When even the NYT notices, it’s obvious 30 Apr 2009 From the New York Times: The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but also in determining what information reaches people around the globe. The article notes that a number of repressed groups, including Women in Iran, the Falun Gong in China and so forth, are making hacks available to evade internet filtering. About time, too… Censorship Internet filtering
Censorship I told you so 24 Oct 2008 I told you so 1: High cost of internet filtering and controls stricter than Iran’s, oh and critics bullied. I told you so 2: Terrorism laws unsafe, court rejects charge of breaking laws that did not exist when the “crime” was done Read More
Censorship The road to hell 29 Dec 200818 Sep 2017 In the final chapter of Terry Pratchett’s Eric, the wizard Rincewind and the boy Eric are climbing out of hell on steep steps. He looked down at the broad steps they were climbing. They were something of a novelty; each one was built out of large stone letters. The one… Read More
Censorship On censorship 10 Nov 200818 Sep 2017 The internet filtering debacle raises some more general issues I have with my nation’s governments’ tendency to censor ideas it doesn’t like. Sure, there’s the “Won’t somebody think of the children” justification, which is a Good Intention (suitable for paving roads), but surely the best bet is to go for… Read More
Computers are becoming more and more vital to our existence. I realized that when my laptop recently died – everything depended on it. And it would not surprise me, if the bond between us and silicon becomes even more intimate in the relatively near future. It may even become quite practical for us to wear implants someday. Some would say that computers provides a hook for the power-hungry to control us – and they certainly do, but even that may be short-sighted. In a way, we are like enzymes catalyzing the formation of something we really don’t understand yet. And enzymes must first bond with whatever they are assembling. In a scenario like this, the distinction between tool and tool-user begins to blur. Obviously, we use computers as tools every day. But computers also use us. They employ many of us in large factories (organelles?) to to build their children, and vast support systems for their children. Certainly we’ve catalyzed the formation of many other things before – houses, cars, spaceships, etc. But the danger here is that in order for something to do more for you, you have to give it more power (this is actually one theme of Lord of the Rings, believe it or not). We are giving the computer great power of control, and that control will only increase with time. Around the turn of the century, Bill Joy wrote an article touching on some of these things, called “Why the future doesn’t need us”. Is it all just futurist nonsense? Perhaps.