MESSAGE
| DATE | 2017-06-07 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Midevil Castles, the Maginot Line, and now this
|
It is time for the British to put their money where their mouth is and
actually attack ISIL and stand up for freedom...
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170604/23155537513/theresa-may-blames-internet-london-bridge-attack-repeats-demands-to-censor-it.shtml
Theresa May Blames The Internet For London Bridge Attack; Repeats
Demands To Censor It
from the not-very-subtle dept
It's no secret that Theresa May is no fan of the internet and will use
basically any excuse at all to push for greater censorship on the
internet. Going back to the time when she was Home Secretary, she was
already slamming the internet as being responsible for ISIS and
promising to censor it. Since she's become Prime Minister it's only
gotten worse. As part of her manifesto for the general election coming
up later this week, a key part of her party's promise was to censor the
internet. And May and her friends seem to leave no tragedy unexploited.
With the attack in Manchester a couple weeks back, she used it as an
excuse to push the plan to kill end-to-end encryption. And with this
weekend's London Bridge attack, she immediately blamed the internet and
promised more censorship:
"We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed -
yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that
provide internet-based services provide,” Ms May said.
“We need to work with allies democratic governments to reach
international agreements to regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of
extremist and terrorism planning."
Of course, there's no indication that the internet had anything to do
with the attack at all. Indeed, another news report claimed that one of
the suspects had to ask a neighbor where he could rent the van that was
later used in the attack, leading some to point out that if someone
can't even Google that kind of info... the internet might not be to
blame here:
Dude couldn't use Google, but yeah internet safe spaces fault.
https://t.co/6sEZbLfcl6
— Aidan Walsh (-at-aidan_walsh) June 4, 2017
Sky Sources: one of the suspects asked a neighbour where he could
hire a van prior to the London Bridge attack
— Sky News Newsdesk (-at-SkyNewsBreak) June 4, 2017
Or this perfectly snarky response to blaming the internet for a real
world stabbing attack:
I'm confused, is London Bridge a website in cyberspace that had a
cyberattack pic.twitter.com/svzCGMrNBC
— Mustafa Al-Bassam (-at-musalbas) June 4, 2017
In response to all of this nonsense, Charles Arthur has an excellent
column at the Guardian pointing out that responding to all this by
censoring the internet not only won't help, it will almost certainly
make things worse.
The problem is this: things can be done, but they open a Pandora’s
box. The British government could insist that the identities of people
who search for certain terror-related words on Google or YouTube or
Facebook be handed over. But then what’s to stop the Turkish government,
or embassy, demanding the same about Kurdish people searching on
“dangerous” topics? The home secretary, Amber Rudd, could insist that
WhatsApp hand over the names and details of every communicant with a
phone number. But then what happens in Iran or Saudi Arabia? What’s the
calculus of our freedom against others’?
Similarly, May and Rudd and every home secretary back to Jack Straw
keep being told that encryption (as used in WhatsApp particularly) can’t
be repealed, because it’s mathematics, not material. People can write
apps whose messages can’t be read in transit, only at the ends. Ban
WhatsApp, and would-be terrorists will find another app, as will those
struggling against dictators.
Blaming the internet for some angry individuals committing violent acts
isn't just dumb and nonsensical, it's counterproductive and will almost
certainly do more harm than good. It's a way for May and her colleagues
to try to pin the blame on "something else" rather than to admit that
they don't appear to have a real strategy or plan for almost anything.
Blame goes a long way, but blaming a tool that people use basically
everyday for all sorts of useful reasons, seems really short-sighted.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive
http://www.coinhangout.com - coins!
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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