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Rushkoff Proposes We Fork the Internet
Slashdot ^ | 1/4/11 | CmdrTaco

Posted on 01/04/2011 5:05:00 PM PST by Clint Williams

Shareable writes

"Douglas Rushkoff: 'The moment the "net neutrality" debate began was the moment the net neutrality debate was lost. For once the fate of a network — its fairness, its rule set, its capacity for social or economic reformation — is in the hands of policymakers and the corporations funding them — that network loses its power to effect change. The mere fact that lawmakers and lobbyists now control the future of the net should be enough to turn us elsewhere.' And he goes on to suggest citizens fork the Internet & makes a call for ideas how to do that."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS:
Store&forward Fidonet?

Once the fate of the Internet is in the hands of government the tyranny is complete.

1 posted on 01/04/2011 5:05:04 PM PST by Clint Williams
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To: Clint Williams

Rushkoff thinks government take over/control of the net is “corporate” control !?


2 posted on 01/04/2011 5:13:55 PM PST by Para-Ord.45
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To: Clint Williams
Government can only control the hardware. And since the internet suite of protocols are protocols, ie.. agreements on how to communicate, governments can't control internets.

And there are already many internets. Some connected, some not. And the connections can and do change minute by minute.

So the whole premise of this is bogus.

/johnny

3 posted on 01/04/2011 5:14:42 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Clint Williams

There have been a few times I’ve wanted to fork the internet.


4 posted on 01/04/2011 5:23:22 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Clint Williams

I don´t think my ISP wants to go out of business.


5 posted on 01/04/2011 5:39:52 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Clint Williams
Store&forward Fidonet?

Fidonet would work, but a lot of us don't have landlines anymore.

OTOH, it's actually extremely easy to route around a lot of net censorship and control because the net is fundamentally not really censor friendly if you have any technical abilities at all.

6 posted on 01/04/2011 6:23:24 PM PST by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: Clint Williams

Fork is a verb now ? Who knew ?


7 posted on 01/04/2011 6:23:33 PM PST by Red Boots
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To: Clint Williams

Fork is a verb now ? Who knew ?


8 posted on 01/04/2011 6:23:39 PM PST by Red Boots
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To: zeugma
OTOH, it's actually extremely easy to route around a lot of net censorship and control because the net is fundamentally not really censor friendly if you have any technical abilities at all.

The technical part is not the problem.

The problem is that circumventing the net censorship would be a crime in itself, and the programming tools would be defined as intent to circumvent the government's net safety precautions.

9 posted on 01/04/2011 6:28:11 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
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To: Red Boots

It has been in UNIX for about 40 years!


10 posted on 01/04/2011 6:36:39 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must-like men-undergo the fatigue of supporting it)
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To: Red Boots
Fork is a verb now ? Who knew ?

Ummm. Any open source developer since the second day of open source.

Also see 'n: fork bomb'. Unrelated to the vt: to fork

/johnny

11 posted on 01/04/2011 7:13:56 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Then 'eff 'em. It will become dangerous to enforce those rules.

/johnny

12 posted on 01/04/2011 7:15:56 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Alas Babylon!
The worst part of forking? sh, bash, csh, etc....

The best part of forking? I get to choose which shell I have to argue with.

Now, before I ask how to set an environment variable in this shell, how do I figure out which shell it is?

/johnny

13 posted on 01/04/2011 7:20:02 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Red Boots

“Fork is a verb now ? Who knew ?”

Think pitch forks and torches as in the last scene of Frankenstien


14 posted on 01/04/2011 7:37:46 PM PST by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is essential to examine principles,)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
The problem is that circumventing the net censorship would be a crime in itself, and the programming tools would be defined as intent to circumvent the government's net safety precautions.

Well, since I'm already a potential felon for having the audacity to want to watch DVDs on my Linux desktop (this is not a joke), having that other stuff isn't really going to add enough to it to make a difference, will it?

Stupid laws generate contempt for the rest of the law.

15 posted on 01/05/2011 6:53:34 AM PST by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: zeugma
Stupid laws generate contempt for the rest of the law.

That may be, but it enables the authorities to selectively enforce laws.

If they decide they want to get you, it's just a matter of finding a law that you broke.

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." -- Ayn Rand, 'Atlas Shrugged'

16 posted on 01/05/2011 6:59:04 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
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