Ludwig wrote:
TPTB could close down sites like this if they got to be a real threat.
Not until after things have already got really serious.
No, but my point is that ultimately, they have the power, not us.
I think the day is not far off when Internet censorship will arrive, probably in the wake of more "terrorist" attacks. Sure, dissenters will keep popping up, but they will have a harder and harder time, and eventually only the real kamikazes will be left, with few daring in public to agree with them.
I don't agree. TPTB would like nothing more than the power to censor the internet, but it isn't possible. The internet is a distributed system, and nobody controls all of it.
But at the top level, IIRC, its infrastructure is owned by just a few corporations, who effectively lease it to companies lower down the food chain. I could look this up but I can't be arsed right now.
I don't disagree that people who are really determined could continue to share information in spite of government censorship, in a similar way to happens with child porn. It's (need I say presumably?) inconvenient to have to keep monitoring what the day's code word is, but if you're really determined, you'll do it. The question is: how many people will be really determined?
"We're just waiting, looking skyward as the days go down / Someone promised there'd be answers if we stayed around."
Ludwig wrote:
TPTB could close down sites like this if they got to be a real threat.
Not until after things have already got really serious.
No, but my point is that ultimately, they have the power, not us.
You are talking about different sorts of power. Closing down a website is one sort of power, posting on a website (one which people are reading in order to try to make their minds up about important topics like peak oil and climate change) is another sort of power.
I think the day is not far off when Internet censorship will arrive, probably in the wake of more "terrorist" attacks. Sure, dissenters will keep popping up, but they will have a harder and harder time, and eventually only the real kamikazes will be left, with few daring in public to agree with them.
I don't agree. TPTB would like nothing more than the power to censor the internet, but it isn't possible. The internet is a distributed system, and nobody controls all of it.
But at the top level, IIRC, its infrastructure is owned by just a few corporations, who effectively lease it to companies lower down the food chain. I could look this up but I can't be arsed right now.
I think you over-estimate the power of the corporations to shut down the internet. Yes - if all of the worlds major telecommunications companies suddenly decided to go anti-internet then they could make it very hard for people to use the internet. But again...by the time TPTB are taking this sort of action the game is over anyway. It is not a power they could exercise whilst most of the population does not believe the world is heading for a major catastrophe. By the time the internet dies, the time for talking is over anyway.
"We fail to mandate economic sanity because our brains are addled by....compassion." (Garrett Hardin)
OK we've been discussing this and have decided to once again restrict RGR's activity to the "Energy Beyond Oil" related sections.
What's apparent to us however, is that vitriol accumulates and multiplies, and in our view is the primary cause of a bad atmosphere in these forums.
Hence the admins will be adopting a zero tolerance policy towards abusive and inflammatory posts. Editions and deletions will be applied with impunity from now on. Anyone who is a persistent offender will find themselves en-route to a ban. It's a shame we have to be heavy handed; it is more work for us, however we feel that it has become necessary due to some people taking liberties with our previously libertarian policy.
