#1 2013-07-28 04:42:48
Roll your clocks back to 1995, boys and girls, to a world of disparate and essentially closed network systems. Most of my geek confederates have expected this eventuality from day one.
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#2 2013-07-28 15:40:03
Second, the issue of internet governance is about to become very contentious. Given what we now know about how the US and its satraps have been abusing their privileged position in the global infrastructure, the idea that the western powers can be allowed to continue to control it has become untenable.
The problem being that the current proposed alternative is to turn it over to the likes of Putin, Assad, and Mugabe. To keep the Internet as a free resource, we have to want it.
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#3 2013-07-29 22:11:14
For 20+ years I've said that open international networks are a temporary state of affairs. But I could never back up my assertions that absolutely nothing is left unmonitored until now. That is the real gift that Snowden and Assange have given us all; proof positive that J. Edgar Hoovers wildest dreams have come true and there is a flashlight shining up every asshole. The tinfoil hats have be handed over, it's the ones who still think they have some privacy that are known to be deluding themselves now. Those guys should be getting commendations and awards, and our open and loving support.
Things haven't even started to get ugly yet. Wait till we see what they do to Manning tomorrow. Wait till we see what they do to us all, any time they happen to feel like it.
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#4 2013-07-30 00:33:01
monkeyboy wrote:
For 20+ years I've said that open international networks are a temporary state of affairs. But I could never back up my assertions that absolutely nothing is left unmonitored until now.
My wakeup call arrived while the Soviet empire crumbled in Nov, 1989 as word leaked CIA spooks were distributing 2400 baud modems and BinkleyTerm mail nodes on a floppy to refusenik organizers in Prague. Imagine all the backdoors we might've written for that.
Last edited by choad (2013-07-31 18:00:36)
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#5 2013-07-30 04:31:26
The Golden Goose term is apt; however, what was once the natural constituancy of high-tech businesses for a free and open Internet is weak. We now have the likes of Facebook, Netflix, and Google looking out for their own narrow interests. They certainly aren't broken-hearted over barriers to entry that keep out small, innovative competitors, and have a bottomless appetite for personal data.
Of course, we've made ourselves easy targets. I have a floppy disk somewhere with a downloaded copy of PGP from when Phil Zimmerman was facing jail time. But I don't think I've ever sent or received a single encrypted e-mail message.
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