It's pretty awesome to see ordinary people speak up for the Internet to prevent the passage of SOPA. The whole "black-out" campaigns and boycotts were quite nicely played out. It reminds me of a year ago when telecom companies in Canada tried to introduce Usage Based Billing to charge Canadians more for internet use, and squeeze out independent ISP's. Canadians won in a similar manner: by making their voices heard on the internet.
Yes this is great, but there's something unsettling as well. All this activism to stop the politicians from mingling around with the beloved Internet, and dead silence on NDAA, which allows indefinite detention without trial to be codified into law. Rights and freedoms? Sure, take them! But god help you if you try to charge more for Internet.
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I won't call it dead silence...
ReplyDeleteThere was plenty of anger over NDAA on the interwebs..............
ReplyDeleteI thought some variant of UBB was passed in Ontario
ReplyDeletegood point. I think the explanation for the salinity of the issue, compared with NDAA, was that freedom on the internet has a greater sense of entitlement amongst its user base compared to the 5th amendment, which is only exercised only when you are accused: its repeal is only abhorrent on an intellectual basis. One's sense of entitlement, however, knows no bounds...and is not constrained by petty things such as rationality and/or consistency :P
ReplyDelete(see: Medicare, Medicaid, re: Tea Party Philosophy)