I have been reading so many posts on world politics at the moment. There seems to be universal disillusionment with the status quo. Systemic failure in how governments are elected and run.
Those who don’t ‘do’ politics may be excused. 😉 But, real politics is about ‘the people’. We are the people. Just sayin’. You may now skip this page. 🙂
Had it up to here, it seems.
Politicians damage dreams.
Shit from high
To down below.
That’s not the way
It’s meant to go.
Servant doesn’t mean
You’re master,
Climbing up the ladder
Faster,
Pushing others
At each rung.
Your voice first,
Your song sung.
An aria of fortitude
Speaks to others
Things of good,
Of nations all
Upon the earth.
Don’t they stink?
Time for
Rebirth……
………..Labour with
Unending pain…….
…….Push…….
……And shove……
Begin again.
……Gasp …….
…….And breathe…..
Sigh with relief!
New life born
And so belief
In all potential
If, with care,
We raise new child,
Remember where
Child of love needs
Parental approval,
Discipline, growth
Or else removal.
Freedom found in liberty
When liberty can mean license
To strut and brag, pontificate,
Shuts others into silence.
An x once more
Would mean a kiss
Instead of mark
To show they’re missed.
Voted out
By ballot box,
Click on internet.
This rocks!
Had it up to here
With some.
E-polls running.
This is fun!
Press a like
Or just remove.
At the end
This may prove
In whom we trust,
Who we approve.
Power, charged
With our lives,
Ongoing voting
Would despise
Those who thwart
All enterprise,
Hopes and
Dreams and
Life.
If adopted by
One nation,
Others may follow.
Watch this station –
Voting on
The internet,
Like and follow
Or forget.
No money then
To lead campaign,
No underhanded
Tactics gain
Market forces,
Lobbyists.
Oh, good grief,
They’d be so pissed!
I like my plan,
It has some merit,
Maybe we could
Name it ‘Ferret’,
Weaseling out
All sneaky natures,
Power hungry,
Not our saviours.
Just like Twitter,
WordPress, Facebook,
We’d all be members,
Take a look
At actions, words
Revealed by ‘them’
With ongoing reviews,
Just like OM
Did in Project O
Though smaller,
Opinionate or even holler
On forums
That discuss all news,
Share ideas
And points of views.
Worldwidepress,
Thinking, feeling,
Sharing real life
And so revealing
Life in its raw
In many lands
So we may read
And understand.
Or do you think
They’d shut us down,
Claiming subversion
With a frown.
‘Access denied’
Would pop up then
On ‘Worldwidepress’
Not ‘News At Ten’
Where stories often
Don’t relay
The world we know,
Live in today.
I want to know
My fellow man,
And, if they know me,
Maybe we can
Reach a point
Where citizens live,
Who are prepared
To receive, to give
Some understanding,
Compassion, smile.
I’d like to try it
For a while.
Do you think
That if we dare
There’d come a point
When we wouldn’t care
About politicians
And their causes,
Writing laws,
Amending clauses.
Busy, busy
Bureaucratic,
Power greedy,
Autocratic.
Manic in their
Sense of worth.
Depleted patience.
I’ve had enough.
I’m such a blether,
This I know, but
There must be a
Better way to go.
Some refinement,
Might just work.
At last, we could sack,
Tell them to go to…….
………find employment elsewhere.
Video reading Rebirth Of Democracy
scottishmomus 
I loved this, as in hitting like just doesn’t do it type of love this. And I love the idea of “Woldwidepress”, that would be awesome!
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Thank you! Yes, I love the idea myself. I can see politicians turning all colours and revealing a nasty underbelly at the idea that maybe there is another way. Without them snuffling in the troughs. Maybe one day, eh? 😉 x
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Well said, very well said, and beautifully spoken by a beautiful lady. 🙂
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And I thought you didn’t do politics. So glad you read and listened. Your words mean much to me.x
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I don’t write about it, but I do read about it. 😉
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Subtly you. 😉 And the better for it.x
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Perfect. The truth of the people said out loud. I do expect that poem be remembered and enshrined in our future ‘Democracy’. When will you be running for a seat next ? 🙂 You have my vote!
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I should have mentioned you in it. You got me thinking the other night about how it would be possible to eliminate extraneous baloney through using the internet as a tool for politics. And voila. Must have been a wee night dreaming session, I think.
I’m thinking of putting myself forward as mayor of the world with no powers whatsoever, just a nice big chain round my neck that I can yank now and again for a laugh when they all get too big for their breeches!
Yeah, I’d do that. That’ll be my role. Chain yanker. I even like the title. Beats the hell out of MP, MSP, PM. They all sound like a woman’s monthly nightmare. Instead they’re the people’s daily nightmare.
Don’t get me started again. 😉 x
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Trash this if not wanted. This is what got me ‘started up’, it will even restrict our using the net to vote. In other words, control our usage and the outcome of a voting system using the net.
TPP: A fast track to Internet censorship?
BY THANH LAM | OCTOBER 4, 2013
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TPP: A fast track to Internet censorship?
One month.
That’s the time left before the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could become a finalized agreement. For those who are drawing blank looks — and understandably so — the TPP is a highly secretive trade deal involving 12 nations around the Pacific Rim.
Described by experts Lori Wallach and Ben Beachy of Public Citizen as “one of the most significant international commercial agreements since the creation of WTO,” the TPP is more than a trade agreement — it’s an underhanded attempt by old industry interests to censor the Internet.
The lack of general awareness about the TPP is exactly what unelected trade officials and lobbyists hope for; the more covert the negotiations, the easier it is to usher in extreme new Internet censorship rules.
The TPP’s extreme Internet censorship plan
The changes proposed by the TPP could seriously undermine citizens’ rights to participate in a free and open Internet. We know from leaked drafts that these draconian measures could criminalize your everyday use of the Internet, force service providers to collect and hand over your private data, and give old industry conglomerates more power to fine you for Internet use. As opposed to fostering a global forum in which citizens can engage with one another, the TPP would stifle any kind of innovation within the Internet community.
OpenMedia ally, the Electronic Frontier Foundation underlines the dangers of the TPP:
“The copyright provisions in the TPP will carve a highly restrictive copyright regime into stone and prevent countries from enacting laws that best address and promote users’ interests. In this final stage, it’s time for us to demand that our lawmakers join those who are already denouncing this agreement. We must drag this out into the light and reject international laws that uphold corporate interests at the expense of users’ rights.”
Obama fast tracks the TPP, bypasses democracy
If it isn’t bad enough that these talks have occurred behind closed doors, U.S. President Obama is now taking this secrecy even further by attempting to “fast track” the deal through Congress.
This means that elected U.S. Congress members would be forced to vote on the agreement without the possibility of sharing, discussing, or amending its contents. Under such intense pressure from the president, it seems as though the most comprehensive and covert post-WTO trade agreement could be finalized by as early as the end of October.
The urgency to wrap up this controversial deal is reaffirmed by the White House’s recent announcement that they’ll go ahead with the TPP — despite the current government shutdown.
Unsurprisingly, Congress members have not taken to Obama’s undemocratic, fast track plans without protest. Several representatives have recently spoken out against this backdoor deal, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro:
“I oppose fast-track authority like what we have had in the past […] we are not just here to rubber stamp what gets done.” Echoing this sentiment is Rep. Alan Grayson, who has described the Obama Administration’s secrecy about the TPP as “an assault on democratic government.”
Over 100,000 citizens against Internet censorship
It’s not just Congress that has spoken up. Over 100,000 citizens from all across the Trans-Pacific region have made it clear that they’re against the TPP’s dangerous Internet censorship plan.
As negotiations are set to wrap up by the end of this month, this really is the last chance for global citizens to let their decision-makers know that they will pay a hefty political price for supporting a deal that censors the Internet.
It’s time to put an end to Internet censorship now. Join the over 100,000 others who have spoken up and sign the petition against Internet censorship today at https://OpenMedia.org/censorship
Thanh Lam is Community Engagement Assistant with OpenMedia.org
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FFS!!! Why am I just hearing this? What have I been doing? This is incredible. This is all true?
I knew there were measures proposed by madsters elsewhere aiming to restrict profanity and such. ‘Cos in some countries nobody swears, right?
But this is …..outlandish.
How dare they?
This must infringe every nation and citizens God-given right to express themselves.
I’m so annoyed with myself for not knowing this. To be so unaware.
Bastards.
This can’t be allowed. Surely to God.
Do you think there’s any connection with what’s happening just now and this? Could Congress be ‘blocking’ this in any way possible? Feck. I don’t know enough about it. And now I’m getting para.
Apart from clicking on that link to petition what the hell can we do? This can’t be allowed.
I’m really getting paranoid now because I’m thinking of all the reasons why old industry and TPP would want to do this. It’s subversive. It’s bloody shocking.
What can we do?
And what the hell does Obama have to gain from fast-tracking this?
This is doing my head in!
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They have tried to sneak this through a few times over the last couple of months disguised as anything but internet censorship. And has got something underhanded to do with the uproar in the news lately of the CIA, FBI etc using Google, Yahoo etc, and hosting providers to monitor everyone’s communications, emails etc. Their excuse is the ends justifies the means but what has that to do with monitoring ‘everyone’. The financial, personal and informational gain from all over the world from what they would gather would be incalculable. Oh, that’s right…they want us to trust them…forgot that bit 🙂
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Trust. That’s my middle name. What a plonker I am. Now, I don’t want my middle name to be changed to ‘paranoia’ so I’m reading up more on this to try to understand the ramifications and counter arguments. Do trust and paranoia work well together, do you think? 😉 x
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Trust & paranoia…isn’t that when we lose the plot, expecting trouble from all directions, because we are tuned that way because of the deceit that we always do. Oh, wait a minute…are we talking about us or the government 🙂
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Ha, I don’t know what I’m talking about any more. I can feel brain going into overdrive and a banner being made shortly. ;)x
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🙂
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I’ll make you one too! 😉 x
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The urge to set up a website that gives feedback on these idiots and there excesses plus somewhere for people to have their say in what gets passed in parliament would be ideal. Actually we’ve been tearing around trying to put out the fires that they create to suit themselves and all their big business allies, I think it should be put in electronic form and we vote on everything. They can get off the large posteriors and whip up what they like, but it don’t go anywhere till they can convince us and then we vote on it. Watch the game change then. Scream like crazy because they would lose all that money under the table and actually have to do something for the people. Actually, the position of politician would no longer draw the thieving, conniving moral-less ‘types’ any more and we would start to get real people. Wouldn’t that be original 🙂
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If you build it I will come. You know what I mean. 😉 🙂
So would others. Web designer you say. Well man what are you waiting for?
Do you fancy living in one of those wee FEMA houses then? :)x
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Might have to sleep on that one, that could have possibilities. Let me chew that over a bit. Meanwhile my body is failing me, someone has kept me up till all hours reading poetry and blogging till all hours for the last couple of nights 🙂 I need my beauty sleep 🙂 Have a great night (or day) guys, may the ethers still be here on the morrow.
P.S. I took a heap more pic’s, then deleted them by accident :)) (see, just too tired 🙂 )
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Oops, sorry. I caught 3-4 hours after a 5 o’clock stint. I obviously do have a completely addictive personality for which I will seek assistance. Nah. I’m lying. I quite like it. 😉
Go get rest. The battle for tomorrow begins. Tum ta ta tum. Got to imagine some rousing music there, ok? 🙂
Night/morning/afternoon.x
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Only just after midnight but I need lots of beauty sleep to keep my George Clooney looks…Fred Astaire?….Billy Connolly?….ok, ok…I’m cross between a Woody Allan on the grog and a Monk who hasn’t spoken a word for 30 years! Does that give you an idea? 🙂
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Nope, can’t say it does. But, beauty sleep to replenish the soul always a requirement. Go get some. 🙂 x
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Oh, and by the way, I think that why the big push is on now….if they block the internet we have no real way of communicating….getting together….protesting….against anything they do….etc. I think it is commonly called a police state….north korea….old east/west germany….get my drift? 🙂 The power of the net actually has them scared because if we really get a hold of it…those powers behind the powers….lose….and they are really scared of that. They are beginning to panic and starting to do things very underhanded but obvious in their intentions and we can see that. We are beginning to see them for what they really are. Greedy, power hungry and seriously removed from what humanity is all about. Anyone that can justify putting money and effort into war or any other project really, and let their own live in the poor conditions that they do, has serious issues.
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I’m also thinking that this is not just US and Britain. If this is out there, there are other countries doing the same for their own ends. It’s already started, from what I’ve read in other nations who seek to limit free communication. I know there are arguments for why it might be deemed necessary but I don’t think they hold up against the level of what you’re talking about. Monitoring possible terrorist activities and communications, infiltrating paedo rings, etc. All to the good for national security and the welfare of all children. But, filtering and monitoring all internet activity? In the interests of what? Or who?
Is this what we are talking about? Does it extend to that level of Big Brother?
I absolutely refuse to have an interactive screen in my house where I can be checked up on. You’ve no idea what I get up to!
Trying to keep perspective here. 😉 x
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Oh yes, we are talking serious big brother here. No need for anything in your house, they are tapped into ALL electronic communications in your home or on your person. Telephone, mobile, internet (all sources). Do you realise exactly how much information can be mined from you just by our conversation here now. I’m a website designer and worked on computers for 35 years and trust me, they know all your likes, dislikes, personal details, family life, friends, associates, where you work, banking details, you name it, they’ve got it. In your day to day activities they siphon huge amounts of information and you would be very surprised how quickly that builds up a profile on you. Why do you think advertisers pay huge sums to Google and the like so they can see everything you search for so they can aim adverts at you. True. Next time you do a price search for a computer or a washing machine or whatever, watch the type of advertisements that start to come up on the pages that you go to on the net. It will shock you if you haven’t noticed them before.
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I must send them a nice selfie to go with all that info. I’d hate to think of them missing out on a complete picture, you know.
I have noticed how I get inundated with certain ads after what you describe. But, I wasn’t too worried about it. I am now. Bastards is all I can think to say right now. Sorry. But they are. ;)x
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When you sit down and think about it, after a while you begin to get angry. And I mean angry. Each time you’ve gone looking for a medical condition…they know. Each time you’ve gone looking for a particular type partner…they know. Each time you’ve shared a beautiful intimate message with someone special….they know……..and on and on it goes. I’m starting to squirm just thinking about it. All my personal, intimate details is being smirked over or used against me in who knows how many ways. I nearly feel raped. (My apologies for anyone who has been through that, I don’t mean any disrespect for this comparison but the word and it’s implications says it all).
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Mark, I almost used the same word myself when I spoke of an invasion. Not to belittle in any way that horrible act of violence. But an invasion of these proportions, into privacy when expected and believed, feels like a horrible act of violence against my sense of me. I choose. Not ‘them’. If I say, ‘do me* that’s my choice. No one else’s. If I say ‘No!’ then no means no. Yes, it feels like rape. It feels like a violation. If I want to share jokes with my sister online or reveal my deepest darkest fantasies to another then I don’t expect it to be viewed by anyone else.
What I post on a blog, yes, I put it out there. My comments. Ditto. But what I Don’t expect is every word or nuance to be garnered for interpretation by some bureaucrat. It’s not my job to titillate their voyeuristic tendencies.
I am so tempted now to start sending out spoof emails preaching sedition in an erotic night of passion and see what sort of reaction I get. Might have MI5 at the door panting with a pair of handcuffs. Eh?
Bastards!
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One more!
Timothy Karr
Timothy KarrCampaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com
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103
Internet S.O.S.
Posted: 09/10/2013 7:38 am
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Net Neutrality, Verizon, Federal Communications Commission, Internet Censorship, edward snowden, Free Speech Online, Government Surveillance, Mass Surveillance, nsa, Nsa Encryption, Nsa Surveillance, Open Internet, Technology News
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Is the Internet on life support?
Last week we learned that U.S. and British intelligence agencies have broken the back of digital encryption — the coded technology hundreds of millions of Internet users rely on to keep their communications private.
Over the weekend, Der Spiegel reported that the NSA and its British counterpart are also hacking into smartphones to monitor our daily lives in ways that wouldn’t have been possible before the age of the iPhone.
This news, just the latest revelations from the files of Edward Snowden, only heighten our sense that we can no longer assume anything we say or do online is secure.
But that’s not all. In a case heard before a U.S. federal appeals court on Monday, telecommunications colossus Verizon argued that the First Amendment gives it the right to block and censor Internet users. (That’s right. Verizon is claiming that, as a corporation, it has the free speech right to silence the online expression of everybody else.)
Government and corporate forces often work together to chip away the two pillars of the open Internet: our ability to control our personal data and our right to connect and communicate without censorship or interference.
The Surveillance Industrial Complex
A series of reports coordinated among the Guardian, the New York Times and ProPublica revealed that the NSA and its British counterpart have secretly unlocked encryption technologies used by popular online services, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
Using National Security Letters and other secret court orders, intelligence agencies can wedge their way onto the large telecommunications networks that move most of the world’s Internet traffic. Getting access to the data is only half the challenge. To read and sort these communications, the NSA works with a lesser-known assortment of security vendors that filter through mountains of data, target references and patterns of interest and crack codes designed to safeguard user identity and content.
Many of the companies that ply this trade are only now being exposed through “Spyfiles,” collaboration among WikiLeaks, Corporate Watch and Privacy International designed to shed light on the multibillion-dollar industry. According to the latest documents provided by Edward Snowden, U.S. intelligence agencies alone spend $250 million each year to use these companies’ commercial security products for mass surveillance.
It’s part of a sprawling complex of companies, lobbyists and government officials seeking to rewire the Internet in ways that wrest control over content away from Internet users.
While motivations may differ, the result is the same: a communications network that works against the Interests of many for the benefit of the few.
Tearing the Fabric
The Internet wasn’t meant to be like this. Bruce Schneier, an encryption fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says that the NSA and the companies it works with are “undermining the very fabric of the Internet.”
Telecommunications companies are doing their part by giving spy agencies access to our data. They’re also bankrolling a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort to destroy Net Neutrality — the one rule that prohibits Internet service providers from blocking or degrading our ability to connect to one another, share information and use the online services of our choosing.
If Verizon wins its case in Washington, ISPs will be able to prioritize certain online content while degrading user access to sites and services that the big companies don’t like.
It’s a business that puts at risk the most integral function of the World Wide Web. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Web’s pioneer, saw the network as a “blank canvas” — upon which anyone could contribute, communicate and innovate without permission.
Berners-Lee’s invention relied on an open protocol that gave everyday users power over the network. This networking principle has far-reaching political implications, favoring systems that are more decentralized and democratic.
Without safeguards that protect users from surveillance and censorship, the Internet’s DNA will change in ways that no longer foster openness, free expression and innovation.
Media Policy
If we’ve learned anything during the Summer of Snowden, it’s that corporations and governments alone can’t be trusted to be good stewards of the Internet.
We need media policies that protect our privacy and promote access to open networks.
The fight for these policies is being led by a diverse and bipartisan alliance of civil liberties and communications-rights organizations, including the ACLU, EFF, Free Press and Public Knowledge.
We’re not alone. Millions joined the call for Net Neutrality in 2010; millions more stood up to defend the Internet against the PIPA and SOPA Web-censorship bills in 2012. The battle to protect users’ privacy has engaged new audiences as we’ve learned more about the extent of the NSA’s mass surveillance.
In each of these arenas, we’re working to stop bad laws, amend others and implement new policies that put Internet users first.
A grassroots movement is fueling this fight. If you haven’t joined us yet, now’s the time to step up and save the Internet.
Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TimKarr
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Joined and twooted. Joined a couple of his connections too. This has to be stopped.
‘Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the Web’s pioneer, saw the network as a “blank canvas” — upon which anyone could contribute, communicate and innovate without permission.’
Abso-bloody-lutely!
I like my privacy at all times. I choose what I share and with whom. Being spied on for covert reasons is an invasion. I for one am glad about Snowden and his actions.
Wiki excerpt.
‘According to a publication in The Guardian in early June 2013 that referred to Snowden’s “note accompanying the first set of documents he provided”, his “sole motive”, in his words, was “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.”[27] Some U.S. officials condemned his actions as having done “grave damage” to the U.S. intelligence capabilities while others, such as former president Jimmy Carter, have applauded his actions.[28][29] Meanwhile, the media disclosures have renewed debates both inside and outside the United States over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy.’
Protection should not include spying or invasion of privacy. Nor the right to sell info to the highest bidder. Nor the right to restrict free speech.
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Hear, hear! Once they get away with something, they just keep pushing and pushing the envelope. The amazing thing is, if the shoe was on the other foot, the screaming can be heard for miles!
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Well, I know what it was like over here when they all got caught with their fingers in the expenses tin. Sinful, it was. And oh, how outraged they were.x
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Are you kidding me? That is exactly what is happening here at the moment. Abbott, the (just voted in) Prime Minister and a heap of his cronies have just been busted for rorting travelling expenses. Fingers in the tin everywhere. I am totally positive that the position of politician only draws in the dregs of morals that are so selfish that they wouldn’t give their mother the time of day. Sorry, I think you’ve found my weak spot. I have all the patience under the sun but politicians seem to leave me gasping for air 🙂
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Same here.
You have no idea what was uncovered. And that sprouted from a leak! What do you know?
Claiming for all sorts they were. Travelling expenses be buggered. A house for a duck pond, I kid you not! Getting their houses upgraded, expenses for second homes they were rarely in.
And guess who apparently started the idea that it was ok to colour the expenses a little. Go on. Guess. Bloody Iron Wummin. Apparently during her reign they couldn’t go giving the politicos a wage increase. Would look bad you know. So be generous to yourself on your allowances.and expenses and that doesn’t show up. And they just went for it. Greedy, grasping, guzzling gits!
But they were found out.
And they were shamed. Bravo!
They are now ‘accountable’. Some of them even had to pay money back. It was a joy to behold. While the rest of we mere mortals were penny pinching they were lining their pockets and telling the rest of us that we had to tighten our belts. Patronising piles of poo!
(Do you think anybody’s reading this? That was a whisper, btw. I just don’t know how to type in whispers!) :)x
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Bugger whispers. Why is it that if they do it, they just pay it back. If it was us, that’s theft and a jail term. THAT is why I no longer whisper, and to be quite honest I think the world is beginning to call out louder too. The more noise the better, they are starting to hear the rumble of people who have had enough. The pressure is building 🙂
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BOOM!!!!!
Loud enough? 🙂
I know just what you mean. I’m trying to recollect whether any of ours had criminal charges brought against them. I have a feeling that some did. I would have to look it up.
Billy Connolly was right. Anyone who wants to go into politics should be barred from doing so by virtue of the fact that they want to.
It’s become a game. And I don’t cheat at games. But I get really pissed with others when they do.
Ask my wee brother. Nearly throttled him over a game of Monopoly. Wee sod was diddling the bank. Aye, once it happened. Only once. Caught. I kept my eye on him after that. ;)x
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Last one!
Timothy Karr
Timothy KarrCampaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com
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103
Internet Freedom: A Disturbing View From the Trenches
Posted: 10/05/2013 1:04 pm
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Net Neutrality, Internet Censorship, SavetheInternet.Com, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Internet Freedom, Technology News
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Is the Internet freedom movement a thing? That depends on whom you ask, and where you live.
In the United States, more than two million people rallied to demand Net Neutrality in 2010. Our ranks swelled to the tens of millions in the 2012 fight to kill legislation that would have let Hollywood wreak havoc on the open Internet in its heavy-handed hunt for copyright pirates.
Globally, we’ve come together to protest any treaty or multinational agreement, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that threatens online speech and privacy.
We’ve formed international coalitions in support of the Declaration of Internet Freedom, and recently presented the U.N. Human Rights Council with international principles designed to protect our rights to free speech and privacy in the face of international mass surveillance of communications.
Internet freedom advocates have taken on some of the most powerful institutions, companies and governments — and won, a lot more often than anyone expected.
Despite these advances, the movement is in retreat in some parts of the planet. A new Freedom House report reveals as much. Freedom on the Net 2013 (pdf) found that in 34 of the 60 nations studied, online rights had declined over the preceding year.
“While blocking and filtering remain the preferred methods of censorship in many countries,” said Freedom on the Net Project Director Sanja Kelly, “governments are increasingly looking at who is saying what online, and finding ways to punish them.”
The report lists 10 types of threats, including the blanket blocking of popular social media services (Iran), the blocking or throttling of text messages (China) and new laws limiting political speech online (Turkey).
In January, Vietnamese authorities sentenced five bloggers to lengthy jail terms for their posts on Vietnam Redemptorist News, an online publication that covers the plight of the country’s Catholic minority.
But the rise in mass surveillance was the most significant trend. The report found that “35 of the 60 countries assessed had broadened their technical or legal surveillance powers over the past year.”
In some authoritarian states, the report notes, “activists reported that their email and other communications were presented to them during interrogations or used as evidence in politicized trials, with repercussions that included imprisonment, torture and even death.”
New organizing efforts have countered these and other setbacks. Free Press and Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web Foundation recently launched the Web We Want, a global campaign to make the Web accessible, free and open. The initiative involves more than a dozen digital rights organizations that are overseeing a small grants program to support local and global advocacy.
The Freedom House report highlights a handful of successful efforts. In the Philippines, for example, advocates mobilized thousands to use social media and online petitions to protest the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which would have restricted certain types of speech online. After intense public pressure, the nation’s Supreme Court blocked the legislation from taking effect.
It’s hard and committed work. And whether active locally, regionally or internationally, Internet freedom advocates need support from everyone, everywhere. Reversing the decline in online rights will require a broad and sustained effort — one that unites people from Azerbaijan to Argentina in defense of open networks.
Follow Timothy Karr on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TimKarr
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I want to applaud. Thanks for this, Mark. I can feel a post coming on. ;)x
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Go you good thing! 🙂
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I’m on it. ;)x
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Just keep re-posting this article and the link for the petition. There have been some ‘small’ bills going through Congress. Boehner (sp?) said they have not totally shut down, they have been passing these small bills, but none of us know what is on those bills. Are they taking away Constitutional Rights, are they instituting a State of Emergency, are they passing things like this TPP? But, oh! they are working. WTF? They are just saying that shit since so many people who got furloughed (800,000+) are not getting paid, at least not until the shut-down is over. People were saying how much those jerks in office get and how much they were actually spending even having people furloughed and offices closed. Now they are going to pay them when it is all over, friggin’ pay them now. What the hell are they supposed to do when the rent, car loan, insurance, school loans, etc., come due? Say, “Oh, so sorry, I am on furlough, you are going to have to wait until this is over before I can pay you.” Well, IRS said you still have to make your payments, and on time, but they do not have to issue any refunds during this shut down. So, the big wigs were getting smashed from all sides on how much they make and how they were not suffering any, AT ALL, during this shut-down. They had to justify it somehow, so now they say we are passing small bills. There was also a member of Boehner’s own team who said he didn’t know why the leader keeps saying there were not enough people to vote because everybody was ready to vote now. It’s a game he is playing, and I have a feeling, it is to a tune of someone else even all of Congress or Senate doesn’t know. Perhaps the President may know who is playing, but I can bet it is from China. Probably MADE IN CHINA.
We have a big audience, especially people like you, Shaun, and the Opinionated Man, so just keep reposting this stuff on FB, here, and anywhere else. Twitter it: TPP=no freedom on the Internet. Then the link to the article or petition. I don’t have a big Twitter following since I don’t do it from a phone, so I won’t reach anyone.
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It all stinks to high heavens. Rats in the sewers somewhere.
Will revolutionists be led to FEMA camps too? ‘Cos I’m taking plenty of coffee with me. No point in going to bed now. Got a campaign to plan. 😉 x
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You go girl. Yes, all those who disagree or have a friggin’ bone in their back, will ultimately go, or be ‘re-educated’ and we saw how well that worked in the past. But, we are a people who do not learn from past mistakes. I have one more you might want to read, now that you are resigned to staying up. Posting it now.
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Good to go, captain.x
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Otay. Check it tomorrow, or later today for you. I am getting the old heave hoe from the Wizard. Later.
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You too. x
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Reblogged this on Mind Chatter and commented:
Another Important Read for all of us who use the Internet for anything, especially for those of us who have friends in other countries, even other states.
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More comments coming in as I get to answer them. I really have to find out more about all this. Reblogging in the interests of free speech, I know, but thank you nonetheless.x
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Sign me up! This is fantastic work. Applause to you. And yes, they would shut us down but we would rise again and again, until we took back our power and our lives. I LOVE THIS. Going to reblog. Thank you.
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Thank you! I’m honoured. :)x
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Reblogged this on Rethinking Life and commented:
Read this fabulous poem. It’s just great!
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Thank you.x
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We have the best government money can buy. This is not a democracy it’s plutocracy where the rich rule but they have us believing it’s a democracy..
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Too many things wrong with governments all over. Sad. And anger inducing. :)x
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Bravo! Very well said. Fabulous!!
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Thank you. Think there’s any chance we could go for it? ;)x
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I’d like to think so yet I’m afraid in reality we’d be shut down quite quickly. UNLESS we get enough people involved…power in numbers and all.
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Well we’ve just had another load of politicos creaming off the tax payers by getting their electricity and gas bills paid for on their second homes.
All probably legal, of course. ‘Cos they’re entitled to a second home to fulfill their parliamentary duties. And it looks like all associated expenses.
Excuse me, I think I have to go and be sick. They make me mental!
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