ITU to control the Internet

[Riverwolf]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNQarkk95Q&feature=plcp[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNQarkk95Q&feature=plcp

Once again, it would seem the governments are trying to censor the internet.

Please share this video for the sake of discussion and awareness, and share your thoughts.

Mine are thus: they failed before with SOPA and PIPA, they'll fail this time, and they will fail every time.

On the other hand, I just heard about this a few minutes ago, and only from this video. It's possible this isn't as bad as SOPA/PIPA, or even all that bad at all. Nevertheless, I wish there to be universal awareness of this issue, for only then can we determine whether there is a problem at all, and if so, how to fix it.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

They can fail as many times as they're willing to pay for; they only need to succeed once.

 

[Quintessence]

They will fail because people don't read the bills and snap into anti mode the moment anybody even suggests something is threatening their freedoms. The bills in reality would do no such thing, but the hordes of people then continue to instill mass group-think panic and rally around a cause that paints the bill as "controlling the internet" or "threatening to shut down your favorite web site you use every day." But who cares? Nobody actually bothers to read the text of the bill, they read viral commentaries posted by people who also haven't read the bills. Or if they have read the bills, they don't have the legal expertise to interpret them properly and understand how they would be implemented in practice. It's much more fun to believe the government is conspiring to take over the internet, right?

Sorry, but people are so knee-jerk about things like this, I'm instantly skeptical of these kinds of claims. Regardless of supposed government plots to control the internet, I'm far more concerned by the control private corporations have over the internet in reality right now - specifically personal data I in no way consented to give them - and the fact that there is almost no regulation of it whatsoever. If the government wants to "take over the internet" to prohibit this kind of data mining (aka, consumer protection), I am completely for it.

 

[Riverwolf]

They will fail because people don't read the bills and snap into anti mode the moment anybody even suggests something is threatening their freedoms. The bills in reality would do no such thing, but the hordes of people then continue to instill mass group-think panic and rally around a cause that paints the bill as "controlling the internet" or "threatening to shut down your favorite web site you use every day." But who cares? Nobody actually bothers to read the text of the bill, they read viral commentaries posted by people who also haven't read the bills. Or if they have read the bills, they don't have the legal expertise to interpret them properly and understand how they would be implemented in practice. It's much more fun to believe the government is conspiring to take over the internet, right?

Sorry, but people are so knee-jerk about things like this, I'm instantly skeptical of these kinds of claims. Regardless of supposed government plots to control the internet, I'm far more concerned by the control private corporations have over the internet in reality right now - specifically personal data I in no way consented to give them - and the fact that there is almost no regulation of it whatsoever. If the government wants to "take over the internet" to prohibit this kind of data mining (aka, consumer protection), I am completely for it.

Your concerns are definitely important to the discussion, and your skepticism is wise, certainly moreso than the knee-jerk reaction most have. I remember that there was another bill not long after the SOPA/PIPA incident that a lot of people were decrying, but when I looked at it, it looked fine. (I don't actually remember what it was, though.)

Do you think this particular one is potentially bad, or do you think it's fine?

 

[Quintessence]

I would have to look into it. The embedded video is not loading properly and regardless, I would want a better source than... er... YouTube on which to base judgements. Ideally a link to the actual text of the bill. I'm not qualified to interpret legalese, honestly, but it's better to glance through it than not.

 

[Riverwolf]

I would have to look into it. The embedded video is not loading properly and regardless, I would want a better source than... er... YouTube on which to base judgements. Ideally a link to the actual text of the bill. I'm not qualified to interpret legalese, honestly, but it's better to glance through it than not.

This one's actually not a bill, but rather governments of the world are pushing to give major decision-making power of the internet over to the ITU.