If you are a writer or a blogger this is a message for you. If you are a person who values freedom of speech and the right to a free press then this is for you. If you are someone who simply believes that our constitution is something that is not to be tampered with , then this message is also for you.
However by writing what I am about to write could get me booted off the Internet and could jeopardise what freedom that you may think that you have so read at your own risk or go back to never never land as you so choose.
Today the FCC is deciding whether or not to regulate the Internet based or their opinions of what is acceptable and what is not. As always the mantra is " for our own good " and it's supposed targets are those sites that are fraudulent or that are trying to restrict what content comes over their servers or even supposed terrorists sites. On the face of it it sounds good until you start reading between the lines. In controlling or regulating what can or cannot be sent across the Internet it takes the decisions of what you do or see away from you ,and ,once again ,passes it on to a government organization. Truly though I think it has very little to do with fraudulent websites or leaks coming from supposed government sources or foreign sources such as Wiki leaks (all things which have been suggested as reasoning for the regulations) instead I believe it is nothing more then an attempt by the federal government to control the one source of media that they haven't been able to control up to this point.
The mainstream media has been dying, as most of you know, a slow and ugly death over the last 10 or 15 years, so the people, at least those that are technically savvy, have been getting all their information mostly from the Internet.You can find practically anything that you want to find on line. So instead of just accepting everything that has been force fed from the MSM you can actually research what ever subject interests you and then decide for yourself. The powers that be do not like this. It's great when your on the winning side ,such as the Obama campaign of 2008, but it really sucks when your on the loosing end such as ` during the mid terms. Ask some of the members of the house and senate how much fun it was for them ,when their constituents knew more of what was in various bills then they did ,and then called them on the carpet for it. Where did these people , from both sides of the aisle, get their information? The Internet.
I have had both religious and political debates with friends and associates via the Internet and at times we have disagreed with one another, but because of all the information that is out on the Internet, we have been able to have intelligent and well researched debates. Do we really need the Federal government to decide what information we look at?
If I wish to watch a movie on line or play a game is it really any of their business to decide what it is that I watch or play?
If I want to go to websites dedicated to UFOs and conspiracies and research hauntings in my home town do I really need the government to babysit what I look at? So what if they don't like what I am reading, there are just as many web sites that try to debunk all of this already, I don't need the government or the FCC to make my decisions for me.
So why do we need the FCC to regulate the Internet? We don't. But the powers that be, and that's both sides of the aisle by the way, do. If we don't have all the information we need , we can't make proper decisions for ourselves and, by default, become stuck with the limited view of what the government wants you to know.That is how they do things in China.
But perhaps you are a writer or a blogger and you are, for the moment , writing and blogging that which is politically correct so your not worried. What happens when your point of view is no longer politically correct? Are you going to be silent about it or are you going to speak up loudly? Remember this, political winds change on a dime and what may be acceptable today may not be tomorrow, so if you don't speak up today your tomorrow will already be gone.
I know that some of you are thinking that I am just an ignorant hick who doesn't have a grasp on reality but the fact is there have already been many sites shut down due to government interference and with nothing more then accusation. There has been no due process, no court orders, just shutdowns. Companies forced to give up the IP addresses and other information on their subscribers because someone might be a threat or said something in a reply that might be seen as threatening, no proof of any real threat or of any harm done needed.
Where do I get this information? The Internet.
All of this became very personal to me today, when I found out that a friend's website, where she had a blog, was forced to give up IP addresses because of someone making a threat, in response to a different blog, and then, allegedly, carrying the threat out. Her blog had nothing to do with the threat ,in fact the website missed it because of the volume of email they get,but because they missed it and something happened they were forced into complying. As a result when this information came out she was hammered by a whole lot of people and, in very understandable frustration, she has stopped writing
What I just told you did not happen in the United States, but it did happen in a Democratic society that is very similar to our own. I won't tell you where or who, simply because I don't want them ,or her, to be hassled any more. But is this what we want here? I understand that a threat was made and apparently carried out, but is it that websites fault? Someone who is deranged isn't going to need an excuse to do something deranged, but instead of just punishing the person involved for their crime, their government forces them to give up information on everybody else? Is this what you want here?
The laws that allowed that to happen in her country are the very same ones that may allow the FCC and or the government to do the same to all of us here in the United States. Is this what you really want?Just because a terrorist puts on his shoes the same way that you do , does not, by default, make you a terrorist .In other words I can't be responsible for what some fools do or say because they read my blog and do something stupid nor should they be given the right to shut me down because some fool reads it..Today it may be me, or others like me, who are removed for speaking their minds.Tomorrow it WILL be you.
Speak now or forever be forced to hold your peace.
Ignacio
