Digital Censorship

[Agent Rebellion]

Sorry to go off on one, but I am sick of this. Chatrooms are being shutdown. It's just another type of control. They want us to have cards that have our biographical data on, and chips in our cars that allow us to be followed by satelite. And now they are going to control what we do on the net too. I don't like it, but I guess there isn't anything we can do about it.

[Agent Rebellion]

Hmm I dont think they are shutting down independant chatrooms though which is nice.

[Phydaux]

I believe its only MSN, and they're closing all their non-American chatrooms. But I didn't think this really matters tho... there are millions of other places to chat.

[Rkiver]

I have mentioned it before, not sure if I should repeat it but perhaps it bears mentioning considering this topic.

America is not the land of the free. America is not a democracy anymore. America is now a dictatorship, and as a result certain things, such as the so called "Freedom of Expression/Speech" has been repealed. I do feel sorry for those who are getting caught in the middle of it...I just hope the people in the USA realise they can fix this by demanding that GWB step down from a position he never accquired by actual democratic votes.

[andrewas]

I think its more to do with a desire to avoid being sued by the parents of some kid that got killed after meeting a pedo online, than it is to do with a desire to censor communications.

[Iris]

i second the motion.

[Rkiver]

andrewas: Probably....but still, I believe that my statement is not untrue either.

However the news has recently seen an increase of people running away with people they have met over the internet, especially young girls running away with people they know are older. Does this mean that the actual occurances have increased? I don't think so, it's just it's the latest thing in the news and the companies such are having knee jerk reaction, rather then thinking it out.

My reaction would be perhaps for parents monitor, at least a bit, what their children do when on the internet. People are blaming everyone else bar the people who are to blame, at least IMHO. The parents should at least some idea what their children do, and I believe the recent spate of them showing up in the news is evidence that parents do not know in any way what their children are doing.

Anyway that is just my opinion.

(Edited by Rkiver at 12:45 pm on Sep. 24, 2003)

[Agent Rebellion]

And I was just talking about the UK. Humans aren't free anymore, and neither is anything we say. Everything we write or type is under surveilance. Our very lives are under the same surveillance. The only thing that is true is the thoughs we have in our heads, our memories, and the spoken word. Though soon, even that will probably be monitored.

[Iris]

well, who said we were ever free? i know this may sound cliche, but freedom is really just an illusion, we are always bound by something, at the very least, personal responsibility. if it's not the government controlling us, it's another thing, be it religion, society, tradition, our own peers, and even the very standards we give ourselves.

[Rkiver]

Once again Iris you say it more elloquently then I ever could.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

For a person to have total freedom others must neccessarily be oppressed.  No society can function with total freedom, because the whole idea of a society is based on some limitation of personal freedom for the good of the whole.  Even outside society you are constrained by natural forces and your own reason so you must detach totally from the physical world to become truly free.  :)

[Iris]

thanks for the compliment, Rkiver. don't do it too often or i'll blush.

[Rkiver]

Well when you make an intelligent well thought out post that sums up what I could say it saves me the time to actually try and word it in the correct fashion.

Stewsburntmonkey: And as my sometimes adversary, sometimes ally in a lot of discussions, nice to see you interjecting your view on the world also.

It is rather frighting when you consider our so called "freedom" is mostly an illusion isn't it?

[Iris]

well, i can only think of one instance when you're totally free, and that's when you're dead.

....er, cancel that, i totally forgot about Hell.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

Well that doesn't bother so much, as I am totally willing to live with less freedom to have the luxury of living in a more peaceful and well off society.  I am deeply troubled by the constant errosion of liberty that has take place in the US with the comming of the present administration.  It has also started abroad since 9/11 (here in Italy where I am studying you cannot have overnight guests in your home since one could theoretically be harboring a terrorist, that is a bit much).  I hate the hypocrytical pandering and demagogy of W, he doesn't want firearms registered because that would make it easy for the government at some point in the future to confiscate them, but he doesn't mind wiretaps, digital snooping, arrests without due process or even basic human rights.  It annoys me to no end what the American public and our representatives are allowing to happen.  Everyone wants to get involved when the President gets a blow job, but when death, basic freedoms, and the future of the world are at stake no one cares.  That deeply troubles me.  


(Edited by Stewsburntmonkey at 2:31 pm on Sep. 24, 2003)