[I'm going to add some significant edits, I will put them in bold. To be fair, the first 6 replies to this blog occurred before the changes.]
I want to talk about freedom. Personal freedom. A freedom to be on the internet and state personal views.. just as you do here.
...it is good to have such freedom.
I'm posting because I don't want the government to have total control over it's citizens and from what I hear, you guys are the kind of people who don't want that either. So in a way we are both on the same page here. But the government is taking this control anyway, without your consent and by a means that is easily something overlooked.
The government is giving itself the right to block information on the internet and to watch everything you do on the internet. This is being done by international treaties set up for the protection of digital media. [Music, Movies, Games, etc.] The USA is pursuing these treaties to do this and our country and other countries are already enacting laws to similar effect. Here is some sources, though they are surely not the only and most likely not the best.
I'm going to put this really simply. I am reasonably sure you do not want to live in a police state. Especially so if it is a Liberal police state. The internet, for all the other things it also is, is a big store. Lot's of buying and selling. These laws and treaties that are being created are designed to give the government the right to be the security of the digital merchandise sold on the internet. Just as a Wal-Mart uses surveillance to prevent theft, these laws are permitting the government to track you to prevent theft. In this case it isn't even a matter of nation security, they are taking your freedom and privacy to stop Movies, Music and Games from being used without payment.
Basically they have turn my government and your's into a Mall Cop. That's right, we're becoming "A Mall Cop State".
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't think that rejecting the notion of living under a Police State, but accepting living under "A Mall Cop State" is part of anyone's goal towards creating smaller government.
So I'll let you all get back to your Obama bashing in a second, but I want you to know that support for this sort of thing lies with both parties. Republican and Democrat are both at fault for supporting this because it comes off as both pro-business and anti-crime and at the same time it gives the federal government a little more right to spy on you and control what you have access to.
I want you to know I did this today out of earnest concern for a real threat to freedom in America. The fight over Obama is just a battle... no, make that a just skirmish. Even if you beat Obama flat out, if you let others gain this control over us, the war is lost. It will be lost for both of us because there will certainly be both Conservative and Liberal Presidents with this power if you let these powers be established.
So basically what I was and still am hoping for out of my post here, is that terms like "Digital Rights Management", "DRM", "Anti-Piracy" or "Anti-Counterfeit", and any of those terms joined to the words "Treaty" or "Trade Agreement" start to get your attention the same way that the mention of Health Care and Taxes do. I want this to happen because I would think that you should want this to happen. The way I see it, this is another avenue...no, make that "this is a super-highway" towards government control over everything on the internet [and today that is almost everything in life].
Me, I'm just a nobody. I'm a middle-aged PC gamer and so I'm a little familiar with this issue in ways other less PC-savvy are not. When "PC gamers" complain, we are just dismissed as pro-piracy and in between we're not very vocal or organised.
This is, I guess, why I posted all this. You guys are organized and vocal and are kind of an impartial 3rd party to the piracy issue. And again, at the same time, this is an issue by which the governments are right now establishing the means to maintain control over you and me, limit our privacy and reduce our access to information whenever it feels it wants to do so. In this I am sure we both in some agreement that such a thing is not good for any American. I hope I explained well enough why you may want to start expressing a little outrage over this and if you do, on this I wish you success.
For those that actually read through this Liberal's post, thank you.
