A science fiction story about what you see when you die. Or: the Singularity, ruined by lawyers.
On 8 May 2012 The Netherlands adopted crucial legislation to safeguard an open and secure internet in The Netherlands. It is the first country in Europe to implement net neutrality in the law. In addition, it adopted provisions protecting users against disconnection and wiretapping by providers. Digital rights movement Bits of Freedom calls upon other countries to follow the Dutch example.
The net neutrality law prohibits internet providers from interfering with the traffic of their users. The law allows for traffic management in case of congestion and for network security, as long as these measures serve the interests of the internet user.
ÖKAD ÖVERVAKNING Mäktiga intressen kämpar om kontrollen över framtidens internet. I veckan samlades nätaktivister, politiker och företag i Frösundavik för att diskutera nätfrihet i ett globalt perspektiv. Men politikernas retorik klingar ihåligt när övervakningen på hemmaplan blir alltmer omfattande
Bra artikel om hyckleriet.
The lack of Corporate and Governmental transparency has been a topic of much controversy in recent years, yet our only tool for encouraging greater openness is the slow, tedious process of policy reform.
Presented in the form of a Soviet F1 Hand Grenade, the Transparency Grenade is an iconic cure for these frustrations, making the process of leaking information from closed meetings as easy as pulling a pin.
Equipped with a tiny computer, microphone and powerful wireless antenna, the Transparency Grenade captures network traffic and audio at the site and securely and anonymously streams it to a dedicated server where it is mined for information. Email fragments, HTML pages, images and voice extracted from this data are then presented on an online, public map, shown at the location of the detonation.
Whether trusted employee, civil servant or concerned citizen, greater openness was never so close at hand..
Pinsamt, läskigt och hemskt.
Kommentar från Hacker News:
Note that this has been one of the top news stories for a couple of days in a row now. And not for a lack of other pressing issues… The whole thing is extremely embarrassing for the hard liners, who seem to have a hard time repositioning themselves in the face of ever new discoveries and new experts chiming in (e.g. http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002250.html).
It’s a neat combination of illegal behavior and incompetence. In one case, the software continuously took screenshots of victim’s desktops, which was ruled illegal in Germany. The encryption used in the software is terrible. The company which apparently developed the software — though so far, the government won’t confirm it, citing fears of internet revenge against the company (I’m not kidding) — was convicted of bribery a few years ago.
A lot is still unknown, ie. how many other versions of the government trojan there were and are, a more exhaustive list of the ways it has been used, etc. Three cases in Bavaria are known so far: in two of them, the software was installed in fraudulent border/customs checks, in one case the police broke into someone’s home to install it. None of these cases involved terrorism or child abuse. Hopefully, the next couple of days will see further reveals or leaks.
(Source: news.ycombinator.com)
This is a clear case where we see the idea that governments should represent the will of their citizens break down completely. Every power structure serves its own needs first. In areas where the interest of governmental systems and the citizens are in alignment, democracy can work - but when there is a conflict between the will of a power structure to extend its power and influence and the desires of the citizens, governments almost invariably choose to serve their own systemic interests.
Internet censorship is a dramatic example of this. Even in democratic societies with large majorities in favor of free communication over the internet, the internal imperatives of governments to monitor and control trump the will of the people, no matter who is in power. In the matter of desiring to be able to read everyone’s email, the governments of the world are in nearly unanimous alliance against their own citizens.
Nu handlar det inte om att stödja den ena eller den andra. Det handlar om att försöka få till stabilitet och en rimlig utveckling.
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Carl Bildt uttalar sig om läget i Libyen. Vad i helvete!? Är djupt besviken på Sveriges utrikespolitiska hållning under de senaste månadernas protester. Uppdatering: Idag har GP(!) en bra debattartikeln på ämnet av Valter Mutt (MP) |
