Navigation

Archive | Internet

The real cost of free WiFi?

By on May 31, 2017 in Big Brother, Civil rights, Data Retention, EU, Free Information, Free Markets, Freedom of Speech, Intelligence, Internet, Privacy, surveillance

EU Observer:

The European Commission, Parliament and Council (representing member states) agreed on Monday to a €120-million plan to install free wi-fi services in 6,000 to 8,000 municipalities across the EU by 2020. The scheme had been proposed by EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker last September. How the system will be funded will have to be discussed and agreed before local authorities can start applying to it.

How kind. I guess a lot of people will be happy. But there might be unintended and unwanted consequences.

First of all, there is no such thing as a free lunch. In the end, this is €129M that somehow, forcefully will be taken from taxpayers.

Second, there must be much merriment within various mass surveillance organizations. This will make controlling the people that much easier.

And if you read the parliaments statement, there is mention of a »single authentication system valid throughout the EU«. This will have huge privacy implications. Can we please have a discussion about this first?

Third, it usually doesn’t end well when politicians start to meddle with what is supposed to be a free market. Is this at all fair competition? What will the consequences be when it comes to developing better and quicker commercial connections?

Finally, communal WiFi run by your local bureaucracy. What can possibly go wrong? Will it even work? How will surplus metadata that you generate be used? By whom? Wich web pages will be blocked?

/ HAX

0

EU to move on the Internet Censorship Machine and Link-tax

By on May 31, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Big Media, Censorship, Copyright, EU, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Property, Internet, Link wars, social media

Next Thursday, June 8, the European Parliaments Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) will have its main vote on the EU Copyright Package.

Here a proposal will be hammered out for the parliament’s final plenary vote later this summer. So it’s a very important event. And there are dark clouds on the horizon.

Key points are the EU Censorship Machine (forcing internet platforms to control and, in relevant cases, censor content uploaded by its users) and the Link-tax (a license fee for linking to media news articles).

This is the best – and maybe last – opportunity to stop this from becoming EU law.

Take action, spread the word and please contact your elected members of the parliament.

Julia Reda (German Pirate MEP): Just 9 days left to reject the worst version of EU copyright expansion plans yet »

BoingBoing: ACT NOW! In 9 days, the European Parliament could pass a truly terrible copyright expansion »

0

G7 Group unite to limit free speech

By on May 26, 2017 in Big Brother, Big Data, Big Government, Censorship, Civil rights, Deep State, Democracy, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Global Politics, Human rights, Internet, Police state, Rule of law, social media

Dear all,

Please take notice that the G7 meeting just decided to beef up censorship and control of the Internet.

If you make censorship possible at all – sooner or later it will be used by sinister minds.

Please – do not limit the freedom of speech. We cannot silence or put people in prison, simply because we do not agree with whatever they are saying. (Unless they are a direct threat to other people’s immediate security. And if so, only after a fair trial respecting fundamental human rights.)

Giving Big Government and Big Data control over the freedom of the word – that must not happen.

/ HAX

2

»Theresa May to shut down the internet as we know it«

By on May 22, 2017 in Big Brother, Censorship, Civil rights, Deep State, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Internet, Privacy, surveillance, UK

“Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet,” it states. “We disagree.”

The Independent: Theresa May to Crete New Internet that would be Controlled and Regulated by Government »

Pull the various tech-related manifesto pledges together and – if the polls are correct and May wins a majority in next month’s election – the Conservatives could have a mandate from the British public for a significant extension of internet regulation, all based on the idea that a government’s duty to protect citizens exists just as much on the internet as it does in the real world.

Buzzfeed: Theresa May Wants To Regulate The Internet »

“Balances” freedoms? Freedoms aren’t supposed to be “balanced.” They’re supposed to be supported and protected. And when you have your freedoms protected, that also protects users. Those two things aren’t in opposition. They don’t need to be balanced. As for “obligations for businesses and platforms” — those five words are basically the ones that say “we’re going to force Google and Facebook to censor stuff we don’t like, while making it impossible for any new platform to ever challenge the big guys.” It’s a bad, bad idea.

Techdirt: Theresa May Plans To Regulate, Tax And Censor The Internet »

0

The Internet after UK elections?

By on May 19, 2017 in Big Government, Civil rights, Deep State, Democracy, Internet, Privacy, UK

UK Prime Minister and noted authoritarian Theresa May has promised that if she wins the upcoming general election, her party will abolish internet access in the UK, replacing it with a government-monitored internet where privacy tools are banned and online services will be required to vet all user-supplied content for compliance with rules about pornography, political speech, copyright compliance and so on — and search engines will have to employ special British rules to exclude banned material from their search results.

BoingBoing: Theresa May promises a British version of Iran’s Halal Internet »

0

Is EU slowly killing the Internet?

By on May 17, 2017 in Censorship, Copyright, EU, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Internet

Article 13 (in the European Union’s draft Copyright Directive), fewer than 250 words, is designed to provoke such legal uncertainty that internet companies will have no option other than to block, filter and monitor our communications, if they want to have any chance of staying in business. Ultimately, only the current internet giants, shedding crocodile tears at the prospect, will be able to survive. From global internet to “Googlebook”.

Joe McNamee, EDRi: Killing parody, killing memes, killing the internet? »

0

SpaceX to provide competition on Internet market

By on May 5, 2017 in disruptive, Free Markets, Internet

Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to start launching satellites into orbit in 2019 to provide high-speed internet to Earth.

In November, the company outlined plans to put 4,425 satellites into space in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing. (…)

SpaceX argues that the U.S. lags behind other developed nations in broadband speed and price competitiveness, while many rural areas are not serviced by traditional internet providers. The company’s satellites will provide a “mesh network” in space that will be able to deliver high broadband speeds without the need for cables.

CNBC/Yahoo: Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send the first of its 4,425 super-fast internet satellites into space in 2019 »

0

Njalla – the new anonymous domain registration service

By on April 19, 2017 in Anonymity, disruptive, Free Information, Hacktivism, Internet, Privacy, TPB, WWW

Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde has a new privacy-oriented startup. Today he launches the domain registration service Njalla, which offers site owners full anonymity, shielding them from the prying eyes of outsiders. “Think of us as your friendly drunk (but responsibly so) straw person that takes the blame for your expressions.”

Torrentfreak: Pirate Bay Founder Launches Anonymous Domain Registration Service »

Njalla »

0