sigh It's frustrating - because - we all know - technically, this just won't work...
I'm sure their reasons are somewhat valid, if only that they are pandering to a small, scared part of the community. However, putting in place this sort of apparatus to do that - with seemingly no checks and measures - seems negligent in the extreme.
The government doesn't inspect every letter, every package, every phone conversation. That's just ludicrous. Instead they just police it.
For some reason, they think this will work with the Internet. It's an embarrassment as all it demonstrates is that the government is completely out of touch with technology.
I've written to my local rep several times. It usually a form reply. They say don't want to stop "legal" activity. This scares the hell out of me. Does that include technically illegal acts such as those against corporate interests? property? political dissent?
Frankly. It's not a tool I want in the hands of a government that seems to be prepared to barter almost anything in order to get legislation though. We've had the parliament held to ransom by crazy independents before (totally marginal, unrepresentative nutjobs on the whole). I hate to think what they will demand once they have this to play with.
I only wish this initiative would quietly die like everyone is mentioning - it still seems to kick on and on though.
I wish people wouldn't make these sorts of arguments, because they're short-term ones, and don't get the real point across. Whether it technically won't work, or whether it will slow down the internet aren't the real issues, because someday, it technically will work and won't slow down the internet.
The real argument to make is that this is wrong because censorship is wrong, and because this is the thin end of the wedge of tyranny. It always starts with child porn or terrorism, because everyone hates terrorists and pedophiles. Once the government gets the capability, they just start taking more and more. Even this article talks about blocking anti-abortion websites. Abortion is one of the most important social issues today, and they're saying that we can't argue against the government position on the internet? How will we ever make progress as a society if we can't talk about anything different than what we are doing today?
Yes this censorship is wrong - I agree with that. However the technical aspects of trying to censor the internet do have important ramifications.
To effectively make censorship work on the internet it would require the government be able to access all you possible means of receiving data - Email, proxies, bittorent, SSH, everything. It is just too easy to re-route censored data over different channels otherwise. Even then it is possible to hide data within other data (Steganography).
So without big brother constantly staring over your shoulder it won't work. Any government serious about making censorship work would be (possibly unknowingly) drawn down this path.
I wish people wouldn't make these sorts of arguments
I don't want my government wasting money on something I don't think will work. I believe the resources are better put elsewhere. That's important to me - might not be the case for you.
and because this is the thin end of the wedge of tyranny.
I'm sure their reasons are somewhat valid, if only that they are pandering to a small, scared part of the community. However, putting in place this sort of apparatus to do that - with seemingly no checks and measures - seems negligent in the extreme.
The government doesn't inspect every letter, every package, every phone conversation. That's just ludicrous. Instead they just police it.
For some reason, they think this will work with the Internet. It's an embarrassment as all it demonstrates is that the government is completely out of touch with technology.
I've written to my local rep several times. It usually a form reply. They say don't want to stop "legal" activity. This scares the hell out of me. Does that include technically illegal acts such as those against corporate interests? property? political dissent?
Frankly. It's not a tool I want in the hands of a government that seems to be prepared to barter almost anything in order to get legislation though. We've had the parliament held to ransom by crazy independents before (totally marginal, unrepresentative nutjobs on the whole). I hate to think what they will demand once they have this to play with.
I only wish this initiative would quietly die like everyone is mentioning - it still seems to kick on and on though.