SOPA, ACTA Can we protect the Internet freedom forever?

[kristopherb]

After watching a video on youtube 'The young Turks - TTP Worse then ACTA?' It got me thinking, how long will the internet be truly free for? And how long will it take a SOPA-esque law to be implemented? So far the anti SOPA and ACTA movements have been a large success, but from what I understand of TPP it is hidden under a trade agreement and to make matters worse nothing is known about it.


Can we protect the freedom of the internet forever from the corporations?
How do we prevent other, future attacks on our internet freedoms?

 

[Farm Boy]

There's money involved, and when money is involved the legislators will keep coming back again and again until the people are exhausted. No Man's life liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Isn't that the quote?

 

[AlpsStranger]

Nah, we're all screwed.

The Republicans are running around talking about fighting internet porn. Then you have the piracy scares. All someone has to do is trump up a witch hunt about child pornography and the internet will become the corporate police state they've always dreamed of.

We'll have the Great Christian Firewall of the United States within ten years. Enjoy.

 

[History_Buff]

Well, if you want to really end stuff like this, once and for all, forever vanquishing the great evil, I think the only way you'll get it is through massive decentralization. That's what the Meshnet project is supposed to be, if it ever works. It may well just be crazy redditors being crazy though.

There's also a decent chance, that 40 years from now, when people who actually understand how the internet works are running the show, that the battle will be fundamentally different. Either the will to regulate will be gone, or they'll be far more effective at regulating it.

 

[GhostWriter16]

There's money involved, and when money is involved the legislators will keep coming back again and again until the people are exhausted. No Man's life liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. Isn't that the quote?

Hence why I don't trust the government

Nah, we're all screwed.

The Republicans are running around talking about fighting internet porn. Then you have the piracy scares. All someone has to do is trump up a witch hunt about child pornography and the internet will become the corporate police state they've always dreamed of.

We'll have the Great Christian Firewall of the United States within ten years. Enjoy.

These are the things I DON'T agree with the GOP on

Well, if you want to really end stuff like this, once and for all, forever vanquishing the great evil, I think the only way you'll get it is through massive decentralization. That's what the Meshnet project is supposed to be, if it ever works. It may well just be crazy redditors being crazy though.

There's also a decent chance, that 40 years from now, when people who actually understand how the internet works are running the show, that the battle will be fundamentally different. Either the will to regulate will be gone, or they'll be far more effective at regulating it.

Can you expound upon this? (Without getting arrested of course)

 

[History_Buff]

Hence why I don't trust the government

Why not stop the money flowing into the legislators then?

Can you expound upon this? (Without getting arrested of course)

Nothing illegal about it. Bunch of redditors want to build a meshnet. You have every node in the network serving as a relay as well as a user. The goal being to remove central points like DNS servers I think. Without those, it's far harder for legislators to attack any site outside their physical territory.

Not a great plan, IMO, but interesting. I believe the below is their website, and they've got a subreddit, but I kind of hate that place.

https://projectmeshnet.org/

 

[GhostWriter16]

Why not stop the money flowing into the legislators then?

Not sure what you mean by that.

As for Meshnet, that's interesting. I'm surprised legislators that are OK with restricting internet freedom wouldn't ban Meshnet as well

 

[History_Buff]

Not sure what you mean by that.

You stop the money at the lobbyists. Without the MPAA and RIAA lobbyists, all this stuff goes away.

As for Meshnet, that's interesting. I'm surprised legislators that are OK with restricting internet freedom wouldn't ban Meshnet as well

Good luck with that. They'll need to ban, and enforce the ban on, pretty much all ad-hoc networks, which I don't think they could really get away with. You can't argue that's all about piracy and child pornography.

 

[Farm Boy]

They can, however, assert public domain over the cabled infrastructure - or regulate it, as they already assert public domain over transmission frequencies.

 

[AlpsStranger]

We've all been wild west internet cowboys. It won't last.

In our lifetimes we will be forced to log in with something like RealID and be unable to post anything anonymously. Count on it.

1 - It's good "reality mining" for advertisers.
2 - It's good for public morality because you can't watch porno secretly.
3 - It protects us from terrorists.
4 - Won't someone think of the children?

Of course, like everything, the wealthy will have sufficient resources to bend the rules if they wish. This is how social conservatism works so well with Gordon Gekko conservatism.

 

[Traitorfish]

I'm sceptical that the state is actually competent enough to enforce something like that. For the majority of people, maybe, but it will have holes in it a mile wide for anyone who cares to look for them, or at least holes that can be pried a mile wide. These things always do, we just don't have much experience as a society of being able to communicate with them any speed.

 

[History_Buff]

They can, however, assert public domain over the cabled infrastructure - or regulate it, as they already assert public domain over transmission frequencies.

Oh it's probably possible. But in trying, they'd make far too many enemies. Can you really imagine the government trying to claw back all the current wifi bands in the next decade or three?

 

[Farm Boy]

Yes, I could.

 

[JollyRoger]

Why should the freedom to infringe on property rights last forever?

 

[Save_Ferris]

This isn't as much about corporations as it is about anti-piracy. People who hate piracy are for SOPA because, well, they hate piracy. Simple as that.

 

[History_Buff]

Why should the freedom to infringe on property rights last forever?

Because the exact same technology used for piracy is also used for legitimate means. To shut down all such traffic would be a stupid move.

 

[Der Golem]

The real battle right now in the US is about how to create a very comprehensive appeal procedure whenever anyone get accused of copyright infringement, and the very rights of ISP to implement their own way of how to alert copyright infringers by email.

So we are seeing a lot of delays after delays on how much it will cost, and how to implement a well thought out fair legal procedure whenever an act of piracy do occur.

 

[Grisu]

Because the exact same technology used for piracy is also used for legitimate means. To shut down all such traffic would be a stupid move.

besides, 'solutions' that were suggested so far would affect legitimate users much more than actual pirates

 

[King Kalmah]

I had a thread about this called 2012 a new ERA...

because now the government pays internet providers to keep YOUR INFO for up to one year,,,

They are basically spying on us...I can't find the link,but the law passed in congress the same week Chic a Fila did their anti gay thing...my friend warned me about this the same week,,,

he said "when ever we (as a nation) focus on sex or gay rights,you should focus on congress,because a lot of laws are being passed while the news is focusing on "CIVIL RIGHTs...."

I miss the good old days...screw the man...