May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will leave the world a little better for your having been here. -- Ronald Reagan

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Communication Breakdown and Control

This appears to be another step for the Obama administration to gain control of the internet. Homeland Security is beginning to shut down websites without notice claiming they are violating copyright laws. The excuse is that the sites are helping visitors download music, vids and other stuff illegally. There are laws and enforcement mechanisms to address this already. Why is ICE involved? 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the division responsible for the shut downs. Truly? The immigration enforcement people that don’t enforce border law, or round up illegal’s so much, don’t prosecute employers that hire illegals, turn a blind eye to ‘sanctuary cities’ that defy federal law, are enforcing cyber copyright law? Say what?

Can you imagine the hue and cry of  Dems and other Statists if there were a Republican president enforcing this? The same people that objected to the government looking at what some bad guys were checking out of the library or buying at the bookstore, or listening to known terrorists' international calls to the US, or their international bank accounts monitored, have nothing to say or are in support of websites being shut down without due process or even notice. They support or have nothing to say about the violation of the forth amendment against unlawful search and seizures by the Obama administration and its enforcement arm the TSA.

They’ve been failing trying to get the “Fairness Doctrine” reinstated, which would effectively shut down conservative talk radio, and haven’t been able to get “Net Neutrality” passed. So they try other underhanded stuff.
 (Net neutrality is not, of course, about neutrality - it’s about having government control and monitor what carriers are allowed to transmit, to whom, and at what rates with specific and immediate benefits to bandwidth hogs like youtube and specific and immediate limitations on premium services contracts like those Apple put in place with AT&T to give their iPhone a performance advantage.) Full article here.
 The next election can’t get here fast enough to stop this Stalinist attempt to control communication and free speech.

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