Everything is Proceeding as I Have Foreseen
Rust never sleeps, neither does the left's urge to censor
When I was going through posts from my blog to upload to this Substack location, I ran across something I posted on May 6, 2012. It basically predicted where we are today with censorship on the internet:
An excerpt:
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The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since the invention of the printing press. In our short intellectual evolution, we have gone from the spoken word to the written word, written to the printed word and now from physical ink and paper to the electronic word…and image.
But there are accompanying dangers to this evolution of information efficiency. As we have become more and more dependent on electronic communication, we have also ventured into areas where those communications are subject to a smaller and smaller number of transmission sources and subsequently we are narrowing the span of control of this information.
We are opening the door to censorship on a mass scale.
Individual vocal speech is difficult to censor. It requires silencing of the individual human being because what comes out of your mouth is controlled by you, no one else. When civilization moved to writing, it became a little easier until everybody learned to write. The printing press, the same – there was no way to stop this flow unless the press was destroyed and even then, humans could fall back on hand written notes or voice communication…and it took a physical action to accomplish – someone had to actually go to the location of the printing press and shut it down, as well as all the other presses in existence. Today; however, we are looking at a mass migration to a media that can be censored or blocked at the flip of a software switch or brought down by flipping a switch.
Every digital system has controls. Normally, the controls are so benign that we don’t even think about them. Normally, they go unnoticed as we plink away at our keyboards, mobile phones and iPads, but these controls can be used with devastating effect. When Egypt exploded in revolt, what two things were given credit for providing the organizational communication links for the uprising? It was Twitter and Facebook, both accessible via mobile phone networks? When the Egyptian military wanted to stop the association of people, what did they do? The blocked both. China routinely censors links to western webpages to prevent their population from getting news from any source except the government news agencies.
Can’t happen here in America? It already is.
I noticed this on Techcrunch this morning:
"𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞) 𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲’𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞. 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐨𝐫-𝐭𝐡𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 — 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐟’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞:
'𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐨 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲.'
𝐍𝐨𝐰, 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐛 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞” 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐦.
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲. 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞+ 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞."
Our government has made several runs at taking control of the Internet:
- The FCC has tried it through regulatory fiat.
- Congress has tried it through SOPA.
- The President has tried to get a “kill switch” for “emergencies” .
God only knows what Obama would consider an “emergency”. He might consider losing an election an “emergency”.
I think we are entering a period where our First Amendment rights are as much in jeopardy as our Second Amendment rights. As we trade off control for speed, efficiency and convenience, we have to be cognizant that we are also losing control of our individual abilities to communicate.
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Seems relevant.
https://therionorteline.com/2012/05/06/does-the-use-of-electronic-media-increase-the-risk-of-censorship/
The stars are aligning. Not in a good way.