"We can't fight for Internet freedom around the world, then turn around and destroy it back home. Even if we don't see the contradiction, the rest of the world does."
Er, how is unregulated spying on non-Americans, fighting for internet freedom around the world?
I take internet freedom to mean the USA has the world wide freedom to spy on non people.... sorry, non Americans.
The blow back I would start worrying about is if the countries or the likes of the EU start walling off the internet, sort of like China, to keep American spying out. I now wonder if the Chinese firewall is as much about internal control as it is defensive.
American actually risks the break up of the internet as one single thing, unless it begins to respect people who are not American.
He's referring to things like the attempted ITU power grab last year [1]. We'll see something like that again, using the NSA as the explicit|implicit justification, and it will be much harder to stop. = "blowback"
I agree with the US "no rights for non citizens" notion being total BS. About walling off the internet, China has proven it can be done, and recent news confirms that it is not stupid and both China and other countries who are doing their best to reduce Google and Facebook type US megacorp/military/intelligence inroads to their society are not without reasoning. Even Russia is getting in on it now. China has shown the way and achieved a pretty serious division from western-dominated internet services... the services persist, but the volume of blackmail-capable and social network information around the society's leading figures that is being stolen by foreign intelligence services is probably markedly reduced by this strategy. It's solid, as proven by the NSA revelations.
Meanwhile, Eric don't be evil Schmidt goes on a "personal visit" to North Korea at the behest of the State Department (cough) Council of Foreign Relations, from where his girlfriend hails, and run by the same dynastic wealth schmucks screwing the US citizens from within their borders.
Ahh, business as usual. Petty, petty humans! May all beings find their peace :)
The Internet has faired pretty fucking well under American custody in the past two decades. Let's not be at a rush to discount this fact in the face of the leaks.
For better or worse, the US still seems to have probably the most progressive stance on general freedom of speech and tolerance in the world. This is perhaps the last example of nationalism to which I think tech folks can subscribe honestly.
The U.S. is the most important nation in terms of it's historical importance to freedom in the world, but it's been decades since it's been considered an example to emulate, in terms of either the electoral and political process, or rule of law based in natural rights.
"The questionnaire asks questions about pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, and infrastructure. The questionnaire takes account of the legal framework for the media (including penalties for press offences, the existence of a state monopoly for certain kinds of media and how the media are regulated) and the level of independence of the public media. It also reflects violations of the free flow of information on the Internet. Violence against journalists, netizens, and media assistants, including abuses attributable to the state, armed militias, clandestine organizations, and pressure groups, are monitored by RSF staff during the year and are also part of the final score."
So, a whole bunch of other things are rolled into that--least of which is some ill-defined internet component.
I know that it is very popular to bash on the US--often with very good reason!--for its press. Fact is, we did this to ourselves. Fact is, we stopped paying for newspapers that did good reporting. Fact is, we promoted and supported the rise of media moguls and conglomerates that helped stifle solid journalism. That was us, not some secret government cabal.
The US is pretty hands-off with regards to the 'net, especially with regards to free speech that others may find offensive: contrast us with the way many European nations seem to feel about hate speech or libel.
The only things I'd actively hold that we do incorrectly about the 'net is the ICE domain seizures and massive data-mining of communications.
Then again, we again see that the private sector is more than happy to vacuum up personal details. Thanks Google! Thanks Facebook! Thanks marketing firms!
Er, how is unregulated spying on non-Americans, fighting for internet freedom around the world?
I take internet freedom to mean the USA has the world wide freedom to spy on non people.... sorry, non Americans.
The blow back I would start worrying about is if the countries or the likes of the EU start walling off the internet, sort of like China, to keep American spying out. I now wonder if the Chinese firewall is as much about internal control as it is defensive.
American actually risks the break up of the internet as one single thing, unless it begins to respect people who are not American.