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Last post Author Topic: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored  (Read 61841 times)

KynloStephen66515

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Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« on: January 12, 2012, 06:03 PM »



Is this how what you want to see on your most visited websites?

Well...If SOPA is passed, more than 80% of your favorites list...INCLUDING DONATIONCODER...could be forced to take themselves offline! - Nobody is safe from SOPA, even the biggest sites such as Google, Facebook and even Microsoft's Search Engine 'Bing' could face the chop!

Stop American Censorship

Congress is about to pass internet censorship, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.

Go To a Town Hall

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the internet censorship bill on Tuesday, January 24th, and unless we can find 41 senators to block the vote, it is going to pass. Will you meet with your senators during the January recess and ask them to vote it down?



“Censor” Your Website In Protest

Put a black bar with the words “Stop censorship” over your site’s logo or header
 
Show your support!

Copy this code below and paste it into your site

Code: HTML [Select]
  1. <a style="width:400px;height:100px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;background-color:#000;position:absolute;z-index:5555;top:50px;left:50px;background-image:url(http://americancensorship.org/images/stop-censorship-small.png);background-position:center center;background-repeat:no-repeat;" href="http://americancensorship.org"></a>
« Last Edit: January 12, 2012, 06:10 PM by Stephen66515 »

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2012, 02:07 PM »
Heh, silly Americans.

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #2 on: January 13, 2012, 02:26 PM »
Heh, silly Americans.

If only it just affected the Americans...It's much more than that...This affects everybody

Shades

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #3 on: January 13, 2012, 03:52 PM »
Time to run my own DNS services...

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2012, 03:54 PM »
If only it just affected the Americans...It's much more than that...This affects everybody
Sure, but I see some pattern here. The country that started international networking is the same country that tries to restrict it worldwide.
What, if not silly, is this? As if the USA were some world police. Bah.

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2012, 05:31 PM »
Nah, you underestimate the level of corruption going on. "For a nice juicy fee you are exempt from Sopa-clone bills".

IainB

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2012, 12:48 AM »
Sure, but I see some pattern here. The country that started international networking is the same country that tries to restrict it worldwide.
What, if not silly, is this? As if the USA were some world police. Bah.

Yes, and it is a quite self-evident pattern that I appreciated immediately when I read the opening post for this thread.
What also immediately occurred to me was that the people that started the Internet were probably quite a different breed of cat to the people who seem to be busy gleefully dismantling it today, and who appear to be mounting a concerted attack on the Internet, for good reason.

From what comments I have read on this subject in the news and on blogs, the latter group of people form an apparently amorphous collection of different religio-political ideologies and just happen to have a common vector ("common ground") in some of their otherwise conflicting objectives and which pertain to this subject. Their actions seem to be deliberately destructive, and driven by various ideologies of what is variously termed economic-totalitarian Socialism-Fascism and Capitalist-Fascism. I can't think of an appropriate collective noun for  creatures such as these unless it is "wealth destroyers".

The sad thing for me is that all this destruction of something  - a thing that enables freedom in a very real sense - is being done under the watchful eye of an apparently complicit (and thus arguably corrupt) government administration/executive. Would this mean that the latter are another collection of wealth destroyers? Their actions would seem to answer the question.
Oh, and nobody seems to care much about protecting the American Constitution anymore.

It has been revealed (e.g., here)) that Spain had its arm twisted by the US government to introduce SOPA-like rules, "or else" (QED), and mysteriously other countries are starting to do the same, presumably encouraged down this path in the same manner, and likely to incur the wrath of the US where they do not comply - Switzerland seems to be a case in point (e.g., here). And EMI is suing the Irish Government for NOT passing a SOPA-like censorship law (e.g., here).

When the Internet was implemented and I started using it in the '90s I had thought that the genie of universal freedom of, and access to information was out of the box at last. I reckoned it was a tremendous gift to all mankind, and that it had slipped right past the wealth destroyers.

Then the wealth creators got busy and expanded the uses that the network could be put to - including, for example:
  • without asking the users (who are obliged to pay for the bandwidth used to deliver the advertising to their desktops), they flooded the Internet with unsolicited commercial advertising;
  • they used the Internet as a sort of TV entertainment medium funded by commercial broadcasting;
  • they realised the potential for a virtually free B2B and C2B transaction processing network;
  • they realised the potential for a virtually free EDI (Electronic Document Interchange) processing network;
  • they built on the concepts of P2P media to develop commercially-driven user messaging communities - AIM, Yahoo, MSN Messenger, ICQ, etc.
  • they created the concept of Google, which is now ubiquitous and is arguably one of the most creative developments that have taken place since the creation of the Internet.

- but the original freedoms of the Internet were largely undiminished, and possibly even expanded.

However, there is too much freedom now, and IT MUST BE STOPPED - either to satisfy commercial lobbyists (e.g. as in SOPA), or to satisfy other, more totalitarian lobbies, where the dogma is generally that "it is for the greater good".
And it is being stopped. Incrementally, and bit-by-bit.

For example, in Australasia: (and these are general details from memory)
  • I gather that the Australian and New Zealand governments have introduced State controls over, and access to, and State censorship of the public Internet, in a clampdown to catch and punish the publishers/users of child pornography. I am not suggesting that this is a bad thing per se, but it is a bad thing as a restriction of freedom and an invasion of privacy, and it is also the thin end of a potentially very large wedge.
  • Currently, if you want to get an email account with one of the major ISPs in New Zealand, you are apparently obliged to agree to a condition that says that you accept that your email account will be accessible by and subject to censorship/review. No agreement? Then no email account.
  • In New Zealand in 2011 they introduced a "DRM protection" law that obliges the country's ISPs to provide monthly transaction logs to the RIAA, who then scan the logs to identify IP addresses that have potential/actual pirate downloading. The IP addresses involved are detailed to the relevant ISPs, who must then send out warning letters to the owners of those IP addresses - I gather that it is three accumulated warning letters and you are "out", with automatic disconnection and up to $15,000 in penalty fines. (Not sure who keeps the loot.)

"Coming soon, to a domain near you."
It's all probably just "Another brick in the wall", as per the songs in the Pink Floyd rock opera ("The Wall") - which, coincidentally was a protest about totalitarianism, but in the schooling system.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2012, 12:56 AM by IainB »

wraith808

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2012, 12:52 AM »
As if the USA were some world police. Bah.

...then they came for me.w

40hz

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2012, 01:44 AM »
Time to run my own DNS services...

And they call it "Puppy Love"...

Before there was general public access to the Internet...before there was P2P...there was Fido. :-*

Time to start working on an updated and enhanced version of something like Fidonet. As long as you're on a government/commercial network, you play by government/commercial rules.

There's a light on tech, heavy on social issues (and slooooow moving) 44 minute documentary segment on it up on Youtube if anybody's interested.



What emerges is an intriguing and historically documented example of just how much can be accomplished - and how quickly - with a touch of imagination, some work, and a community of people who believed in what they were doing. Check out the comment at the 17:52 minute mark about censorship and the Internet even if you don't have the patience to watch the whole thing. Probably the single most important point in the entire segment.

Also some good cautionary notes on the problem with politics and personal power plays - and what happens when they infiltrate and eventually become an obsession within a technical endeavor. Something which sometimes plagues the FOSS community till this day. Everything that's good soon discovers its dark side once it becomes popular. (IIRC flaming and flame-mail was a problem that was first seen in Fidonet.)

What was accomplished once can be accomplished again. 8) :Thmbsup:
« Last Edit: January 14, 2012, 02:15 AM by 40hz »

app103

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2012, 02:41 AM »
For anyone looking for an easy way to blackout their blog for the day on the 18th, there are a couple of things available:

A plugin for Wordpress powered sites: http://wordpress.org...ugins/sopa-blackout/

A template made by me for Google Blogger powered sites: http://sopa-blackout...mplate.blogspot.com/
This template preserves your widgets and hides them, so you won't be able to see them even on the Layout page, but when you restore your original template, you will have them all back.

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2012, 06:04 AM »
Before there was general public access to the Internet...before there was P2P...there was Fido. :-*
And it is still around. :)

worstje

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2012, 07:29 AM »
I just stumbled across this: No more DNS blockage.

In my opinion, this is like saying 'Look, my diarrhea no longer has blood in it, so now I can smear it all over your face!'. Which, I hope, is enough to clarify my standpoint on these bills. :mad:

40hz

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2012, 07:48 AM »
Before there was general public access to the Internet...before there was P2P...there was Fido. :-*
And it is still around. :)

Aw...now you gave it away! And here I was hoping to let folks discover that for themselves. ;D

OK. Since it's out of the bag, the "official" site is here.
 8)

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #13 on: January 14, 2012, 07:52 AM »
I doubt anyone here would else have cared, thinking "meh, it was...".
That said, even German "MausNet" is still alive and well. Seems to have reasons.

40hz

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #14 on: January 14, 2012, 08:05 AM »
I doubt anyone here would else have cared, thinking "meh, it was...".

Not cared? With this topic and this crowd?

You'd be surprised. ;)

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #15 on: January 14, 2012, 08:07 AM »
I was. Surprise me!

Renegade

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2012, 08:18 AM »
Regarding Fidonet (and after watching the documentary), while it may seem irrelevant in many ways now (though it still has an active user base), it or something like it may be required to communicate in the future as free speech is under attack world-wide.

A "darknet" that is shielded from the prying eyes of government will emerge in one form or another. Now, we have TOR and a few others, and we'll see how that goes. Will they survive? Not sure. I have a few ideas, but it's all just speculation on my part.

Let's hope and pray that we pull through these dark times. I see a light in the political darkness that may well be the answer, but only time will tell.

Politically charged "light in the darkness"
Ron Paul.


I just saw an inspiring video that I think I really should share here as it is on topic:



One of the council members leaves in disgust and says she'll meet him outside -- listen/watch for that near the end.

That guy there -- he's a hero.





Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

IainB

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #17 on: January 14, 2012, 09:13 AM »
@40hz and @Tuxman: Many thanks for the Fidonet YouTube vid link. I had gone and followed up on the references and followed those links thus:
   YouTube doco: BBS The.Documentary Part 4 - Fidonet : http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=QlXNXdf6Xh0
      Acknowledgements
      www.rxn.com/~net282/
      www.winramturbo.com/fnsp
      Frank Robbins
      www.rcat.com/fido_public/
      Ruth Argust
      www.riverbbs.net/fido/
   
   Other links:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet  - link to  International FidoNet Home Page:  http://www.fidonet.org/
      http://www.fido.net/
      http://www.fidonet.org/
- so Tuxman didn't spoil my fun!    :D
(By the way, I have a very strong interest in this subject.)

@Renegade: SUPERB video clip. Quite an eye-opener. I shall be following that up too.

Tuxman

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #18 on: January 14, 2012, 09:24 AM »
Damn!  ;D

wraith808

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2012, 09:29 AM »
That guy there -- he's a hero.

Agreed +1.  If you go to the youtube page, then from there to the article, people dissect the bylaws to show that the moderator abused his powers in removing Father Monk.

Renegade

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2012, 09:31 AM »
@Renegade: SUPERB video clip. Quite an eye-opener. I shall be following that up too.

I'm glad you liked it! :D (Please pass it on!)


If I may, please indulge me... (still on topic)

I'd just like to take a moment to thank mouser for being so gracious and kind as to allow us the leeway to discuss some of these issues. This here isn't a "public" venue, and he's under no obligation to tolerate political discussions like these. So, while mouser may or may not agree with everything, he's been stellar in giving us a great deal of leeway when we get onto these topics.

We have been given a fantastic opportunity to communicate and share ideas on a grand scale, thanks to modern telecommunications and the Internet. I think that we all value that freedom to congregate and talk about different issues, like freedom of speech, and that it would be a great sin for us to take that for granted.

Some of my own opinions on things (not OC) are diametrically opposed to what some others here think, but I'm very glad that we have the opportunity to discuss them. The DC community is wonderfully tolerant (which is important when you're a radical freak like me ;D ) and it's a pleasure to be involved here. (Though I am rather upset that I wasn't able to release for NANY this year... sigh...)


There's something fundamental about the Internet. Something very deep an important. It has allowed us a great degree of freedom.

Some of us have experienced censorship from the state. Some of us haven't. I hope that in the future, none of us ever will again.


For the 18th, here's a quick hack that anyone can do for a web site:

1) Create a new web site and domain/subdomain.
2) Put your anti-SOPA notice there.
3) In your web site administration interface for the web server (not the web pages), redirect the site/domain to your anti-SOPA site.

This is overkill for most people, but for anyone that runs more than 1 or 2 sites, this is a very fast and cheap way to get your anti-SOPA message out there.

4) When you're ready, simply remove the redirection to your anti-SOPA site.


I'd say something cool like "semper fi" at this point, but that's kind of been tarnished as of late. :P




Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

wraith808

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #21 on: January 14, 2012, 09:34 AM »
http://www.fido.net

Is it my imagination, or is this company using the name fido.net to sell services that have nothing to do with fidonet?

Renegade

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #22 on: January 14, 2012, 10:01 AM »
http://www.fido.net

Is it my imagination, or is this company using the name fido.net to sell services that have nothing to do with fidonet?

Check http://www.fidonet.org/

I think that was a typo.

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

IainB

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #23 on: January 14, 2012, 10:07 AM »
No, the fido.net was not a mistuk.
It exists and, if you read the background and related material, you will probably see why it's called that. It doesn't appear to be a scam riding illegitimately on Fidonet's coattails, or anything similar.

Renegade

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Re: Sorry, This Post Has Been Censored
« Reply #24 on: January 14, 2012, 10:42 AM »
No, the fido.net was not a mistuk.
It exists and, if you read the background and related material, you will probably see why it's called that. It doesn't appear to be a scam riding illegitimately on Fidonet's coattails, or anything similar.

Sorry about that. At first glance, it looks like an expired domain that someone else bought up.

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker