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Censorship: Made in the USA
March has been a stormy month across the Arab world as the hope for new democracy faces the harsh reality of despots armed with guns, tanks and the tools of censorship.
In Libya, the Gaddafi regime plunged the nation into digital darkness during the first week of March, turning off Internet access to keep Libyans from organizing one another and documenting Gaddafi's crimes for the world to see.
In Bahrain, the kingdom reacted to democracy demonstrators by blacking out websites where locals shared cell phone videos, blocking YouTube pages containing videos of street protests, and taking down a large Facebook group that called for more demonstrations.
It doesn't end there.
According to a new report by the not-for-profit OpenNet Initiative (ONI), Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, UAE and Sudan have joined the ranks of censors, using software to block access to homegrown protest sites.
This crackdown is having a ripple effect across the United States, in ways many might not expect. Much of the censorship technology in use in the Arab world was made by American companies willing to look the other way as regimes use it to smother opposition.
The ONI report fingers several American companies, including Intel-owned McAfee, Inc., San Diego-based Websensce, Inc., and Palo Alto Networks, for selling software that red lists websites and blocks all access.
Last month, I reported on another U.S. company, Narus of Sunnyvale, California, which sold to Egypt and Libya an Internet spying technology that lets state security forces track online and cellphone communications and even target the speaker's whereabouts for arrest.
The Narus report prompted Republican and Democratic members of the House Foreign Relations Committee to demand a State Department investigation, the results of which are pending.
In the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois slammed the U.S. tech industry for not owning up to the abusive application of their products. He wrote, "If U.S. companies are unwilling to take reasonable steps to protect human rights, Congress must step in."
It's encouraging to hear members of Congress speak out. But curtailing the sale of this technology won't happen until they match words with action.
Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts is the only voice on the Hill to pledge to take that next step, proposing legislation that would prevent U.S. trafficking in censorship technology.
"People are losing their lives based on this technology," he said during a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing. In a later statement he said he would introduce legislation "that would provide a national strategy to prevent the use of American technology from being used by human rights abusers."
I'm hopeful we'll see this legislation soon. (You can contact both congressmen Keating and Durbin to encourage them to act, too.)
Freedom of speech and assembly shouldn't end at America's border, or whenever we log on to the Internet. It's time Washington took action against U.S. technology companies that are helping despots silence their people.
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Show AllThe Republican-dominated North Carolina State Assembly this week approved a bill that would prohibit communities from upgrading their internet access, forcing individual municipalities into a private monopoly of managed broadband services by companies like Time Warner and Comcast.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/30/north-carolina-bill-would-prohibit-cities-from-upgrading-internet-access/
They passed that law to prove just one more time that the private sector is always more efficient and cheaper than the public sector...
I think the good, (and not so good), voters of NC are going to learn all too soon why they had not given the republicans majority rule in the state legislature for over 100 years.
Oh, yeah! I await with baited breadth.
when it comes to internet censorship and spying on its citizens the imperial amerika leads the way as it does in all things fascist
let's not kid ourselves
the citizens of this not so great corporate killing machine are happy (or not so happy, who cares) to sit back and allow the fascist creep in this country to continue with no resistance
amerikans have become cowards
we bully small countries, kill children, torture, poison etc
and we sit at home scared shitless that "they're gonna get us"
pathetic
medmedude,
The Repug loves it. It's for their safety and knowing Uncle Same watching every moves and they know exactly what's going on. Than the regular Democrats don't give a damn. So long they have a Democrats in the WH, better still a Black President, a former Constitution Law professor from Chicago and they feel good. You and I can continue to whines and bitch, no one cares. Great country. :-)
ouch! so true
medmedude,
Really, sure and you are not kidding me?
Pssssh, who will you be voting for, if you have only TWO choices:
1. Obama
2. Palin
What are the two choices?
You only listed one (i.e. the Corporations).
Why do you think so? I thought it was OK but not going deep enough.
What's wrong with the posts here? They're intelligent. Why not go over to other blogs and read a few hundred retarded comments on "tea party" articles and then come back?
Or maybe don't come back.
Not as adolescent as your posts, Thomas More / Henry8 / prometheus / mightymite
Come now this is the "Free market" in action. Corporations are "free" to produce and manufacture anything no matter how harmful it is to society.
This "freedom" applies to poisons and plastics that give people cancer and turn oceans into toxic dumps, du munitions that pollute entire countries and lead to birth defects, weapons systems that can drop bombs upon people at a picnic and are operated by brave freedom fighters from 6000 miles away or genetically modified foods that contaminate entire ecosystems.
Profits are paramount. Not life. Not the health of the people. Not the Oceans or the skies or the birds and the bees. Not The Dolphins in the seas. Not citizens protesting injustice on the streets of Cairo.
It is all about PROFIT and from that POWER over the other. If a given action provides a return to the shareholder, then it is deemed as good.
The stuff that comes out of the mouths of the Politicians like an Obama is just another sales pitch to get the people to buy into a system that is at the root of the worlds evils. The love of money over the love of life.
This Article barely touches this subject. Read about China's "Golden Shield". All the biggest EU and US IT companies are in on it - including Google. The more you read, the sicker you'll get. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China
Terrorist's support groups?
Speaking of censorship, I've been seeing too much of it all over the net and it's getting worse on most progressive forums from what many have reported in the past and present. If it's not direct censorship, there's the mental psycho type to force exclusion. One thing I notice is that from what I read on most liberal blogs, all attention is on Republican Party, "Tea Party", Palin, Beck, and Walker with less attention on the issues. I'll see 200+ comments on an article about Michelle Bachman but less than 20 on another article about wasteful spending in the military. Talk about the fact that schadenfreude doesn't substitute a real agenda and you'll get framed as a Republican. With plenty of schadenfreude and ignorance on all sides, I can't be surprised that the American people generally don't stand up to corporate/military fascism. By the way, the only reason I can see censorship technology being exported is to use foreigners as cheap guinea pigs in their plans to prepare to censor the American people in case they rise up. When all is said and done, the Republicans and Democrats have us right where they want us.
Max, sorry to see you getting viciously attacked by Quannah, pelican beak, and usualsuspects on Alternet. Stay calm and careful because Alternet's on an account locking rampage. I think everyone there still likes you in spite of Q/pb/tus . I got locked and I think tailcap and aahpat too got locked. Quannah and pb must be up to something. Do you suppose Alternet could be giving them jobs as "moderators"?
Benn, it's ok. I've done all that I could but their latest rounds of vicious attacks are too much for anyone to put up with. I've had more than enough of their constant war-baiting and vicious ad hominem attacks. They're not really after me on their posts. They just wanna have something to stir up war and trouble so that I'll do exactly what they want and get banned. I did everything to ignore them and avoid getting into another one of their baiting flame wars. Still, I dunno Benn but I think it's best if I take a long vacation from Alternet or maybe just leave it altogether. I've been on and off Alternet for 6 years and nothing better has changed. The last 6 months appear to have gone regressive and it's becoming more like Huffpost. Sometimes, it can balance itself out but too much focus on the Republicans, "Tea Party", Beck, Palin, Walker, etc... is more than enough. I don't think Quannah or pb are the moderators as I told frankandsimple. They may have very high influence and people who end up arguing with Quannah and/or pelican beak often have their comments removed and/or account banned while nothing happens to Q and PB but I doubt they're moderators. As for getting locked out, I'm sorry to hear about it but you aren't alone. I've seen too many good people leaving and I've been noticing too many new names popping up if not their switching to an alternet exclusive profile. This pattern of sudden new users and old users leaving has happened before on Alternet but I'd never do that or create "sock puppets" in all my years of blogging despite Quannah and pelican beak falsely accusing me of it. I haven't been locked out as of yet but after yesterday's mob attack, I don't feel like returning for a really long time and if I return, I dunno. Some people have suggested that I change my username but I often refused and maybe I should have listened. Would it have prevented Quannah and beak from attacking simply based on my name? Maybe, maybe not.
But this time, I think that the blame lies on the technical issues of both Alternet and DISQUS. I've been noticing a change in how public DISQUS profiles show messages. They don't go more than a month and even if more than a month old, the "X Y ago" is all messed up.
I got along with most people on Alternet very well and I'm proud that I earned more respect from most people there and could discuss almost anything peacefully even with moderately conservative posters. I'll miss them all as much as they'll miss me but such is the price to pay for technical screwups and a handful of wacko thought "police" on that forum. If anyone wants to contact me, all they have to do is come on over here and reply and ask/comment and I'll answer. As always, I'll never bite. I never had anything personal against Quannah, pelican beak, or anyone on Alternet. Most people there were aware of Quannah's vile personal hatred and a few of them questioned her on it. I just stayed calm and cool and stuck to attacking the arguments. When they knew they were losing, their ad hominem attacks would know no bounds but I'm not angry at them even after all their years of attacking the way they did. They can lie and smear all they want to on Alternet but I'm confident that anyone who's smart enough to look up history will not fall for their spinning, selective quoting, lying, hyping, out of control fault finding, and exaggerating.
I can't rule out the possibility that Alternet could be having its own agenda looking at the rise of one too many "get angry at the Republicans" articles with dozens and hundreds of comments compared to non-political articles with few to none comments. The way I see it, I don't think I'll be in the mood for handling anymore partisan party idiocy and especially as long as Quannah/pelican beak/Usualsuspects/Beck-cleyore/and others in the Democratic Party mob are there to dominate and continue their war-baiting and cyberstalking activities while going unpunished. Their habits of lynching anyone who doesn't tow their line and cheering each other is beyond outrage. I've done more than enough to defend my credibility and most people are reasonable so for now, I feel that I'm done with Alternet and the way it's becoming Huffpost, I don't see anything to lose if I never go back to post anyway. I might read comments and take notes on the ones I like and skip the rants and flame wars but that's all for me. I'm already predicting that Alternet will be Huffpost by the end of this year and if Obama loses next year, it'll get worse. The big corporations already own Alternet if not a few wealthy donors and I've only seen them deteriorate year after year.
By the way, nice seeing you again Benn and while you weren't a frequent poster, thanks for helping me on Alternet when you had the chance. If you decide to go back to Alternet and try your luck out, best of luck to you. Thanks for warning me about people to be careful of when arguing with them. I guess I lasted longer as a result of catching the signals.
Update: I too am now another victim of the "glitch" and I just got an email confirmation from Joshua Holland about it. He says that they're acknowledging it and working to fix it. What a travesty that "moderation" and banning is being automated. ! Such American technologies can't be allowed to go to other countries like this but I'm afraid it's too late.
Max, are you gonna give up just because of some psychopath trying to bully everyone on Alternet into shunning you? You're a dynamic thinker and you've defended yourself, gone on the offensive, opened up new and interesting discussions, and given even some rightwingers a chance to feel that they too belong to the Alternet community. Don't give up now. Quannah was wrong to call you a plagiarist just because of one post you copied. So what and who's Quannah to dictate copyright shit? Stand up to censorship, MAX ! Remember when Quannah and pelican beak were trying to frame you as a rightwinger when they found out via the CD archives that you worked for the DOD in the past but you stood up and brought out the truth about failure of the left to move away from the war machine? That's the spirit of moving left and they're just jealous of you. C'mon Max ! You can do it ! Don't be down in the low blues !
Benn, it's not that I'm giving up. I've had and still have a lot to think about before I decide to go back and so far, it's mixed at best. If I only had to think about that, then yeah I'd be prepared but it's more than that. I looked at today's articles and comments and most of it is nothing but the same old repeats about "Republicans are bad bad bad" and the same old "the tea party is coming after you" schtick. Even on that Wall Street article, it came off as too conservative but at least the comments were generally refreshing. But I've been there for years and I'm not seeing much improving there. I didn't say that I wouldn't go back for good but I think it's better that I take at least a long vacation from that site while they fix the glitches and so on. Hey, no point in going back if you can't get back in, right? You should also ask yourself the question as to where to continue or change direction. I can defend myself until doomsday but if they're not gonna listen but play the same games, I might as well be trying to negotiate with a David Duke supporter if I'm gonna try again with them. I could do some name change just so that they'll stop playing "@$$hole" just by looking at my name but given their psycho behavior of cyberstalking, I dunno.
That they are given some "special" rights to bait and flame that others would get banned for doing doesn't speak well. If you've noticed, they play the victim game so that they can bully, lie, and frame anyone they personally hate. Their tricks include making an allegation and asking the accused to prove their innocence even when it's a fact that the burden of proof lies on the one making the allegation/accusation and until proven true, the burden won't shift. They lie frequently about who's the bully even when it's obvious that they're doing their own bullying to feel superior and then they try to frame their lies and ad hominem attacks as "facts" out of desperation. If that's not enough, they'll try to brainwash others into framing you, me, and others as the "bad guys" and those people will just cave in "fear". I won't get attacked by them but there's nobody to get them to stop. Chances are we'll get falsely blamed for starting the flame wars that they had actually perpetrated. Those people are into nastiest forms of bullying by intimidation and exclusion. I dunno Benn but I'll still think about it for a while before deciding where to go with this decision to return to Alternet or not.
By the way, too many people there are calling for censorship on Alternet. True, every site including this one will have at least a few posters calling for it without realizing it but the calls for it are getting nastier. Have a look at the comments in this article to see what I mean. I wasn't attacked for giving my take but only because I was cautious lest I be called a "Republican troll mole". http://www.alternet.org/story/150049 . It's not looking good on Alternet these days.
Max, you're lucky you got your access back on Alternet cuz I still haven't even after 1 month. None of my posts were rightwing, had any foul language, or attacked anyone personally. There could be an IP address problem from alternet.disqus.com . My friend did a couple of disqus temporary "test" accounts at my place. One account was from my computer directly connected to the internet and the other was connected through a private VPN which would result in a different IP address. On both accounts, I did a test post. The account directly connected to the Internet got purged of all its posts and blocked from posting new comments while the latter still stood. I never spammed or did anything wrong. I checked for viruses and spyware on my machine and was surprised to find them. Who knows if any of them had resulted in getting my IP addy on the black list of alternet.disqus.com? The people at Alternet could not have possibly thought of banning you of all people unless Quannah or pelican beak have some relationship with one or more moderators of that site but they would have banned mmckinl if that were so. I saw your posts and found nothing wrong with what you wrote except for maybe the one where you criticized Alternet a little but that hardly qualifies for a ban but good for you on getting your account restored. There has to be some undiscovered glitch that's responsible for some of these accidental bans. I decided to use my free backup dialup account with Netzero/Juno when going to Alternet. I can then post without having to use a different computer. There are other ways too without having to go through free dialup but I don't think they're legal or ethical to do. By the way, I would watch out if you do go back. The moderating is getting very nasty. People with conservative views such as denying global warming should be criticized and nailed but deleting their comments? How will we learn to tackle the right in the real world if censorship goes on like this on Huffington Post, Alternet, and others?
Sorry to hear that they still haven't restored your access. Lots of people have complained about this. I dunno but some of us are lucky and some aren't. I'm not going back for a while anyway until they can get over their overprotective paranoia if that's what they're doing. Banning people by IP addresses is totally ineffective but I don't think that's how Alternet does it. I don't know because I only have one account and if I wanna change my handle, then I stop using my current account and start over. As far as censorship on Alternet is concerned, that's not good what you're describing and you're right. Removing comments and banning people is completely unhelpful. I don't believe in banning unless it's really serious such as banning "Horace", "Shawn Berry", "Pelican Beak", and those kind of mere trolls. But banning people who have conservative positions on some if not all issues is despicable. But what can I say? I wouldn't worry too much at this point. It can't be long until Alternet has finally finished going Huffpost all the way and all this as the Internet undergoes privatization.
I contacted the staff at Alternet and they never responded. I only posted 5 legit comments, no offensive or anything, and a few days later, they were all scrubbed and I was banned. My DSL IP address might have changed and I got one that was unluckily blacklisted. If Alternet only cares about getting big and not helping its users out, they're not fit to be a progressive site and should be shut down.
duplicate, sorry bad connection again.
duplicate, sorry bad connection.
The same thing happened to my account. I don't think they're really interested in fixing the problem. Be nice and get banned but be a mean spirited rude dude like Quannah or "pelican beak" and you get to stay. As long as most of the regulars on Alternet are snug and not banned, accident or otherwise, we're just minority to be "ignored". By refusing to answer and doing nothing to correct the problem, Alternet could silently saying yes to censorship. It's as if they want to make us look like we're paranoid or crying wolf about it which is indefensible. Alternet may have lots of progressive commentators but upgrading its engine on censorship doesn't make it anymore a progressive venue than Fox News.
Alternet is truly a microcosm itself of ills (divide, exclude, persecute) that are rallied around outside of its forum. There seems to be some kind of a hidden policy setting different standards for different posters. I got cyberstalked by pelican beak and I get banned for not fighting or causing any trouble. There's obviously not a policy in place for it, and the response has been repressive rather than helpful. It was as if I was the one who was silenced and scrutinized instead of "pelican beak" who bears the responsibility for it. It's as if he has more protection that I do. It's truly regressive there. Alternet's touted progressiveness is illusionary, an absolute sham. I'm not going back to Alternet until they can correct their behavior and get their accountability in order.
I got the axe too on Alternet but I never said anything foul. Someone had to have hacked Alternet's system to ban anyone who opposes Quannah or pelican beak. If either Quannah or pelican beak can log in as an Alternet admin, then anyone opposing Obama will be silenced one at a time and in a timely manner to prevent public suspicion. I used to get into arguments with SR and JA a few months ago but they weren't as nasty as Quannah and pelican beak. I'm staying here on CD.
Whenever I say that the left is too divided to ever unite or organize, all I have to do is point out Quannah, pelican beak, and usualsuspects as Exhibit A. Years of reading discussions on plenty of progressive blogs including this one have me wondering why people are too into flame wars and never on substance. I like taking good ideas for these good forums and leaving the infighting behind. Our real problem is trying to put an end to the war between ideological and practical. On this site, the former trumps the latter and that's good but on most progressive blogs, it's the other way around and there's always plenty more infighting from that. No site is perfect but it's not too bad on this site. Alternet's not too bad either but I'm afraid they haven't improved. Still, I like what most people there have to say and don't mind challenges even from detractors. The only thing I mind and do my best to avoid are war-baiting replies. I know Alternet couldn't possibly think of banning you, benn, tailcap, myself, or anyone else based on all this.
I may have gotten off to a rocky start and crossed swords with SR but eventually, we reconciled and we're ok with each other I guess. She did question one of my posts (see http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/02-8) but I think she was upset after her bitter fighting with dreamjoehill when she asked why DJH didn't complain when I gave my support of feminism but attacked her when she gave hers. Fair question I suppose. I don't know DJH for sure but I can see why she was angry over perceived double standards and who of us haven't experienced this before? I've seen lots of examples of a double standard on two people saying almost the same thing where one gets the praise while the other might get insulted or accused of "borrowing someone else's words" or some crazy psycho shit.
When I look at the whole picture, I know that SR and JA are nothing like Quannah, pelican beak, and UsualSuspects. People have told me here and on other boards how upset they are to see Quannah and pelican beak framing me as a rightwing villain and dismissing anything I say that they would never do with anyone else who says the same. That said, going back to an earlier discussion I think SR has every right to be very angry at djh for his attacking SR simply because of her name. I've seen rb attacking SR simply because of the name and SR would fight back everytime it happened. But unlike Quannah, from what I observed, SR will read through the posts even of users who angered her and maybe let them know in a subtle way where she likes what they write and where she detests them. You can tell if someone is attacking you because of your name instead of what it is you wrote. I generally challenge people back and ask anyone who perennially hates someone or something to explain what it is that makes them hate so and so. Quannah, pelican beak, and UsualSuspects (reincarnation of foreverhope??) just don't even try and I think everyone on Alternet knows that. I may not agree with SR on some things but she's a sweetheart and both of us respect each other's humanity. I've come to appreciate her deep thinking unlike Quannah, pelican beak, and usualsuspects who are shallow minded and try to shut thinkers off with their spin and framing on "facts".
By the way, I don't think any of us were banned from Alternet so much as it's all in the glitches. We'll have to wait and see but try to contact the staff if you can and let them know. I contacted Joshua Holland about it and he confirmed that it's some mysterious glitch. MiketheRevelator was right when he once said that Alternet can have a lot of intrigue going on but what blog doesn't? As I've said before, I've come across weird things such as posters jumping on each other because one's a "truther" while the other one is allegedly "cointel pro", some claiming that certain posters have been out to get them for a long time, jumping on posters of sexism against men or women just because they disagree on some aspects of feminism or whatever gender ideology, "scholarly" vs "low IQ", tag team, sock puppets, username changes, paid industry shills though that can be true when the offender shows it obvious enough, usual suspects, and other crazies for flaming. Petty arguments and ad hominem attacks can often turn ugly and discourage otherwise great discussions. That's part of why I'm taking a vacation from Alternet and haven't decided on whether or when to go back. If the detractors read this and wanna celebrate, let them. It's not the end of the world if I don't go back right away. I don't go to forums to be some famous guy. I just go if I care to discuss and share my knowledge or what might be worth passing around for others to get a look at and think about. Take care, sir.
I wouldn't put too much faith in JH. I sent him an email on the issue but never got a reply. I looked through on some of the likes Quannah and "pelican beak" have been receiving when they attacked you. A user named "PlayaSlaya" who gave them likes at least a few times is a moderator of Alternet. If anyone were a batshit crazy jerk like Quannah or "pelican beak", he or she would have gotten banned. Alternet has too many suspicious favoritism bullshitting going on to be taken seriously. Why try to win on their turf when it's impossible. As I told Peter, I'm out of Alternet until they can correct and reform themselves. They can complain about Fox but they're just as shitty as Fox.
The name PlayaSlaya is familiar but I don't think she would have done what you think she did. I dunno but you, Lex, Benn, and now Peter Pike getting banned? Odd, none of you are rightwingers and you all look legitimate. I could go back to alternet without a hitch but I no longer feel motivated to do so. All this internet freedom has given us what, censorship even on "progressive" sites such as Huffpost with complaints rising about Alternet? I dunno but maybe we'd be better off just letting the Internet die off instead of trying to save it like trying to keep Terri Schiavo alive. We might learn something and not put up with unfair backstabbing. I guess being nice and good doesn't make us better, eh? If that's what Alternet wants to tell us, then better to take a longer than expected vacation and especially if they're careless and callous about banning legitimate users. I would never create sock puppets and I would never change names unless I were seriously forced to and even then, I wouldn't give it up so easy. I stood with my handle all along even when some people advised me to change my handle. But apparently, honesty doesn't pay in such places. I mean if someone's gonna be punished for being courteous and honest, then why bother? I appreciate meeting you guys since 2009 and I'm sorry that Alternet did this to you. But if it's any consolation, you still have CD to help. What a travesty that buggy banning can kill people's rights to free speech on the Internet itself !!
Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts [said] "People are losing their lives based on this technology," ... during a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing. In a later statement he said he would introduce legislation "that would provide a national strategy to prevent the use of American technology from being used by human rights abusers."
When will all this righteous indignation turn on the arms industries, whose products can serve no purpose other than to kill people?
I agree with this denial of US Technology to human rights abusers. Obama, Walker, and their ilk should have no access to things like the internet or television to spread their filth!
The # 1 censored story is 911. Even Common Dreams will not print any of the many comprehensive, articles by any of the over 1,100 Engineers and Architects for truth. These are not wild conspiracy theories but empirical facts by scientists and others that the WTC Towers official conspiracy theory by our government was a canard. When Rumsfeld was asked about WTC #7 he pretended to not know anything about it! Enough said.
They may not print the 9/11 insider stories but at least we can discuss them without worrying about having our comments or accounts nixed unlike most other sites.
Very true, Benn. That is one reason why I support CD financially.
So long as CD does not do DISQUS for commenting, I'll keep donating too.
There are willing whores in all walks of life. It is just a question of price. So long as the American mindset is "who cares?" the market will flourish. A free-market forever! It is sure as hell doing great things for us now, isn't it?
"Freedom of speech and assembly shouldn't end at America's border, or whenever we log on to the Internet."
_________________________
As long as we're listing "shouldn'ts", these freedoms shouldn't end inside Amerika's border, either. But the oxymoronic "Free Speech Zones" and phalanxes of heavily-armed Imperial Stormtrooper riot squadrons deployed at every protest suggest otherwise.
Meanwhile, the Elected Misrepresentatives who are standing tall to denounce Internet censorship in despotic, inferior foreign governments are the same ones who've been assiduously greenlighting corporate media consolidation, and ensuring the free flow of unlimited funding to state security services whose budgets, white and black, facilitate full-spectrum surveillance of Amerika's proudly free and uncensored Internets.
So we have politicians who are shocked, shocked and appalled that Amerikan companies would serve repressive and wicked foreign government clients that seek to silence the free Internet voice of the people, but simultaneously enable such companies to partner with burgeoning Homeland security state agencies to ensure that Big Brother Sam has the capability to "track online and cellphone communications and even target the speaker's whereabouts for arrest."
Lucky for us Amerikans, I guess, that Big Brother Sam's hands are so clean, and motives so pure.
medmedude: Your comment is essentially dead on - not all, but a vast majority of Americans are cowards, and hide behind flags, giant pick-up trucks and endless nauseating bullshit about patriotism and exceptionalism. How can we be certain that a vast majority are cowards? BECAUSE THE COUNTRY PUT UP WITH THE OBVIOUS COUP D'ETAT THAT PUT BUSH IN THE WHITE HOUSE, AND THEN TOLERATED 'HIS' ADMINISTRATION'S ASSAULT ON AMERICA VIA 9-11, HIS ILLEGAL 'WARS', AND THEN ALLOWED HIM TO REMAIN IN POWER FOR A SECOND TERM. How could they have had courage and a goddamn spine as a country and done differently? BY NOT CRITICIZING THIS KIND OF CRITICISM, AND MARCHING IN THE STREETS IN THE TENS OF MILLIONS.
The fact that they didn't is not evidence that there was no coup d'etat, but that these people who fly these flags and wear bumper stickers that say 'support our troops' are mind-controlled, frightened and zombie-fied through their crap education and their propagandizing government and media, and this insane deity-reverence they extend to whoever happens to be in the White House. Along with their testosterone-poisoned culture, which of course leads directly to this obscene military crime against humanity they insist on inflicting upon themselves and the rest of the world, because they are fundamentally too immature and juvenile-male-minded to give it the fuck up and join the world community.
When the population of a country is largely as stupid and apathetic as so many Americans have become, censorship is a cakewalk.
Sivasm: There aren't two choices, there are at least three, possibly 6,945. The third choice is DON'T VOTE. The imbecile Palin is being selected by the same machinery that selected Obama - is it by sheer chance that the first black president may be followed by this bone-ignorant, racist, white-trash horror called Palin? Sweet Jesus Christ, if that tit actually gets into the entire nominating process, much less gets a nomination, that's reason enough for the people to take to the streets and start burning stuff down. Surely you can see that Palin is being propped up as a distraction just as Obama was?
If enough people do not vote, the process might be highjacked and boycotted until it can be democratized. Of course, there's as much chance of this kind of enlightenment coming to America as there is of me becoming Pope by 6pm., even if they did accept women popes. THE WORLD WILL NOT END IF ALL AMERICANS DO NOT VOTE. BUT MAYBE THE FARCE OF THEIR ELECTORAL PROCESS WILL.
And Paul Revere: Of course there's no real talk of the reality of 9-11. See previous comments about the fear and mind-control of Americans. They're so fucked that they cannot in large enough numbers yet see that in order to break the spell of their mental imprisonment to the hell their country has become, they must simply start taking an interesrt and start talking about the issues, on the streets, in the stores, etc., not reacting with fear when someone raises an opinion in public about the criminality of Bush and Cheney, the unbelievable rape of the social fabric and the people inherent in the maintenance of the military and the wars and all the foreign bases, etc. I've spoken to folks all over America - regular folks, who are scared shitless that they'll be overheard if they criticise Walmart's discrimination against women; scared shitless if they hear someone say anything critical about Obama or Homeland Security, and triply scared shitless, if not, in their mind-controlled fog, acting angry and indignant if you criticise the military and military spending. These are the same people who've been convinced that there's something unAmerican about socializing healthcare. This is because they've been deliberately mentally enslaved to rthese bullshit dead ideas about what America was or is supposed to be, and their predilection as a people to silly and retarded forms of McChristianity makes them fertile ground for sowing the propaganda seeds of the militarism as national religion.
Censorship is easy in America, and prostitutes like Scott Walker and the entire gang of 'tea-party' radical republican imbeciles are perfectly content to see American technology be used to round up dissenters and protesters and to torture and kill, and to destroy democracy, as long as their pimps make money. Human life is meaningless in the face of this latter 20th, early 21st century American hypercapitalism. Look at fucking Haiti. Look at New Orleans. Look at disaster capitalism worldwide. These people have, as Chomsky said, a profound hatred of democracy.
And censorship is one of their tools.
One small but significant step to get out from under disguised unfriendly software is to not purchase software written and peddled by large for-profit corporate entities. This used to be an option only for the digerati, but it is no longer. Linux and GNU installs are free. Some of us find the Linux operating system easier to use than windows, it is lovely to have free software, we are less susceptible to the constant commercial viruses of the Microsoft world (many of which come with the operating system itself).
Ubuntu is one very easy path in, and one may go from there.
What works there will / does work here. Obama wants the means ans power to cut YOUR internet whenever he wants to, in the name of "Security"...his master's not yours.
Cell phones and the internet was not around when the last riots happened in the 70s, but the 'powers that be' can see the potential for huge revolts here in the US...one of the most connected countries in the world. And they want the means to black out huge areas or even the entire country when they want to control the riots that are coming.
I thought that the Patriot Act mandated enthusiastic acceptance of the use of this technology by one and all. Voicing concern about such technology would be considered proof of giving support to terrorists. Opposition to the use of such technology by the government in the homeland would be sufficient for capital punishment, no?