Tuesday 5 July 2011

The Internet belongs to America

I am extremely annoyed.... following the recent report of a British student who is being extradited to the US for providing links to unauthorised TV sites even though he wasn't using a US server.

The fact that he was using a .com address makes him a target for US prosecutors.

The full details are here...

Now, while the UK signed the stupid extradition treaty in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, it has been increasingly misused by both US and EU prosecutors for crimes which are in some cases extremely minor... (Guardian article .. here.)

I personally think that currently no country has the balls to stand up to the US Government and tell them to get lost, so this belief that the rest of the world should behave as the US sees fit will continue. The UK Government is the most submissive, pathetic, snivelling bunch of cowards in this context deluded into believing it has a "Special Relationship" like a pig in a sty that believes its Master does it's bidding, denying the existence of bacon... (not that I think any American is gonna smoke or eat me...might not be a good analogy).

The UK was big on world domination for many years, plundering and pillaging as we saw fit, and now it seems it is Americas turn to do so. That doesn't make it right of course.... but we wanna be in on the kill chewing the bones that get left behind.... political hyenas.

What disturbs me in this article is that the providing of links to a website that the US government doesn't like makes me liable for extradition..... because I use a .com site (Blogger). Now, I am under no illusion that the stuff I do here is of absolutely no interest to the US Government ... but... it is extremely easy to commit an illegal act by providing a dodgy (as defined by the US) link. That might be enough to cause an application for a visa to be refused, for example..... and it'll be on file forever.

The idiot involved in explaining this very dubious reasoning regarding links said that its like drug dealers...
"Barnett defended the decision to also go after linking sites: "I'll give you an analogy. A lot of drug dealing is done by proxy – you rarely give the money to the same person that you get the dope from. I think the question is, are any of these people less culpable?"... full article here.

Providing a link to a site that doesn't pay royalties to a US company is hardly the same as a drug dealer... one stops some super rich bunch of idiots getting richer, the other wrecks lives and kills people... not really a good analogy unless, of course, you want that emotive discussion. So...the deaths of thousands of innocent people in the worst terrorist attack the US has seen lead to an agreement between the US and the UK as an aid to The War On Terror... it's now paying off in $$$ .... I think that is disgusting....( I can do emotive).

How hard you can squeeze your Colonies?
Surely the Taxes which England imposed on the New World lead to a revolution, and one bunch of terrorists that the whole of the US celebrated a few days ago. If you continue to disempower and rob enough people for long enough... it back fires. The disempowered and hopeless are a dangerous bunch because they have nothing to lose.

I believe in karma, for nations too, and this continual greed which, after all, the global system is built on, will come back in some unforeseen way to haunt those that squeeze the hardest.

Every day is for the thief but one day is for the victim.

I am extremely annoyed....

:((

7 comments:

  1. Good that you are annoyed. Even more so, you should be frightened. The collusion between government (I mean, the Department of Justice???) and Big Media, using felony prosecution for what is certainly a civil offense (copying a file is not stealing a file) is way over the line of both logic and reason.

    This is scary stuff; and Orwell (1984) and Paddy Chayefsky (Network (film) would recognize it instantly.

    There's a war on; a war for control of the Internet and communication. It is a plan to de-head the net and turn it into a one-way media-push channel... just like TV.

    We are allowing warrantless searches; taking down websites on only an accusation, not any kind of evidence; warrantless wiretapping (NSA tapping the major telco lines and the P.R.O.T.E.C.T.I.P. Act set to break the DNS servers...

    This proto-fascist (in the classic sense: the melding of business and government)movement has savaged the Constuitution, perverted the use of copyright and trademark as a weapon to silence dissent/debate and continues in its war against common culture and the Internet.

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  2. yep the Protect thing is worrying.... wonder if your guys have more balls than ours and stop it.

    Fascism is here to stay I think, it goes with the greed.

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  3. Ah but there is no "your guys" or "our guys"... only YOU and ME!

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  4. Very true Maeve, but ...we all have governments that act like fools .... and altho it doesn't effect us much, it has an effect. It's good to rant anyway...:)) occasionally.

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  5. Interesting article. As a UK citizen should I get worried?

    Like, if I run an Opensim based grid on a UK server but use a .com domain name America claims legal jurisdiction over the grid's activity?

    Or, as in the case of Avination.com, a UK based grid where gambling is reported to take place could it be breaking US gambling laws?

    And what if I put a link in a post on a US-based forum I don't even own or run. Dose that give America legal jurisdiction over me?

    If any of those examples bring a yes then I guess I am right to be worried being one who uses .com, Blogger and posts on US-based forums.

    I don't do gambling though.

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  6. Well, Gaga, unless, currently you are taking money out of the mouths of some US corp I don't think you should worry. In theory the US Gov has decided it can go into any country and demand extradition for anyone on the flimsiest of excuses .... but with the ProtectIP thing they will not treat their own citizens any better.

    The film and TV industries are fighting a losing battle at the moment and they are desperate.... and US Gov is backing them.

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