The big media / internet debate

[pulse2]

I've noticed a lot of government interferance in freedom of speech lately, Japanese anime / games being restricted, EU and interent restriction and this big talk of a global law on the internet to stop piracy, porn, secret information about governments, 4Chan (and the likes) and all other things deemed a threat existing.

First question, do you think a global internet restriction would ever work?
How would you feel if those restrictions ever came about?
Do you think governments are adopting a babysitting culture aka a slight North Korean state of mind?

Yeah, whats your opinion.

 

[rokkolpo]

1. No, to many protests and it would completely destroy our economy.
2. Indifferent, I'll just wait it out.
3. Not the Dutch one, no.

 

[Sevre]

I'll let them restrict our freedom of speech if they weren't so damn hypocritical about it. Would it kill for some transparency?

 

[zfactor]

1. Nope, there is always a way past it, it would be too expensive, people would freak out and protest, etc.
2. I would activly work to bypass them and do so for other people. I would probably do something else to get rid of them.
3. Well, the balance between personal privacy and personal freedom against security and public safety has always been hard to get. If you allow too much freedom, then it becomes hard to find the criminals. If you restrict it too much, people get angry and protest (not to mention it goes against the ideas that formed the USA, my country). I am actually against global observation of the internet because, logistically, it is really hard to do. You would need to tap into everybody's internet connection and block sites on a restricted list. People can just bypass it (by using a proxy server or sending some code that says site is already checked. There is always a way around). Plus, the government (at least the US one) is explicitly told that people have a right to peaceful assembly. (Uhh, first amendment? It's one of them...) The internet is a technologically advanced "parade ground." The government cannot restrict our access to it.

Well, that post was longer than I thought it would be...

 

[pulse2]

There is only one restriction that should ever be in place, and that is not allowing completely illegal acts to be presented online, so no snuff films and no child pornography. I'm sick of all these countries putting through legislation 'FOR TEH CHILDREN' that is completely based upon their own morality and ethics, and how offended they believe someone might be from certain content. The internet should be fair game for people to post whatever they want (unless it's snuff, child porn ect) without persecution from people who fear that stuff might be 'shocking' and 'tasteless'.

That I agree with, it just irritates me how this only became an issue with the release of wiki-leaks. All the time people were doing illegal things under the sun, suddenly wiki-leaks reveals government secrets and now they are talking about a global internet law.

The internet is a device for us to share information with one another, if we had restrictions on what we said and did, it would in my opinion be against our freedom of speech, because once the restrictions start popping up, it inevitably leads slowly towards blocking out anything deemed 'too truthful to have available'. Apparently we have no rights to know what our governments are doing behind our backs.