

Will the UK get its own 'Great Firewall'? - adam-_-
http://econsultancy.com/blog/5717-digital-economy-bill-passes-will-the-uk-get-its-own-great-firewall

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motters
This just means that officials will use copyright to censor information which
is embarrassing. For example, if something appears on Wikileaks which they
don't approve of they can just claim that the leaked document is under
copyright and block the site.

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rmc
They already can do that. Remember when Wikipedia was censored in the UK?

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/dec/08/intern...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/dec/08/internet)

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kierank
That wasn't the government. That was a non-profit organisation consisting of
all the ISPs in the country and a few other bodies.

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bensummers
The sad thing was the level of ignorance shown in the debate. While I wouldn't
expect an MP to be an expert in everything, the least they could do is seek
out experts and remember that lobbyists are not impartial experts.

The scary thing is this level of ignorance probably applies in all debates.

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anamax
> the least they could do is seek out experts and remember that lobbyists are
> not impartial experts.

Note that experts aren't impartial either. Yes, they may be impartial on some
things (such as the appropriate length of packets), but those are rarely the
issue in the political sphere.

For example, the 2 degree "threshold" in the AGW debate is completely
artificial. There's nothing scientifically significant about 2 degrees warmer
(1.5 and 2.5 are more and less of the same) yet look at how the "experts" talk
about it.

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netcan
It seems quite likely that most or all of the world is going to have some sort
of censorship, if trends are indicative anyway.

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CWuestefeld
All of the world already has censorship.

For example, in America today, here are some of the things censored: kiddie
pr0n (including fictional text); pirated copyrighted works; works inciting the
violation of laws; works describing how to violate laws (e.g., how to make
drugs).

Every nation in the world has mandatory censorship. The only variable is what
speech is subject to it.

~~~
eru
And how strict the laws are applied. And what the punishment is for breaking
those laws.

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gaius
Nevermind, this goverment will be gone soon.

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CWuestefeld
But the laws they made will remain in their wake.

Here in the USA, the GOP is learning the same lesson. They didn't mind the
power that GWB consolidated in the Executive. But now that the DEMs control
that office, the GOP isn't very happy with sleeping in their own bed.

(that's a lot of metaphors I'm mixing in just a short post!)

