By: Links 16/12/2012: Humble Indie Bundle 7 Rants, ownCloud KDE Client | Techrights

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 02:35:22 +0000

[...] How the law caught up with the internet As online freedom comes under attack from big business and governments alike, Jennifer Granick assesses the legal landscape [...]

By: Michael Kenny

Michael Kenny — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:04:06 +0000

The problem with the internet is that it is not a “global” network at all. It is an American-controlled network with global reach. The result is that American ideas are imposed on the rest of us and our ideas are frequently censored out. On top of that, the American concept of the internet makes it a liar’s paradise. Sites that claim to be one thing but in fact are something else, authors writing under undisclosed pseudonyms, deliberate disinformation, to mention but a few of its manifestations. Thus, the supposedly “free” internet has become just another form of American bullying. Google, for example, is in serious trouble in Europe over Streetview, which largely infringes European privacy laws.
Thus, what needs to happen is for the internet to cease to be an American-controlled medium and become genuinely global but since American arrogance (beautifully manifested by the author’s atttiude towards the ITU!)makes that unlikely until American power has declined sufficientlly for it to behave more reasonably, I would see national governments requiring their local ISPs to block certain sites, using criteria such as those listed in the second paragraph, frequently enough as pretexts. That is certainly what will happen in Europe. To borrow a phrase, we are the 95%. There is no justification for the 5% controlling such an influential medium.

Comments on: How the law caught up with the internet

By: Links 16/12/2012: Humble Indie Bundle 7 Rants, ownCloud KDE Client | Techrights

By: Michael Kenny