How to Crush Dissent

“The interesting thing is how far we’ve gone
down this road, especially at the behest of the recording industry
and the copyright lobby.

“What capabilities do you have on the other side? What are your
abilities to express dissent?

“I think the example of Wikileaks quickly comes to mind. That
shows one example of a web site, that through technical and
jurisdictional means, appears to have avoided take-down by a far
more powerful entity, at least so far. However, I think this is a
Pyrrhic victory. The mere existence of Wikileaks will spur
governments to tighten laws, invest in additional
counter-information technologies, such as the Internet
“Kill Switch†proposed by the
Department of Homeland Security in the U.S., etc.. The presence of
a presently uncontrollable voice will surely lead to a
concentration of control of the choke points of the internet that
will eventually silence that voice.

“When an irrepressible force meets an immovable object, one may
speculate which will win. I put my bets on the side with the money
and the guns. The danger for the rest of us is that in their
attempts to control a venue for indiscriminate, absolute free
speech, they devise such choke points that they provide the ability
for future regimes to crush dissent, and by eliminating dissent
also eliminate the best opportunity we have for peaceful
revolutions.”

Complete
Story