Posted on 10/21/2009 9:50:14 AM PDT by yoe
A Spectre is haunting multinational capitalism--the spectre of free information. All the powers of ``globalism'' have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcize this spectre: Microsoft and Disney, the World Trade Organization, the United States Congress and the European Commission.
Where are the advocates of freedom in the new digital society who have not been decried as pirates, anarchists, communists? Have we not seen that many of those hurling the epithets were merely thieves in power, whose talk of ``intellectual property'' was nothing more than an attempt to retain unjustifiable privileges in a society irrevocably changing? But it is acknowledged by all the Powers of Globalism that the movement for freedom is itself a Power, and it is high time that we should publish our views in the face of the whole world, to meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Free Information with a
Manifesto of our own.
Throughout the world the movement for free information announces the arrival of a new social structure, born of the transformation of bourgeois industrial society by the digital technology of its own invention.
The history of all hitherto existing societies reveals a history of class struggles.
[snip] We, the creators of the free information society, mean to wrest from the bourgeoisie, by degrees, the shared patrimony of humankind. We intend the resumption of the cultural inheritance stolen from us under the guise of ``intellectual property,'' as well as the medium of electromagnetic transportation. We are committed to the struggle for free speech, free knowledge, and free technology. The measures by which we advance that struggle will of course be different in different countries, but the following will be pretty generally applicable:
(Excerpt) Read more at emoglen.law.columbia.edu ...
1. Abolition of all forms of private property in ideas.
2. Withdrawal of all exclusive licenses, privileges and rights to use of electromagnetic spectrum. Nullification of all conveyances of permanent title to electromagnetic frequencies.
3. Development of electromagnetic spectrum infrastructure that implements every person's equal right to communicate.
4. Common social development of computer programs and all other forms of software, including genetic information, as public goods.
5. Full respect for freedom of speech, including all forms of technical speech.
6. Protection for the integrity of creative works.
7. Free and equal access to all publicly-produced information and all educational material used in all branches of the public education system.
By these and other means, we commit ourselves to the revolution that liberates the human mind. In overthrowing the system of private property in ideas, we bring into existence a truly just society, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.
Has everyone contacted their Representatives and said NO.
The vote is tomorrow.
You can get contact info, email them at congress.org or find their phone numbers.
Simply put in your zip code, click on federal.
Net Neutrality was never intended to have the govt involved at this level at all. Originally it was supposed to prevent mega-corporations from throttling, capping, choking and otherwise killing your dsl/cable connection and to keep them from charging more for sites like YouTube, Google, FreeRep and the like. I.e. a dumb pipe. Obama will take it far far beyond its original purpose. He is, after all, “here to help”.
The corporations had better knock off the throttling/choking otherwise it will be THEY who will be choked (i.e. Fascism), in which case everyone will suffer.
Ping to interesting (subjective, I suppose) discussion.
“All the powers of ``globalism’’ have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcize this spectre: Microsoft and Disney, the World Trade Organization, the United States Congress and the European Commission.”
That’s the “Professor of Law, Columbia University Law School”??
Sounds more like some kook holding a poorly-written board & wearing only a thong at some Berkeley parade.
Here is an interview in The Bullet, a Canadian marxist publication, with Obama’s Robert McChesney. It’s long but not quite as verbose as this one. It lays out the intention of this form of “social justice” and “wealth distribution”.
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/246.php
Thanks.
Does none of this worry you or anyone? I believe Robert McChesney advocates ‘revolution’ as a way of settling or getting government changed. McChesney, Dunn, Obama, Emanuel, and Axelrod for starters, do not want any discussion that strays from their agenda and have most of the media locked up - i.e. their propaganda with no free speech for rebuttal. Scares the bejeesus out of me!
It bothers me very much. These people are very clever at presenting themelves in such a way that it masks what their real intentions are. They talk about things like “protecting free access to the internet” and “democracy” and to many people these sound like good things because they don’t recognise this as socialist code. Or they get really carried away like the Manifesto guy and ordinary people would think he’s some kind of a kook and they can’t really understand what he’s talking about or have the patience to read the whole thing. Have you looked at freepress.net ? This is McChesney’s organization. It just has the appearance of a good thing and if you check out the staff and board page, there they are with their bright, clean smiling faces and their shiny resumes so what could there be to be concerned about. However if we dug deeper into these names and organizations things would probably become a whole lot clearer about what this is about. I wrote a list and may do a bit of digging if I have time but it won’t be for a few days because I’ll be going out of town.
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