Less than a week has passed since the Megaupload Raid and Arrests, and already other Cloud Service Companies are shutting their virtual doors and packing it in.
All this as a result of the ACTA [see today's other Post] related activities around the World? Is this all a little premature? Are we seeing a cooling off in excitement about "Free Speech"?
Well, it does look like at least a few of the more dire predictions related to diminishing Net Neutrality are coming to pass. First, the Global "War on Terror" saw numerous Governments around the World expanding their powers to snoop on their Citizens' Internet Activities which might be related two ton Hobgoblin of "Terrorism."
Now, "Freedom of Commerce" is the Sacred Covenant that we are supposedly protecting and preserving with even more snooping, policing, and censoring. Is all this expanded Government and Private Sector Power really doing anything for the average World Citizen?
Well, it has been the case, at least here in the United States, that most people simply accept that having few or no Civil Rights is just the price we pay for living in a World with "Terrorists" who want to kill us just because they hate "our way of Life," or so the narrative goes. With so few Civil Rights left, and a country on the path towards being a "Police State," shouldn't WE hate it too?
Think of what Bills like SOPA and PIPA [see today's other Post again] are actually proposing to do. They would empower Non-Sworn, Non-Law-Enforcement Individuals to police the actions of others. When we ask Hosting Services, Internet Service Providers, and Private Citizens to watch for dangerous and potentially illegal activity of this nature, we are asking them to do the Job that Law Enforcement exists to do. More importantly, Law Enforcement gets special training to recognize what is illegal, and then how to stop such activities presumably without violating the Rights of the Parties in Question.
Without that kind of training, few people will know what to look for, and even less about what do once they find it. As we saw during the "Red Scare" Period of American History, things can get out of hand really quick when everyone and everything is under suspicion, and no one really knows what hell is actually "illegal."
We seem to go through these periods of needing Boogeymen like "Terrorists" and "Pirates;" at least in the United States. When we are unable to express our frustration with the ineffectiveness and corruption in numerous Levels of our Lives, we need some other to blame our problems on. At the very least, we need some nonsensical Soap Opera-ish narrative to distract us from our inane fears.
So our "Leaders," being people of extremely limited Intelligence and Wisdom, create these grand scenarios that suggest that Monsters, Freaks, and Criminals of all sorts that are about get us, unless we let them do whatever is needed to protect us. Oddly enough, their whatever is needed almost always ends up making a select few Corporations and People Richer.
Now, we are seeing Cloud Computing/Filesharing services closing, and the Taxpayers being asked to give up precious Civil Rights and Tax Dollars to stop the "Piracy of Intellectual Property." This is a burden rightfully and routinely placed on Businesses themselves, not Taxpayers. No guarantees are offered that our few remaining Rights will not be abused in the process. No timelime or schedule is available for when all this Police-State-like activity will end. We just need to trust that it is all being done with our best interests in mind.
The thing we must keep our eyes open for now, is that Magical moment that is approaching when we are going to be asked to officially accept that we are in a "State of Emergency" where we need to accept the ". . . loss of some of our Civil Rights for the greater good of all." Oh wait . . . that moment has already come and gone. That was what the Patriot Act was all about. So what should we expect next?
Peace and Compassion to you.
Jeffrey
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