Thursday, June 26, 2008

Keep the Internet FREE

Building the Shield of Free Information

It’s easy to take the Internet for granted. It has provided boundless freedom of information, freedom of communication and organization, and, with it, we have accomplished a lot. But what if intelligence agencies were watching every data packet, logging every interaction, cataloging everything we did on the Web?

What if the big ISP corporations that own the backbone of the Internet were hired by the government to install spying devices on the data hubs that all of our web traffic travels through? Suppose they had the power to watch everything online everywhere, log what you do and where you go, and had the power to shut the whole thing down if all that free speech got to be too dangerous? They already do.

PROBLEM
Surveillance and Shutdown
The NSA already coaxed the big ISPs to install special logging hardware in the backbone of the Internet. The Internet is a giant, amorphous and self-repairing network, but structurally it depends on a small number of vital hubs. These hubs, much like broadcast radio towers with their FEMA boxes, which transfer them instantly into the hands of the federal government at the flip of a switch, are already capable, hypothetically, of being switched off at a moment’s notice. Ownership of the data pipelines, thanks to the corporatism that infests the halls of Washington, has been consolidated into the hands of very few. Those few, like AT&T, offered no resistance when the White House used their data logs to violate the fourth and fifth amendments. They offered no resistance when the NSA equipment was installed. They will similarly offer no resistance if the order ever comes to switch off their portion of the network.

The surveillance problem is as old as the Internet. The surveillance device called Carnivore is a Clinton-era invention for the FBI which, when taken to a local ISP, can log everything a target user does online. ECHELON is a communications surveillance system that isn’t exclusively American, but it can pick up everything from phone calls to email, and has been in existence for at least the past 8 years.

It should be obvious by now that our own government has evolved some very frightening surveillance capabilities that already affect the Web. Our ISPs, the ones who could stand up for the rights of their users if they wanted to, have already surrendered to the State.

Our digital freedom has already been compromised in numerous small skirmishes. There are encryption algorithms that are illegal for “civilians” to use in the United States. That’s like outlawing a certain brand of safe because it’s too hard for the FBI to crack. Bloggers have been arrested for not betraying their sources to the Feds. Websites have been shut down and their property confiscated for publishing information our federal government didn’t like. Excuses from decency laws to tax violations have been used to justify the raids.

Unfortunately, the freedom of the press is relatively new in human history. The amount of time that the good people of Russia have enjoyed a free press, in all the long history of their nation, can be measured in decades. In ancient times, crafting propaganda was an accepted role of government, so censorship was tolerated and even commended. The freedom to speak truth to power is a radical concept from the revolutionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries that we can thank the Swiss and the earliest Americans for. Having a free press is not the natural state of things. It isn’t enough to take its existence for granted, as if it is some established fortress to defend. Judging from history, the free press is instead a rare, endangered species of freedom that is always on the brink of extinction. It needs to be cultivated and defended constantly. The relentless push of government means this essential human right will never be completely safe.

Corporate Censorship
The web is still mostly free of government intervention – Big Brother is only watching so far – so the biggest assaults on free speech on the web have been from private firms like ISPs and big websites.
• MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp (which owns FOX News), censors messages and blog entries. Some banned topics include Alex Jones’ Infowars.com website, homosexuality, and even Ron Paul.
• AOL censored email messages among their users that protested AOL’s plan to charge “postage” for sending email messages.
• Comcast deliberately hobbled file transfers made using the popular Bit-Torrent application.

But there are ways of getting around the Web without using MySpace, AOL or Comcast. AOL got slapped by its users for its censorship. Comcast has worked out an agreement with BitTorrent. MySpace is far from having a monopoly on social networking online. Since private companies can always be circumvented by other private efforts, the specter of big ISPs shouldn’t frighten you as much as the Net Neutrality crowd would like. At least not in the way they would like. Yes, the ISPs have collapsed in surrender to government surveillance. No, they are not about to wreck everyone’s online experience for a few extra bucks.

Still, those who run the biggest social media websites, such as YouTube, can pose a threat. Because of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), a large media company can have almost anything taken down from YouTube if they claim it infringes on their copyrights. The video is removed first, and then the one who uploaded it must prove his innocence. The pattern repeats across every large online utility for sharing media.

With legislation like the DMCA, and the ever-present surveillance state, large websites with a lot to lose in a confrontation with the government will happily self-censor. YellowTimes, a left-leaning news website, was taken down for showing photographs of American soldiers’ coffins coming out of Iraqiv. And that was back in 2003.

Self Censorship
Another large problem we face in preserving our online freedom is a personal one. The consequences of speaking out about a given topic, or sharing certain information, can feel dangerous or unpatriotic. Sometimes it is merely unpopular. For many, the fear of public derision is enough to chill their speech. It had been easy for me to assume that with what seemed like the entire freedom movement huddled around LewRockwell.com and Mises.org like they were a pair of fading campfires, that we were a tiny island of liberty in a rising sea of collectivism. For truth tellers, the world can seem a very hostile place, and on the Internet the entire record of your words is laid bare for all to come and mock. In an atmosphere like the one we have in America today, it is easy to just shut up about freedom and try to live quietly without rocking the boat.

Well, the boat needs rocking, and you are not alone. This is the first place where we can start taking back what freedom has been lost, and stay on the offensive against tyranny.

SOLUTION
What to do
I found, as the Ron Paul campaign progressed, that the ideas of liberty still resonate with Americans whose ears are open. The philosophy of limited government and broad freedom is still popular, even if much of America still doesn’t realize it. For this reason it is imperative that we stop being so shy on the Web! Now is the time to start blogs, conduct podcasts, and create videos. We need to hear one another just as badly as the rest of the country needs to hear us. As a member of the freedom movement, make your voice heard online at every turn! Public opinion on the web is nothing except the sum of what the individuals on it contribute, so contribute!

Be a Snowflake • If the Ron Paul campaign showed us anything, it is that the Internet can be completely overrun by a popular movement. We forced the media’s hand on November 5 and December 16 by calling their bluffs on money and public support for a liberty-minded candidate, and exposed the bias for what it is. We jarred Congress over the amnesty bill. We can do this.

And online activity is nothing but sound and fury unless it materializes into real world action. As amazing as it is, cyberspace is just a tool for those of us who live in real space. Organize with those near you, or if it suits you, with those far away. Or work on your own. It hardly matters, so long as you do something. Don’t wait for orders from HQ. It is the job of every patriot to make life miserable for the tyrants. Use the tools of the Web to get organized, and get out there and do something!

I recommend joining campaigns like DownsizeDC.org, and use the organizing power of the Web to overwhelm Congress with the freedom message. I can’t stress enough how important it is to exercise your own voice on the Internet. One of the mottoes adopted at DownsizeDC is that no snowflake believes itself responsible for the avalanche. When you get proactive about exercising that First Amendment on the Internet, you may only feel like one snowflake, but individual snowflakes make up an avalanche.

Be a Little Paranoid • Utilize encryption in your online communications, especially for your political activism. Use online privacy tools that will help mask your movements on the Web. Adopt some best practices of online etiquette and avoid revealing too much of your identity over the Web. There are a few safety precautions you can take on your own that will help keep your digital rights intact. See the links below.

Be Prepared • Just in case the worst does befall the World Wide Web, get acquainted with radio technology and how to broadcast. Even within the current framework of the law, it’s not impossible to spread the message using small radio equipment. In the disaster of Hurricane Andrew, the Floridians who had ham radios were the ones who restored the lines of communication across the affected areas. Learn to print your own publications. There’s a lot
that’s moving to the Web, but the Internet will never be the end-all of media!

Blueprint for Digital Freedom: Suggestions to Congress The Net Neutrality campaign insists that government regulation must be introduced to preserve the Internet as we know it. But we in the freedom movement know better: legislative creep never ends, and the first few benevolent steps of Net Neutrality will inexorably morph into digital tyranny. Securing digital liberty, freeing the market of the ISPs and content providers alike, will not merely maintain the status quo, but unleash the boundless human creativity that manifests itself every time a pure free market is permitted
to operate. The steps toward this politically will be very easy to take, if our government only pays attention to the fact that “Freedom Works.”

Don’t try to move heaven and earth to enforce copyright law • Information is infinitely and effortlessly reproducible now. Copyright infringement is a violation of a private license agreement, but it is not theft. No matter how much the big producers of intellectual property don’t like it, it is no longer possible to guard a secret indefinitely. The old treatment of IP was to patent it, copyright it, force others not to copy it, as if keeping a secret somehow contributed wealth to society. Buttressing the old copyright paradigm with greater and greater enforcement will only lead where alcohol prohibition led the destruction of individual rights and the complete failure to combat the actual problem. The media industry has some growing pains to endure. But Congress, please don’t lead a crusade against non-violent Internet users just because the media lobby says you should. The way we think about copyright is changing. Our concept of information ownership is evolving along with our information technology. We should encourage Congress to let the people solve these issues privately and on a case-by-case basis. Tort reform applies peripherally to this, but that is a topic for a completely different article.

Decriminalize sophisticated encryption algorithms • Currently there are methods of data encryption that are just not allowed in the United States. Our government considers the DES Algorithm a munition, so Americans are only allowed to use it at a very small level of strength. Who is serving who here, if the people are not allowed to keep their own digital affairs private? The people who want good encryption will use it anyway – it is freely available on
the Internet. The only thing this encryption embargo does is chase away foreign business worried about data security. The government’s role is to protect the rights and privacy of the individual, not hem the individual in so he can be better monitored. If you’re worried about terrorists, laws don’t stop them from using tools to do things they shouldn’t, so why impair innocent Americans?

Remove any surveillance equipment built into the Internet backbone • We understand the specter of terrorism is scary, but this level of information gathering is a clear violation of the Bill of Rights, against the entire philosophy of our Constitution, and should not be in the hands of any part of our government. There is no reason terrorism can’t be stopped by detective work and an armed populace ready to defend themselves. The American intelligence
community should remove any and all preemptive surveillance devices from Internet infrastructure.

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press... • The first amendment is very simple, and it is my assertion that any law interfering with the development of the Internet abridges the freedom of the digital press. The Internet should be a domain of complete and total federal non-intervention. There are many out there who fear this lack of control, but that is the nature of freedom. Sometimes people do things with their freedom you don’t like. Like Thomas Jefferson said, I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

Resources
Get Information • http://www.liveleak.com/http://www.usaspending.gov/
http://www.eff.org/, http://www.govtrack.us/http://www.wikileaks.org/
Get some Privacy • http://gnupg.org/http://www.hushmail.com/
http://www.eff.org/wp/six-tips-protect-your-search-privacy
Start a Blog • http://www.blogger.com/http://www.wordpress.com/
http://www.typepad.com/
Upload Video • http://www.youtube.com/http://video.google.com/
Start a Podcast • http://www.talkshoe.com/http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
i http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/
ATT_forwards_all_Internet_traffic_into_NSA_says_EFF.asp
ii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_(software)
iii http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON
iv http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0303/S00228.htm

By Benjamin J. Thompson

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