20ish years since the internet became mainstream. We can talk to people around the world, and learn about cultures and viewpoints we didn't before. We don't need commercial media as much, because my twitter stream shows me real time events in the middle east, for example, and aggregated together, probably much less biased. Just facts. The Internet allows us to seek our own knowledge and not be fully reliant on corporate media. I think what you will see is that a cross-section of people that have used the internet since its early days -- all generations but probably leaning more toward Millennials -- respect this freedom and independence, and want to protect it.
Meanwhile there seems to be a counter-culture that takes the corporate viewpoint a little too seriously -- some young people too but in my anecdotal experience, tends to be older people, I think because they grew up only having corporate media as single source of news -- and these people use the internet as a way to stay attached to people like them. Like-minded viewpoints. I have had the misfortune of stumbling across some of these on a number of social websites; they are groups for hate and fear-mongering. Where a person used to be the weirdo in town, now they can talk to other weirdos and pump themselves up and pretend they are majorities. It is these people that shut down all dissent and disagreeing viewpoints. They want to live in their own bubble; they are "proud conservatives that watch Fox News" for example, and seem to be proud of the fact that they stay in their bubble. I am not a fan of the current Republican candidates, but I still watch their debates because I want to know more about the viewpoints. There are those that refuse to hear anything outside of their viewpoint, and it really weirds me out.
So what we have is a cultural war -- do we see the internet as stay free, open, independent, allowing anyone to become a contributor and not just a bystander? Or do we see the internet as a way of segregating ourselves from other conflicting viewpoints? Really, this came about because of the rapid shift of computers and the internet and really the globalization of the economy. Our culture changed so quickly that I don't think everyone has caught up yet, and there's disagreement about how we should feel about the rapid shift..
If you agree with me, and the internet should stay free and independent, then it is our responsibility to speak up. Government in this country is still the people and laws -- if current representatives don't hear your pleas, start running for office yourself. Doesn't strictly have to be the US congress either; run for state congress, or even county-level or city-council. Mayors and county executives wield a large amount of power but we tend to ignore them. If you aren't willing to try something, then I don't believe you get to have much room to complain about government.
There's a third evil force (which I'm sure government and corporations are overjoyed about) pushing as hard as they can for censorship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
A huge activist arm of the tech news media has, especially over the last year and a half, been to happy portay criticism and disagreement as "harassment" and "threats" as an excuse to censor and stifle discussion of the "wrong" opinions, especially about politics or lapses in their own journalistic ethics.
Motherboard Vice (the site linked in the summary) itself hypocritically silenced the masses by wiping out its own comments section, ensuring only themselves and approved plebians will have a voice on their site. Mad about too many readers fact-checking your insulting, baseless, click-bait articles? Problem solved. And now they have the gall to bemoan a loss of internet freedom? How come we didn't get a story posted about that, Slashdot?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
Vice are Grade-A hypocrites, perfectly happy to support internet censorship as long as they get to be the censors.
You are finally going to check out America? Why?
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Any encryption software that you can buy is very likely to be government created or compromised by the government. If you want real security you'll have to be somewhat creative in how you accomplish it. I also want to know why bank software disallows really good passwords. You would think that banks would be eager to have customers with seriously, strong passwords or pass phrases. It is almost like they want to be hacked.
"Do I like it? No. Do I have a solution? Sure - force people to use their real identities on-line, same as they do to letters to the editor or tv and radio interviews."
There are some nasty people online. Flame wars can get out of hand. I've seen things turn bad. I've seen an over-the-top feminist who contacted an opponent's employer to falsely accuse him of harassment and advocating for legalisation of rape in an attempt to get him fired. I've seen a super-patriotic flag-waver who was filled with such a powerful loathing for anyone who opposed his political views that he once created a whole website in the name of an opponent in which he advocated sex with children and the abolition of age of consent laws in an attempt to discredit them. There have been numerous instances of people falsely making police calls claiming there is a shooting in progress in order to trigger a SWAT team attack upon someone's home over things as trivial as losing in an online game. You would have to be foolish indeed to reveal your real name when there are people like that on the internet.
Internet freedom is indeed dissolving. If you use the internet, you're at an increasing risk to catch malware. If your computer is infected you don't have any freedom at all. You are at risk of losing your money on the bank. You're at risk of losing your valuable personal data or your identity being abused. In all cases you are bombarded with ant-virus advertisements which may of may not be fake. Your computer might also be used in all kinds of illegal activities designed to hurt others. Also, if you buy from legit-looking webshops, it turns out that your cash disappears and your goods are never delivered, even though you might intuitively think that it can be traced, because everything is 'digital'.
Unless you're a slashdot nerd, you don't have the knowledge to effectively defend against it.
I think the average person has much more to lose from these than from the NSA looking at his data-streams (not that I don't have problems with uncontrolled monitoring). If you feel concerned about eroding freedom on internet, you should at least address this issue as well. It also has as extra advantage that you take the wind out of the 'security by more control' arguments
Why even bother mentioning this. It is the least of the problems in the US regime. Of course there will be a negative impression on internet freedom in an undemocratic country that tortures people, holds them without trial, bombs one country after another, imposes random sanctions against other countries, allows politicians to be bought, conducts summary executions with drones, ... America has the most utterly corrupt and contemptible system of governance. The whole political system is geared towards allowing only bought influence of massive and corrupt corporations, banks, and military systems manufacturers. Democracy will never be possible in America, without very substantial constitutional reforms. There are also now other even more worrying trends, like religious fanaticism in the 'republican' party, and a substantial increase in the number of US apparatchiks that appear to be sociopathic, for example, Hillary Clinton. Altogether, I can't think of a reasonably developed country that is in much worse shape, from the point of view of governance, or corruption.
Is that you Ted Kaczynski?
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
Jeez, who p*ssed in your cornflakes this morning? Nobody's talking against you behind your back. I was DEFENDING your right to post what you want. Hence the "unmoderated speech works". I only pointed out our past fights as a counter-example to the claim that slashdot deletes posts, because that's the example that I'm familiar with. If people don't like it, all they have to do is ignore it, same as with ads, tv commercials, politicians going blah blah blah.
And yes, feel free to insult me for what I am - it doesn't bother me, and if it makes you feel good ... after all, no harm, no foul. :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Having PTSD is not the same as being insane. But you already know that ... :-)
But if you want to "hunt me down and bust my face," come on up. I've posted my address here, and I can't stop you. Just like I can't stop you from taking offense where none was meant. (I've gotten to that point in my life where anything anyone says about me just doesn't matter all that much any more, so I'm replying more as a courtesy to those who are wondering WT* is going on here than anything else). It's the Internet - who cares any more?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
The word "doesn't" is present tense. When was the last time I posted AC? Years ago. If you follow the links, it was May 10th, 2010. That's more than 5 years ago. And then it was only because "what's good for the goose is good for the gander," as I pointed out. So I would just ask you, why do you continue to post AC if you feel it's so morally wrong for others to do so?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
(sigh) Promises, promises ... how you really do go on.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
And I've been known to change my views or admit I was wrong on-line. It's no big deal - it's just the internet. As an example, we're no longer fighting because there's more to life, he's an okay guy on other topics, and what the heck, if you don't like it, just don't browse at -1 :-)
.... any sort of insult?
And if you go up-thread, you'll see that I was responding to someone who had already mentioned you. I did not "drag you into this" or "stab you in the back." I've already said I'm sorry if you took it that way, but I don't see how saying you're an okay guy on other topics is an attack on you.
I think you jumped the gun on this one.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
And I've been known to change my views or admit I was wrong on-line. It's no big deal - it's just the internet. As an example, we're no longer fighting because there's more to life, he's an okay guy on other topics, and what the heck, if you don't like it, just don't browse at -1 :-)
Really, re-read the original thread, which was about censorship, and how the person I was replying to chose you as someone they believed so much that your comments should be deleted that they claimed that slashdot WAS deleting them. If you have an axe to grind with anyone today, it's that poster, not me.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Here's the thing - I don't care who tracks me, what they know or think they know about me, or whatever. Advertising can inform me of products but it can't make me buy them. Research first :-) As for the government, I don't care what they know about me - they certainly have my education, work history, medical files, etc. So what? I just don't feel threatened by it. It's different north of the border.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Again, I did not "start anything." It was a thread about censorship of blogs, and someone else brought you up as someone they were sure has had posts deleted because of you repetitious hosts file postings. I used our previous differences as an example of how posts are not deleted. And then I even wrote that you're an ok guy in other areas. That is not attacking you, but again, if you took it that way, I'm sorry I wasn't clearer. I wasn't attacking you yesterday, last week, last month, last year ... and I don't have any interest in doing so in the future. As I wrote, this is the Internet ... nothing posted online is all that important :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Downmods aren't censorship, not really. The posts are still there, visible for all the world to see if they want to browse at -1, where a lot of the good stuff ends up, at least temporarily. And I've had my run-ins with SJWs, both here and elsewhere, as well as the gay white mafia who think that if you don't toe the LGBT community line you're hurting the "community" - a community that doesn't really understand transsexuals and many of them think transsexuals and cross-dressers are the same thing.
I don't know what adblock does on their forums. If they're deleting your posts there, that's between you and them. My comments were solely directed to the commentator who wrongfully claimed that your posts here had been deleted. Depending on the forum, deleting posts based on particular criteria may be warranted. Take any forum that caters to the general public - people would expect that posts that promote discrimination and.or hatred against a particular person or group based on an immutable characteristic (color, ethnic origin, etc) would earn a smackdown if it were particularly egregious, whereas a forum such as slashdot you wouldn't expect posts to be deleted.
Each site is different, and people are free to choose which ones they participate in - choice is good :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
The internet will always find a way to route around damage - and both censorship and ubiquitous tracking are damage. I have no problem with sites that raise a little bit with ads that don't suck, don't suck bandwidth, and don't suck by assuming if I see the same add 1,000 times I'll be more likely to check them out.
Oh well, med side effects kicking in, gotta go lie down for a bit.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
No, he thought they WERE deleted, and I said slashdot doesn't do that. Easy enough if you look up-thread.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Normal folks do NOT pull the crap the weasel(s) do to me here OR on your site!
I apologize for how the other user on Pin Eight handled your unconventional posting style. I did put all your posts back into the talk page because I'm interested only in the facts.