It has recently occurred to me that not many people notice where Internet censorship begins, and where it is thus accepted. I'll also tell you how to
win the battle by fighting for your freedom of information in the areas where THEY are getting away with it RIGHT NOW!
Well, let me open your eyes about where this is going, and why IT IS AND HAS HAPPENED TO YOU and EVERYONE AROUND YOU, yet you IGNORE it because you
aren't ONE OF THEM:
"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Well, I think I can explain it all very clearly by modifying the above poem..
"THEY CAME FIRST for the posters of "free" internet forums,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a poster.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade bloggers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a blogger.
THEN THEY CAME for the alternative media,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't in the alternative media.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
That's right. It begins on forums, like this very one. It begins with the edit/deletion of a post or a thread....
Ask yourself, "Do I care that posts or threads in forums around the internet are being deleted because certain people don't agree with them?"
Answer honestly and ask yourself why you feel the way that you do. Is it because it HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU?
If so, FOR SHAME!
... and you tell me, where does it end? Well, we all know that post/thread edits and deletions have been going on for a long time, on forums FAR AND
WIDE by Moderators and Owners with arbitrary rules on speech, ideas, and expression.
We've just recently seen ENTIRE BLOG SERVICES (Not just blogs) shut down because of "Unnamed" Government agencies.... and I think we all know it
is only a matter of time before sites like ATS and INFOWARS are taken down under some obscure and obtuse legal loophole.
I think you know exactly where it ends, and it is sites like ATS that must put a stop to this.
Personally, I believe the battle starts with the site owners and staff on popular forums. If they are willing to censor and modify the thoughts of
their OWN MEMBERS, nay, THEIR CONTENT.... Their VERY BASIS for existing...
... Then how can they stop?
I ask you, HOW CAN THEY STOP? WHERE DO THEY STOP?
They can't stop beyond modifying the CONTENT of a forum except for shutting it down, like we have seen with other forums and services.
Freedom on the internet is not only being attacked from the outside, but it is being attacked from the INSIDE, from the very content-driven systems
which operate on the freedom to express ideas and keep the internet free and open.
These stories are all very recent, within the last 4 months or so. A total of at least 100,000 entire blogs. It is only beginning.
www.wired.com...
"Blog shut down because of 'terrorist' material"
www.guardian.co.uk...
"Google shuts down music blogs without warning"
www.infowars.com...
"Feds Ignore Due Process, First Amendment, Shut Down Thousands of Blogs "
info-wars.org...
U.S. Authorities Shut Down WordPress Host With 73,000 Blogs
... because we weren't posters.