U.S. Congress Opposes United Nations Internet Treaty

[Calcium]

My skepticism is whispering to me that the main reason behind such unanimous agreement is this part (from the previous article):

It says that by wresting control of the internet from U.S. companies ...

The bill still sounds kindof dodgy though, not as bad as some of the proposed bills, but still concerning. Ah well, a good decision perhaps.

 

[Melnordan]

As a wise man once said better the evil you know than the evil you don't know.

 

[Lunar Templar]

What do you mean the American Congress did something good?

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL CONGRESS

this, so much this. congress is full of ass hats owned by special interest groups, they're aren't supposed to 'help' the country, even tangentially...

 

[dmase]

The internet has contributed more than anything in existence to creating democracies and an environment where people can find any information they want about the world. It's not like 30 years ago where someone born in a strict socially conservative country couldn't even imagine what freedom is like, they can see it on videos by talking to people across the world and by opening their eyes to the greatest achievements ever known, all through one medium.

I think China's censoriship really shows off how a country that tries to shut off the area of the internet that it doesn't like will just draw more interest to a touchy subject and ultimately cause a backlash on itself.

 

[rednose1]

Well I'll be. Not only did the U.S. government see it for the crap that it was, but there wasn't a single moron in Congress to think it was a good idea....Gives me hope we're not TOTALLY screwed.....yet.

 

[The Critic]

Well, I'm happy that this was the outcome reached. If it was a totally unanimous decision, all the better.

I know that they're not opposing this for completely altruistic reasons, no politician ever does anything without some ulterior motive, but seeing as how this decision is the one most beneficial to us, I'm not about to object to it too loudly.

This situation turned out well, and in the end, the result is all that really matters, in this case, anyways. Not the motives, not the second guessing, just the right call.

 

[cricket chirps]

Proud to be an American *Salutes*

Just remember though, the US government was quite happy with the idea of corporate censorship of the internet via SOPA/PIPA allowing anyone to be cut off from it and sued without trial and minimal proof...

I would point you back to the first half of my post "This is the only time i will say this"
Trust me, i'm no proud American.

 

[Zeraki]

Congress unanimously agree on something?

I guess the Mayans were right after all.

 

[McMullen]

Wait, did I sleep through a massive political coup or something? If there's a wrong decision to be made with regards to the Internet, Congress usually supports it.

I'm so confused.

Happy, but confused.

 

[Owen Robertson]

If the U.N. is good for anything it's bringing Countrymen together... to hate on the U.N.

Good concept, poor execution, much like Star Wars episodes 1 & 2 (Sorry. I didn't have anything better. Maybe Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2?)

 

[Smooth Operator]

Sadly this isn't because they feel the internet should stay free but because they want the control themselves, so it's only great as long as the control freaks are going at each other and really bloody bad when someone wins.

 

[jetriot]

With more rights to free speech than nearly every country in the world I think we should all be thankful that the internet was created and is mostly controlled by the US. Sure the US has its problems and we can all ***** about them but we ARE able to ***** about them. I like the internet as it is(with only a few patent, copyright and corporate lawyer bullshit exceptions).

 

[kouriichi]

Excuse my language, but what a f*cking twist. Stephen King couldnt have written this. I mean, America? The great US of A, where i was born, and have lived my entire life, saying "No", to having control over the internet? Im speechless really.

Though i cant help but feel its because they have some dark, hidden, evil agenda that involves sacrificing virgins (en masse of course), to some evil long forgotten god. Of course i could just be paranoid.

 

[Nuttydwarf]

You know there is that one person who you think you have figured out then they do something completely out-of-left field...well that just was the US Congress , even more amazing is..they ALL ACTUALLY AGREED ON SOMETHING O.O

 

[Strazdas]

US does not want to give away its control of the internet police to internetional organization.
didnt we all kinda expect that anyway?

 

[Syzygy23]

I don't want to be pessimistic, but couldn't it be just an American attempt to reduce "control" of chunks of the Net in sensitive countries like Iran and China? I somehow doubt both parties both came to the conclusion that SOPA, PIPA and ACTA are all ridiculous shenanigans. I'm sure there's ulterior motives behind this.

Altruism, this is not.

It involves Congress, anyone who thinks the motivations were altruistic are either very naive or some sort of drooling moron.

Still, I'd prefer a free internet due to selfish motivations than a police-state internet.

 

[Marudas]

The only reason any government has to get involved in the internet is for control. You don't exactly see congressmen traipsing around any other public gatherings, but the second something becomes big and has enough sway like the internet, they seek to interject. I'm an American and I'm honestly shocked that our congress made a choice like this, since they're about as bad as any of them come. They sit around all day getting bought off by media lobbyists, but this is what they have a spine about? Hard to complain, I suppose.

 

[MrPeanut]

Umm, weren't the US and the EU against this treaty from the start? And since that meant that it would never pass...

Why the big news?

 

[Andrew Drake]

What in the name of Azura is happening? Congress doing something halfway intelligent! Congress doing ANYTHING by unanimous vote! The Executive Branch DOING IT TOO! Did someone take a magical golden hammer to Washington while I wasn't looking?

I feel like I fell through a portal into a alternate dimension where things that don't work suddenly do. This is... crazy.

I AM NOT GOING BACK!

Note: Perhaps they only reacted this way out of fear of the Internet deciding to attack again. I mean SOPA had Wikipedia (Which is by definition of their mission statement: Attempting to remain True Neutral) blackout itself to raise awareness. Messing with the internet is a good way to, paraphrased from Extra Credits, Tangle with the kind of people who put Linux on their PlayStations. That is a battle NOBODY wants to fight.

I mean, the collective hive-mind known as the Internet would probably pull an EDI and fill various Senator's inboxes with a combined total of seven Zetabytes of explicit images, or crash every public US Government Website, and a few secure ones for good measure. Thats not considering what the various Hacker Collectives (Looking at you Anonymous) would do.