[MLB-WIRELESS] Fw: Lizard replies to ACLU demanding more Internet regulation

[lizard]

OK, my last word on this. Once again, we see the left showing its usual 
signs of battered spouse syndrome. "THIS time, he won't hit me. THIS 
time, he'll be kind and gentle. I'm only going to go back to him JUST 
THIS ONCE."

"He", in this case, is Uncle Sam.

So, we...or rather, YOU...want the government to save the free internet 
from the evil corporations. Well, let's take a quick look at what other 
good things the government has done for free speech, on the net and off.

The Clipper Chip.
The CDA.
COPA, CIPA, and the rest.
"Death Penalty For Hackers" legislation.
The DMCA.
The Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act.
The 1996 Extensions to the Lanham(sp?) Act. ((Laying the groundwork for 
the current gross abuses of trademark law)

(And, over in TV and Radio land, we have the FCC, which censors TV and 
Radio, and has only been kept (mostly) off cable by the SC)

Etc.
Etc.
Etc.

But none of that matters, right? If the government decides it has the 
power to regulate cable internet, it will ONLY do so in order to insure 
'diversity' and 'freedom', right? It's not like the government gets any 
money from the RIAA, the MPAA, and so on, so the government has no 
motive to mandate that 'authorized' broadband providers throttle 
file-sharing services. It's not like anyone in Congress would make 
political hay by demanding 'authorized' broadband providers block porn 
sites or pro-nazi sites. No, there's NO motive for Congress to EVER 
impose such terms or conditions on an industry that it regulates. Nope, 
no motive at all. Can't happen. Won't happen. He PROMISED me he stopped 
drinking. He said he still loves me!

What we have here, boils and ghouls, is this:
A proven history of censorship on the part of the government.
A lot of speculation about what the Evil Corporations *might* do.

Remember -- the government tried something like four times to ban 'phone 
sex' services, again and again until the SC gave in and let them. The 
phone company -- you know, a telecommunication industry the government 
regulated "for the public good" -- wanted to allow people to talk dirty 
for only 9.95 a minute, call now, I'm waiting for you. The government 
said "No, we won't allow such perversion in an industry WE CONTROL" -- 
and it got its way. Let me make this perfectly clear, for those of who 
whose grasp of reality is limited to what you can fit on a picket sign 
at an anti-WTO rally: In an actual, historical, example of what happens 
when a communications company is regulated by the government, the 
government acted to CENSOR speech, not protect it. That's the REALITY of 
it. All your little dreams of a benevolent Uncle Sam keeping the evil 
corporations in line in order to preserve the free internet are baseless.

Given the devil we know is a devil, and the unknown which *might* be a 
devil, the choice seems pretty clear.

(The real solution, as always, is going to be technology, not law. 
Neither government nor industry has much interest in preserving liberty. 
There will be no savior of freedom from either side. It has to come from 
within.)


To unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo at wireless.org.au
with "unsubscribe melbwireless" in the body of the message