I recently posted a thread here talking about researchers who want to "scrap" the existing Internet. I appreciate the positive support that came from DP members, who realize what is at stake. Below is a continuation by writer Paul Joseph Watson. I took the time to put important points in bold: Researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time. Time magazine has reported that several foundations and universities including Rutgers, Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are pursuing individual projects, along with the Defense Department, in order to wipe out the current internet and replace it with a new network which will satisfy big business and government: One challenge in any reconstruction, though, will be balancing the interests of various constituencies. The first time around, researchers were able to toil away in their labs quietly. Industry is playing a bigger role this time, and law enforcement is bound to make its needs for wiretapping known. There's no evidence they are meddling yet, but once any research looks promising, "a number of people (will) want to be in the drawing room," said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor affiliated with Oxford and Harvard universities. "They'll be wearing coats and ties and spilling out of the venue." The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2. This would be a faster, more streamlined elite equivalent of the internet available to users who were willing to pay more for a much improved service. providers may only allow streaming audio and video on your websites if you were eligible for Internet 2. Of course, Internet 2 would be greatly regulated and only "appropriate content" would be accepted by an FCC or government bureau. Everything else would be relegated to the "slow lane" internet, the junkyard as it were. Our techie rulers are all too keen to make us believe that the internet as we know it is "already dead". Google is just one of the major companies preparing for internet 2 by setting up hundreds of "server farms" through which eventually all our personal data - emails, documents, photographs, music, movies - will pass and reside. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- However, experts state that the "clean slate" projects currently being undertaken go even further beyond projects like Internet2 and National LambdaRail, both of which focus primarily on next-generation needs for speed. In tandem with broad data retention legislation currently being introduced worldwide, such "clean slate" projects may represent a considerable threat to the freedom of the internet as we know it. EU directives and US proposals for data retention may mean that any normal website or blog would have to fall into line with such new rules and suddenly total web regulation would become a reality. In recent months, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs: * In a display of bi-partisanship, there have recently been calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike. * Republican Senator John McCain recently tabled a proposal to introduce legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards. It is well known that McCain has a distaste for his blogosphere critics, causing a definite conflict of interest where any proposal to restrict blogs on his part is concerned. * During an appearance with his wife Barbara on Fox News last November, George Bush senior slammed Internet bloggers for creating an "adversarial and ugly climate." * The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence. * The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror. * In a speech last October, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills." His solution is "intelligence fusion centers," staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will go into operation next year. * The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance. * A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government. * A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy. * The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down "terrorists" who use the Internet to spread propaganda. * The EU data retention bill, passed last year after much controversy and with implementation tabled for late 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months. Under this law, investigators in any EU country, and most bizarrely even in the US, can access EU citizens' data on phone calls, sms', emails and instant messaging services. * The EU also recently proposed legislation that would prevent users from uploading any form of video without a license. * The US government is also funding research into social networking sites and how to gather and store personal data published on them, according to the New Scientist magazine. "At the same time, US lawmakers are attempting to force the social networking sites themselves to control the amount and kind of information that people, particularly children, can put on the sites." We are being led to believe that a vast army of maniac pedophiles or terrorists are on the loose and we must do away with all forms of privacy in order to stop them. This is akin to saying that blanket cctv prevents crime. As if to say "if we film everyone all the time, even innocent people, then no one will ever commit any crimes." Increasingly we are seeing this in every aspect of our lives. Recording, tracking and retaining our data in the name of keeping us all safe. Everyone is now treated as guilty until proven innocent. Make no mistake, the internet, one of the greatest outposts of free speech ever created is under constant attack by powerful people who cannot operate within a society where information flows freely and unhindered. Both American and European moves mimic stories we hear every week out of State Controlled Communist China, where the internet is strictly regulated and virtually exists as its own entity away from the rest of the web. The Internet is freedom's best friend and the bane of control freaks. Its eradication is one of the short term goals of those that seek to centralize power and subjugate their populations under a surveillance panopticon prison, whether that be in Communist China, Neoconservative America or the Neofascist EU.
I urge Internet engineers, hackers, and architects who want freedom to develop a contingency plan to move against these forces, and push back the destruction of the existing Internet. In other words: How in the hell do we fight this? What are your thoughts. I think the answer to this attempted Internet takeover is WEB 2.0. What do you guys think?
I appreciate the rep, and I will pm you about the articles. 21 people have viewed this thread so far, and only one response other than myself? You people here at Digital Point better take this seriously. The take over of the Internet is a serious threat, and if you don't think it can happen, you're wrong. if you value your online business, and the ability to have freedom of speech online, many of you here think hard about this issue. Sticking your head in the sand isn't going to solve the problem. The post may be long, but it is worth reading.............
yes, an interesting read indeed. I think that the internet should be about freedom and we dont need any governments controlling it.
Internet 2 is already around, has been since the late 90's. It's actually VERY fast, and really cool. Unfortunately, it's only available to colleges and research institutes.
Thats because they haven't fully locked down the system yet. Once they have, it will be made available to the public, as a "newer" and "better" system than Internet 1. Anita, when you talk about Internet, there is a lot more to it than just the speed. I care more about freedom than speed. What good is a fast Internet if you can't do anything with it? This is the type of attitude that will probably allow them to win. Since a lot of people don't read, they never heard of this stuff! By the time they do, it will be too late. The government doesn't expect you to read, that is the whole point...................they plan this sh*t behind closed doors, and if it wasn't for the Internet, we would never know it existed. Another solution to this problem is P2P applications like Darknet, which are completely encrypted, allowing the free flow if information and the preservation of free speech.
Man this pisses me off!!! Screw this s*ht!!!! Governments/Private companies already control all major mass media industries except internet and now, they are planning to gain control over this as well. I don't want any stupid government reading my emails - find another ways of catching bad guys! Big companies - keep your hands away from my pockets!!! GO FREE INTERNET!!!
I'd rather have some regulation than a completely open and free system. If everyone in the world was honest, then I'd be 100% with you. That's just me though.
Of course there has to be some sort of control, for cases such as child pornography, copyright infringement, etc. But, do you really want an internet where people are fined for stating their opinions in their blogs?
Anita, no one is saying that the Internet should be completely unregulated. There are already law enforcement agencies that specialize in child pornography. The point I'm trying to make is that the essay posted shows that this is much more than that. This is overkill. Can't you see the agenda? With this new Internet, you can say good bye to your business. If you aren't MySpace, Ebay, Amazon, or Google, you will be pushed out of the online marketplace, just as Walmart has pushed family run stores out of business offline. Think about it.
I have absolutely, positively NO support for these measures. Unfortunately, I know some influential people, including my own stepfather who are interested in it. I'm going to have to have a long discussion with him about this sort of thing tonight. Though I'll first have to do my research on the subject.
Just by reading the comments by Anita, I can tell that what Michael Goldman said is true: Most people have no interest in reading anything that matters. I see threads here being started about the dumbest stuff, and they always get the MOST responses. Bring up something that actually matters, and everybody sticks their head in the sand. I'm just as busy as anyone here at Digital Point, but I try to reserve time to read AT LEAST one book per month, preferably non-fiction. As Sun Tzu says, "know your enemy." How in the hell are you going to know your enemy, when you don't even take the time to read an essay that spells out what they are doing? Anita, do you read a lot? I don't mean this question to come off as an insult. It is just that anyone who has read a history book knows what this is all about. There are powerful groups in the world that have largely controlled the offline world. If you don't believe, just try to go start your own car, phone, or oil company. You will find out really fast that WE DO NOT live in a free market. Transnational corporations own everything, OFFLINE. But the Internet is a problem, because it is f*cking digital, and the little guys can compete with the big guys. Can't you people see that all they want to do is turn the Internet into what the offline world has become, a world where it is impossible for you to start a business unless you're Bill Gates or Donald Trump? Come on, think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its so damn obvious!! The Internet is the only true democracy we have left! Without it there is nothing else! I wouldn't even have a f*cking business if it wasn't for the net, I would be working as a slave for some stupid corporate job, unless it got sent to India or China!!! I have my employees thanking me, because they tell me they can't find a regular job in their own country, This is what globalization has done to us!!!!!!!!!
sorry man, nothing personal but seriously, if you want people to read it - make it shorter, value people's time! The world, both offline and online is still full of opportunities, the internet just makes certain things easier but try to explain that to a person having an offline business!? What do you consider free? Complete Anarchy?! the globalization is just a natural process of evolution. don't worry, they won't close the net but yeah growing competition & globalization can make it more difficult
Greetings This is very worrying indeed. If this will happen, i will invest all my money with all my webmaster friends to implement Internet 3.0 and we will advertise it as the fastest internet that is totally free for all and nothing is censored or fined! On more serious note, this is really getting me to think. Think about it: 1. No more can you just put up a website, you first need to register a company with the domain, after that it will be check that it is politically correct and pleases the goverment and big companies, after that you pay alot. If you don't own a business, you must put your website up in myspace free blog, or not at all. 2. There is no seo, everything is submited by review and corrupted goverment workers only submit big businesses. 3. No freedom of speech! 4. Everything is closly monitored, no more warez... HELL NO! I ain't gonna accept this, we need to start worrying about this. Sir. Turhapuro
this is all true but alot of people know about it already i doubt it will go ahead especially with all the qualifications already in the internet market and webdesign etc however there is internet2 out there its just well hidden by the government and media... welcome to the nanny state that our world is now