Feralbreed said:
And they did use that power too! It was your fucked up government who used Nuclear weapons in a cowardly attack in WW2. Infact the only country that has ever used Nuclear weapons despite Russia and everything. To trust my internet to them.
I'm British, for starters- and more to the point, I was merely using the nuclear weapons part to highlight how much control the government already has. People think that this is a major step against our rights, but they fail to realise that we don't have them as it stands. More to the point, what are they going to do with power over the internet? Blocking people from getting on AIM for a week would hardly achieve anything, especially when you consider the amount of trade that the internet supplies for the USA. It would be a monumental cock-move if they were to deny internet access to their people- and i'm sure they realise that- hence why it's merely being put into place as a
last resort.
Hopeless Bastard said:
Superfly CJ said:
I'm pretty sure the only way its possible to be "closed minded" in this case is to view this as anything other than a power grab.
Of course it's a power grab. Every single act passed is a power grab on someone's part. That doesn't make it any less important. Satan himself could be passing this bill and it wouldn't make a difference.
Most of the time, a government will only pass an act if they can be sure its in their own best interests, whether its affording them a new lease of power, or favour with the public. Just because this is the former, doesn't mean it can't be beneficial to us 'little people', too.
Scrutiny is going to be placed upon it's usage- this thread is confirmation of that. The very prescence of the public is going to guarantee that the 'killswitch' is only used when absolutely necessary- otherwise, the man in charge is going to be risking political suicide- thats the beauty of Democracy.
RobfromtheGulag said:
Superfly CJ said:
Lets face it, the Government are hardly going to monitor each and every single citizen, if even one. Investigation services exist for the sole purpose of chasing existing threads, not plucking ones from out of thin air by monitoring millions of live messenger conversations.
The reality that they won't and the possibility that they might are two distinct things, and I'm not on-board with the ability to do so.
This lax standpoint of 'it probably won't affect me' doesn't change the fact that freedoms are being continuously 'suspended' and not be returned to the people.
The people have the power to press for fair usage, and that's exactly what they're doing. I'm only here to defend the killswitch itself, not any additional perks that it may bring to the higher powers.
I, personally, wouldn't feel as if my freedoms were being suspended if I were living in America. The internet is a priviledge, and I never started using it under the belief that I would be able to retain my 'online privacy'. The only thing that makes the internet unique is it's position as a hub of free speech- and I don't feel that this bill infringes on that trait at all.
Let the people of America govern the exact details and usage of the killswitch and everything that comes with it. As it currently stands, the bill
may be flawed, but as an idea, I can't see how anyone could oppose.
As the old saying goes: Better to be with than without.
