In response to this slashdot article and its Source article by Karl Sigfrid (politician in sweden) I have a few words. First, a quote from Karl Sigfrid’s article:
Politicians who play for the antipiracy team should be aware that they have allied themselves with a special interest that is never satisfied and that will always demand that we take additional steps toward the ultimate control state. Today they want to transform the Internet Service Providers into an online police force, and the Antipiracy Bureau wants the authority for themselves to extract the identities of file sharers.
So any words I have to say from here on are in the giant shadow of that paragraph. I am of course as usual not endorsing theft, but internet freedom. Realizing and understanding that the internet is made up of connections of computers. Everybody’s computers, backbones everywhere; almost by definition de-centralized and in everybody’s hands. The internet is now omni-present; and it shall only continue to be more so in the future. It has become (minus ISP fees) a near public-good; a universal source of information and connectivity.
The sooner politicians, big interest groups (read: RIAA), and other self-interested people of supposed ‘power’ come to grips with the reality that the internet can not, and should not be controlled the better off the world will be. Not only because I fear a police state as Karl Sigfrid does, but because I value the personal power I have to communicate with anybody, sending any information via any means on any protocol at any time for any purpose.
My message to those who wish to control the ‘internet’ (read: all the people in the world using the internet. Me. You.) remember whom you serve. The constitution of the United States begins with “We The People”, all the powers of the United States government are derived directly from the will of the people giving them those powers. This is a fundamental in the philosophy of American government. The instant the government is perceived to be acting against the will of the people (which limiting the people’s ability to communicate and share information certainly is) the people have the right to demand change in their government. Similar ideas reside in many other governments of our world and these thoughts should apply universally.
The simple truth is that almost all communication channels on the Internet can be used to distribute copyrighted information. If you can use a service to send a message you can most likely use the same service to send an mp3-song. Those who want to prevent people from exchanging of copyrighted material must control all electronic communication between citizens.
Not most likely Karl, definetly.